Thomas Frank confirmed his “special operation” had failed but expressed pride in his players after Tottenham squandered a two-goal lead and lost the Super Cup to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties.
Set-piece goals from Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero put Spurs on course for another trophy just three months after Franck's predecessor Ange Postecoglou won the Europa League in May.
Champions League winners PSG, who only returned to pre-season training last week after their achievements at the Club World Cup in July, put up a worthy fightback, with substitute Kang-In Lee pulling one back with five minutes remaining and Goncalo Ramos equalising in the fourth minute of added time.
Tottenham initially had the upper hand in the shootout when Vitinha missed PSG's opener and Rodrigo Bentancur gave the Premier League club the lead, but Van de Ven and Mathis Thel then failed to convert and Franck's competitive debut ended in a 4-3 defeat on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
The Danish coach praised his side after setting them up with a three-man defence, which ultimately produced positive results in a match where they were a constant threat from set pieces.
“I am very, very proud of the players, the team, the club, the fans,” Frank emphasized.
“I think the players gave everything they had against one of the best teams in the world, maybe even the strongest team at the moment, and I think we played 75-80 minutes flawlessly. Without giving anything away.”
“I knew we had to do something a little different against PSG. It was a special operation. From a medical point of view, the operation was successful, but the patient died, so in the end it didn't go so well.
“But we used a slightly different game plan, which was very close to success.
“It was a bit of a special operation because we were obviously more direct, knowing that we could do them serious damage. We were paying a lot of attention to set pieces from all positions on the pitch, and
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
