Van de Ven, Spence apologize for snubbing Frank, fans after loss
Tottenham Hotspur boss Thomas Frank said on Monday that Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence have apologized for snubbing their manager and heading down the tunnel after Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Spurs were booed off by their own supporters after failing to win for a fourth consecutive Premier League home game.
Van de Ven, who started the game as captain, and Spence have been two of the better performers in an inconsistent start to Frank's reign in charge.
But they barged past Frank at full-time as he tried to get them to acknowledge the home fans.
"Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday and just said they wanted to say sorry for the situation," said Frank.
"They didn't want it to look bad or any misconception that you can get in this beautiful media world.
"So there was no disrespect meant at all towards me or the team. They were just frustrated with the performance from us and the booing during the game," added the 52-year-old Dane.
Despite their poor home form, Spurs sit fifth in the Premier League and are unbeaten after three games in the Champions League.
Victory at home to FC Copenhagen on Tuesday would put Spurs in a strong position to make the knockout phase of the Champions League for only the second time in six years.
Winning the Europa League last season masked an otherwise disastrous campaign that saw Ange Postecoglou sacked despite ending the club's 17-year trophy drought.
Tottenham finished 17th in the Premier League -- their worst season in English football's top-flight since being relegated from the old First Division in 1976/77.
"Of course, we are coming on the back of a bad performance -- there is a big flashing light right now. Everyone has a little bit of a struggle to look past that to see some of the very good performances we have had this year as well," added Frank.
"If anyone had said that we would now be 17 points after 10 games and unbeaten in the Champions League -- everything is not perfect -- but there is a decent foundation.
"Everyone would have taken that situation where we are now in terms of 22 (league) defeats last year (season) and finishing 17th."
Lucas Bergvall is set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering concussion in the early stages of the Chelsea game, but Spence and Mohammed Kudus should be fit to feature against Danish champions Copenhagen despite picking up knocks.