Thomas Frank hailed Tottenham’s “incredible” achievement after they put their poor domestic form behind them to secure a fourth-placed finish in the league phase of the Champions League.
For the second week in a row Spurs responded to a disappointing result against a relegation-threatened team in the Premier League to secure a 2-0 triumph in Europe over German opposition.
After Borussia Dortmund were put to the sword earlier this month to fire Tottenham into the driving seat for a top-eight finish, a dominant display was produced to get the better of Eintracht Frankfurt, with Randal Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke on target.
Those second-half goals bumped Spurs up to fourth in the Champions League, which has secured direct passage into the last 16 and home advantage for the second leg.
One of Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Juventus or Atletico Madrid will face Tottenham in March when under-fire Frank and the club will hope to not have a hefty list of absentees with 14 players unavailable for this European tie.
“We need to take them one at a time, now in the round of 16, so a big step to finish top eight. To actually finish fourth in the Champions League is incredible, 17 points I think it is, so there are a lot of positives,” Frank reflected.
“I think very happy with the result, but even more happy with the performance. I think we looked in control more or less throughout the game.
“I am very proud of the players and the character shown. For basically Dortmund and this game had 12 outfield players available so a lot of players had to push through 90 minutes maybe not being there, so the character and mentality is big in the team.
“A more than well-deserved 2-0 win, away from home, in the Champions League.”
Spurs again lined up in a 3-4-3 formation with midfielder Joao Palhinha this time pushed into the back three to good effect with Micky van de Ven sidelined, while Kolo Muani was preferred down the middle versus his old club.
Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert caught the eye as dual-attacking midfielders and Frank has been encouraged by the impact of the system switch, but stressed the need to build on this victory with the north London club down in 14th in the Premier League after securing two wins from their last 14 league games.
He added: “We have just changed the system to the 3-4-3 so the last three games we played it so it will only get better and better.
“I actually think our performances now in 10 games have been better and better and better. We haven’t got all the results we wanted, but the last three games were very positive and that is what we have to build on.
“We are working very, very hard and it is nice the result and performance show the bits we are working on, it’s getting closer and closer. Now we need to be even more consistent and even turn those games to more wins going forward.”
