Thomas Frank names the Tottenham player he thought was 'unstoppable' and gives Kolo Muani update

Thomas Frank had plenty to discuss after his Tottenham side fought back to draw 2-2 at Brighton on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

Spurs went behind just eight minutes into the match at the Amex Stadium as the Seagulls scored from their first attack. Georginio Rutter curled a pass into Yankuba Minteh's run and the Gambian attacker outpaced the stunned Tottenham defence, roundedGuglielmo Vicario and poked the ball home.

Brighton doubled their advantage on 31 minutes with a rocket shot from Yasin Ayari that Vicario should have done better with.

Richarlison grabbed a key goal back before the break for Spurs when Mohammed Kudus' shot struck the Brazilian in the box and he hooked the loose ball home.

The visitors were the better side in the second half and created a number of chances, with substitute Xavi Simons playing a key role. The leveller eventually came on 82 minutes when the Dutchman picked out Kudus on the right flank and the Ghana international's cross hit Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke on the leg and deflected into the net.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank after the draw. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at the Amex Stadium.

You must be delighted with the character of the team to come back?

Yeah, very happy with that. Spoke about mentality before the game to the players. That to go down here against a good Brighton side, away from home, on the back end of our first Champions League game, it's all about mentality. Of course, we need structure and tactics and game plan and all that - we like to praise ourselves as coaches.

But in the end of the day, it's mentality to stay in there when it's tough. And I love the way we started the game. Away from home, just boom, on top of it. I don't think Brighton were over the halfway line in the first, whatever, I can’t remember when they scored - 10, 12 minutes or whatever it was. Then they scored a goal where praise to Brighton, we can do better, and it's like [this close to being] offside. We keep going, keep on it.

And then great goal, but Vic can do better. Very happy with him, spoke to him, so I think he had a great season for us and it happens. But we keep going, we stay in the game, stick to the gameplan, and I thought we looked physically strong. I thought the players looked strong and were intense throughout the game, even though we had a midweek game, which I'm very happy with the physical preparation during pre-season and everything the team have done, with big help from the performance staff at Tottenham.

So the mentality, the physical aspect, I thought was key. And coming here, where last year we came here and were 2-0 up, lost 3-2. Now we’re 2-0 down and come back 2-2. I think it's good. And if there should have been a winner in my eyes, and maybe slightly biased, I think it should have been us. I think the amount of crosses, the amount of touches in the opponent's box, the amount of nearby and also chances, was more than enough to win the game.

What did you make of Destiny Udogie’s return to the starting lineup?

Exceptional. He was exceptional today. He was unstoppable, almost, going forward. And I think also it was a bit unfortunate, it was Wilson who had to track him on the situation, because it was a little bit of a high-pressure situation, the Brighton wonder goal. But he just completely took him out going forward. Very good, just top.

Are you pleased with Xavi's impact from the bench?

Yeah, I'm very, very pleased with that. I think Xavi came in and did exactly what we thought he could do in that 10 position. Of course he had a good pre-season and he played two games in Germany and all that, but he's still coming into a team and all that. And I think on any other day, he'd score a goal. He got a great finish on the first one, great save from Verbruggen. And the other one, he mistimes. And I think maybe he could have got an assist to Richy, where Lucas takes the ball, he doesn't see him.

Is it a more natural position for him?

I think he can play both. I think he can easily play the left winger, that can go more inside. I also think he'd have the right position too. Sometimes the playmakers, they drift to the side because there's no space in the middle. So I think he can do that. But 10, obviously he can play that as well.

Are you surprised how quickly you’ve got resilience in the team?

I'm very, very pleased with it. I think there was also a situation the first half, the way we sprinted back on our recovery runs. That's goosebumps, that's bread and butter. But you want to be a resilient team because we play against good teams and it will be difficult sometimes. But it's a good group of players. They want to perform. They are disappointed after the game. Even when we come back, they wanted to win, of course.

