Thomas Frank proud of Spurs players as ‘special operation’ fails against PSG

Thomas Frank acknowledged his “special operation” failed but felt pride in his players after Tottenham surrendered a two-goal lead to lose the Super Cup on penalties to Paris St Germain.

Set-piece goals by Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero had Spurs halfway towards another trophy – only three months on from Frank’s predecessor Ange Postecoglou clinching Europa League success in May.

Champions League winners PSG, who only returned to pre-season last week following their Club World Cup exploits in July, fought back impressively – with substitute Kang-in Lee pulling one back with five minutes left before Goncalo Ramos grabbed an equaliser in the fourth-minute of stoppage-time.

It was initially advantage Tottenham in the shoot-out when Vitinha missed PSG’s first kick and Rodrigo Bentancur put the Premier League club two up, but it was followed by Van de Ven and Mathys Tel failing to score as Frank’s competitive debut ended in a 4-3 shoot-out defeat after a 2-2 draw.

The Danish coach paid tribute to his squad after he lined them up in a back-three formation to largely good effect, in a fixture where they constantly looked a threat at set-pieces.

“Very, very proud of the players, the team, the club, the fans,” Frank reflected.

“I think the players gave everything, playing against one of the best teams in the world, maybe the best at the moment and I think we were 75, 80 minutes perfect. Almost giving nothing away.

“I knew we had to do something a little bit different against PSG. It was a special operation. In medical terms, the operation succeeded but the patient died, so not that good in the end.

“But we worked on a gameplan that was a little bit different and very close to succeeding.

“First and foremost I'm extremely