Spurs 1-2 Liverpool | Thomas Frank’s verdict

Thomas Frank praised the character and mentality of the players after a gallant effort to come from 2-0 down with 10 and then nine men against Liverpool fell just short – the Reds eventually holding on for a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.

After an even start, Xavi Simons received a straight red card after a VAR review for a challenge on Virgil van Dijk on 33 minutes. Our 10 men competed well, but we were hit by two goals in 10 minutes from Alexander Isak (56) and Hugo Ekitike (66).

Undetered, we gathered momentum and pulled a goal back from Richarlison after 83 minutes. As we moved into nine minutes of added time, Cuti Romero was sent off after picking up second yellow card. Yet the nine men still forced two fine saves out of Alisson, both efforts from Pedro Porro, the first a free-kick well held on the bounce, the second even better, down to his right from Porro’s low, deflected drive across goal.

Speaking to us afterwards, Thomas reflected: “It was a very good performance, many good things. We worked very hard and talked a lot about how we deal with setbacks, because the best teams deal with setbacks – if you lose five passes in a row, for example, or you concede a goal or a red card, two goals, and I would say another red, and a few other situations. The team just kept going, great character, great mentality, great energy, I loved everything about that, I must say.

“I think we defended well until half-time, still had a few counters. In the second half we did the same, then conceded a goal - the second one, I think it’s  a free-kick, in my opinion – then we get the 2-1 goal and really pushed hard. I think we had great moments and opportunities to get the 2-2.

“There a lot of good things in this team, a lot of good character, there's a lot, so I think we just had that little bit of a momentum shift throughout the game, I think we felt that we were 100% in the game, and also a little bit of determination when you feel you are hard done by and you need to show that grit, so I really liked that.

“I said that to the players straight after the game, I think that feeling… of course you feel hard done by, but the performance and the way that we were fighting and the way we were playing, giving everything, that's what you need to take forward in every minute of every game.”