Thomas Frank railed against decisions as Cristian Romero and Xavi Simons saw red and nine-man Tottenham team crashed to yet another home defeat at the hands of Liverpool.
Arne Slot’s champions left with three points from a chaotic game in London and are closing in on the top four again.
Victory came at a price with Alexander Isak injured as he scored the opener and Conor Bradley also hurt, but Spurs have more problems.
This defeat was a club-record 11th at home in the Premier League in this calendar year and boss Frank fumed about decisions, including the two red cards and what he claimed was a push on Romero by Hugo Ekitike as he scored Liverpool’s second.
On the Simons red, given for a foul from behind on Virgil Van Dijk in the first half, Frank said: ‘I’ve seen them given but I don’t like this as a red card. It’s not reckless and it’s not exceptional force.
‘He’s chasing Van Dijk and changes direction and unfortunately his foot is on his achilles. We’re not allowed to have physical contact anymore and he gets three games. That is absolutely wrong and we probably can’t appeal that.’
Thomas Frank railed against decisions as Cristian Romero and Xavi Simons saw red and nine-man Tottenham team crashed to yet another home defeat at the hands of Liverpool
Simons was dismissed for a late challenge on Virgil van Dijk for a late challenge in the first half
Simons issued an apology on social media to say: ‘Mistakes happen. Virg is my captain. I would never intentionally hurt him or anyone. To my Spurs teammates, my manager and the fans, I take responsibility. I’m really sorry.’
Spurs claimed the second goal was a foul and Romero collected the first of his two yellow cards for protesting. His second yellow was for retaliation, kicking out after a foul by Ibrahima Kontae in the closing minutes.
‘The second goal is a mistake from the ref,’ said Frank. ‘There are two hands in the back. Clear two hands in the back. I don’t understand how you can do that. Everywhere else you have seen that a thousand times out there on the pitch, someone will go up for a header, a goal kick into the centre-back, two hands in the back ‘boom’ foul.
‘But apparently not in the penalty box. I think that was the biggest mistake in my opinion and from VAR but apparently that was not enough.’
As for Romero’s second yellow, Frank said: ‘I see two big boys competing. Konate absolutely smashing through Cuti. It’s a foul, I’m not saying more. His foot landed on Cuti’s head. Not a yellow, I’m not saying that. Cuti makes a reaction. I guess it can be given, but also I guess it can be not given.’
Slot said he would wait and see on Isak’s injury. ‘I don’t have any news on him but if a player scores, gets injured and doesn’t try to come back on the pitch that’s usually not a good thing,’ said the Reds boss.
‘But I cannot say anything more than that. Just a gut feeling. I haven’t spoken to him. Let’s not be too negative yet. Let’s hope he’s back with us soon.’
Liverpool are unbeaten in six and moved up to fifth, and Slot added: ‘The players are getting better, the team is getting better. It wasn’t perfect but we pick up points and see the team developing as like to see.
‘It was never as bad as people said but, true, it was definitely not perfect. I knew when we made so many changes in the summer we would need time. Maybe when won first five or six people thought would go easily.’