I also think the overall performance played in - I think maybe this was our most complete performance so far in the season. I know we made, you can say we conceded two goals, but I think actually there were so many positives overall in the game. Also the high pressure, the man-to-man, very aggressive. But as you say, that resilience in the group, that mentality, is good.

With Mohammed Kudus, it was another good performance, what have you been most impressed with when it comes to his adaptation to the team?

I think two things. One, his work ethic has been really good. It's big for me, how hard he works in the counter-press, high pressure, defensive side of it.

But his hold-up play, when it goes into him, it just sticks. You can't get it off him. So he just keeps it, he doesn't lose a 50-50 ball. And then the third thing is his one-on-one ability is crazy. He's so strong, he's so explosive. He just dominated the right-hand side.

Can I ask about the second goal? Is Vic kicking himself on that one, or is it not as simple as it looks?

I think it's never as simple as it looks. I think that's a big thing. I think it's a great strike, but he will be kicking himself. He wants to save that one.

At Brentford, part of your success was through coaching improvement out of individual players. Do you look at a lot of your team and think you can get 10, 20, 30 per cent improvement out of them?

Hopefully. We try to put a good structure in place. Offensively and defensively, clear principles. Keep reinforcing the right messages.

For example, today we put so many crosses in. That's a big part of what we want to do. There could be a little bit more quality, we could also have a little bit more runs. And then we'll keep coaching them, running in the right gaps. I think if Richy had run in the right gaps, he'd have scored maybe two goals more today, for example. I believe any player can keep developing. That's a big part of what I believe in, and my coaching staff believe in as well.

Can I just ask you to expand a little bit more on why you think it's been the most complete performance of the season so far?

I know we conceded two goals, and it's never that black and white. So one where we will say I should take it. The second one is, OK, we conceded a goal, that can happen. It's just Premier League, it's good. But besides that, I thought we defended well.

Overall, I think the high pressure was very aggressive, and we were winning the ball back more or less all the time, which we like to do. I think in phase one, we got out every time, more or less. We controlled it up there.

We created so many good opportunities, and had to counter-press and rest defending crosses. So there was a lot of the bits we like to do, because of that. And then on top of that, the mentality to come back from 2-0 down is so important.

What can you achieve when you've got Randall Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke back, and you've got those extra attacking options off the bench?

That's a good question, I don't know. Right now, I think it's about that consistency. We played five Premier League games, I think we had four good performances, and one bad. So can we stick with... I don't want that bad, I think it was a bad performance. So can we just get all bad performances out and consistently produce good performances? Then on a day where, whatever, there's a mistake and you need to come back, you still get a point. Or you maybe turn it around and win 2-1 or win 3-2.

What was your perspective on Wilson Odobert's first start of the season, and how he got on?

Happy with it, I must admit. I thought he looked lively. Clearly, it looked like they were a little bit afraid of him. So he got time to turn and run forward. I think he produced some crosses, some good opportunities. He was also involved in a goal, worked hard. So a good first start.

Just on Kolo Muani, do you expect him just to miss the one game?

Hopefully, it was a dead leg. He's actually been struggling with it for four or five days. It's just not settling as we hoped for. So hopefully Wednesday.

Just on Udogie, have you been waiting for a little while for him to get up to speed?

Yeah, but I must admit, I've got three extremely good full-backs. I think Djed's been fantastic for us. So when another player is doing so well, then there's no reason to throw Destiny in too early. And I'm pretty sure we need all three throughout the season. That is crucial.

We are playing, hopefully, around 60 games this season. That's a lot. I think Liverpool changed both their full-backs from midweek to today. So it's a big thing. We want fullbacks to come bombarding up and down. So we need everyone. But I'm very happy with Destiny.

Do you enjoy a game like that? Because we talk a lot about structure and set pieces and everything, that felt like a bit of a throwback, end-to-end, rain, lots of chances, as a manager, do you like that or do you want it to calm down a bit?

I think you always want to control if you can. But I liked how aggressive we were and there were some very good opportunities going forward. And I liked that we looked very dangerous. That I liked a lot I must admit.