Thomas Frank remarks Tottenham Hotspur could have easily won against Aston Villa

Emiliano Buendia’s wonder goal helped Aston Villa seal a 2-1 win against the high-flying Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

The hosts opened the scoring early courtesy of a Rodrigo Bentancur goal. However, Morgan Rogers equalized for the visitors later in the first half before Buendia netted in the 77th minute to gift his team all three points on the evening.

Thomas Frank has now failed to defeat Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on six separate occasions in the Premier League. The Spurs head coach was appreciative of how his side was able to dominate a well-drilled Aston Villa team, despite not ending on the right end of the result.

He said, “I think the way the game panned out was exactly how I expected it to be if I'm honest. Very even game against a very good Villa team set up very well by Unai. What is through the roof is totally dominating Villa, which has been a very good team the last couple of seasons and clearly has good players. But, I think we dominated in good spells."

Frank continued, “I think we came out with very good intensity and were very aggressive. I think we were good in high pressure situations, especially the first half, where we had four or five very good nearly moments. Defensively, I think we were excellent. We gave away eight shots and a very very low xG. Vicario didn't make a save, so you've done that, then you've done well.”

Frank further delved into how Villa were able to trounce his side, breaking Spurs’ ambitions of breaching the top two of the Premier League standings.

The former Brentford boss quipped, “We gave two goals away. Both from outside the box with a lot of players behind the ball. If you had said to me before the game that they would shoot from there, Rogers and Buendia, from that situation, (I would have been like), yeah, of course, no problem, it's not dangerous. But a fantastic quality shot from Rogers. So in those nothing moments, they had more quality on the day.”

After losing against Villa, Spurs now sit in the sixth position on the league table with 14 points from eight matches, courtesy of four wins and two draws. Three of those wins came away from home.

Talking about the same, Frank said, “I think it's about looking into the performances. I think we performed well against Burnley, and we performed well again today. I think we had one very good first half against Wolves, and then we had a bad game against Bournemouth.”

“So, that's probably the reason. I think this game should have been a draw, a clear draw, and we could easily have won it instead of Villa. Then there would be a different narrative. So, I look into performances and the bits we did well and look at the bits we need to improve.”

Spurs captain Cristian Romero was ruled out of the match after being named in the starting XI. Kevin Danso filled in for the Argentine centre-back alongside stand-in captain Micky van de Ven.

When asked about Romero's injury and how long the layoff would be or whether it was just a precaution, Frank revealed, "I don't know (if he would be involved against Monaco), he could be, he couldn't. I don't know right now, if I'm honest. I had one focus. I went into the changing room and then I spoke to the players. I'm going to have to worry about players tomorrow."

Since Xavi Simons’ arrival at Tottenham, there have been a lot of questions about the adaptability of the Dutch playmaker. The youngster has struggled to dominate the proceedings, like many players who made a move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League in the past.

Talking about Simons’ performance against Villa, Frank remarked, “I think like we defend with 11 players, we also attack with 11 players. I think it's the whole team. I liked Xavi’s personality on the pitch today, especially in the first half, I think he wanted to get on the ball, wanted to create. He was very aggressive with the pressing, so I think it was a fine game."

The Spurs head coach concluded, "I think we need to remember this when we judge players who come into a new club, a new country, I know it's part of football. It’s a very small sample of games, and I'm in no doubt that he shall come good for us.”