Thomas Frank admits Tottenham failed to kill the game as Sunderland punished them late on Sunday in London

Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank admitted his side failed to put the game to bed after being held to a 1-1 draw by Sunderland in north London.

Spurs led at the break and enjoyed long spells of control in the first half, but were ultimately punished for not extending their advantage as Sunderland grew into the contest and struck late on when Brian Brobbey finished a tremendous move to level the scores.

“Pleased with the first half. I think we showed a lot of good intentions, a lot of good play,” Frank said. “I think we came in some very good offensive situations where we lacked the cutting edge quality. So that was positive, and I think the big headline is we didn't score the 2-0 goal. We didn't kill the game off 2-0, then the game we were out of sight, and we gave nothing away throughout the game. We have won while they do a top bit of play, and then it's 1-1. So for me it was the 2-0 goal we lacked at.”

Frank felt Tottenham were dominant before the interval but acknowledged a drop-off after the break, with Sunderland capitalising as Spurs struggled to maintain their earlier intensity. “Second half, it was not, I think first half was very good, I think we were totally dominant,” he said. “There's always different opponents, and then there's always a difference by playing home and away in terms of how you do when you play with short turnaround games.

“That was, I think the biggest thing, it was not that we didn't want to press high against Brentford. So if you saw that game, we still tried to press high. They just played a little bit longer. That means it was not as successful. It's not that visible.”

Frank also pointed to a lack of composure in possession and missed opportunities on the counter as key factors in Sunderland’s equaliser. “I think the biggest thing there was we just gave the ball away 200 times,” he added. “Second half, not as dominant, but we still get into some very good situations, have some fantastic, but some good counter-attack situations where we need to get more out of it. You can't rely on in the Premier League just to win 1-0. I think it was a little, we lacked a little extra freshness.”

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The Tottenham boss suggested his side felt the impact of limited options from the bench, comparing the situation to other teams able to change games late on. “I looked at some teams last night that just put three players on like-for-like, and then they run away with the win, a club we can't speak about,” he said. “But that's probably also a little bit in it. So let me put it that way, that would have helped us. It's not the same that we couldn't have scored the 2-0 for the first 17.”

Frank also singled out Ben Davies, who opened the scoring, for praise after the final whistle. “It's nice that he scored the goal,” he said. “I felt for this game that we needed a left-footer. So that was the biggest reason. I think in the build-up, and I think he had some fantastic passes going forward, also some balls in behind and also gave that little bit of calmness and controlled the game well, plus a bit of leadership.”

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