Thomas Frank admits he missed something when Palhinha scored and explains why Xavi didn't start as a 10

Thomas Frank had plenty of questions to answer after Tottenham's 1-1 draw against Wolves on Saturday evening in the Premier League.

The hosts created plenty of opportunities in the first half to take the lead but it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the 54th minute. Guglielmo Vicario saved a Ladislav Krejci header from a corner only for the ball to strike Joao Palhinha and bounce back to Santiago Bueno to poke home.

It looked like Dr Tottenham had ended Wolves' run of defeats only for Palhinha to curl home a last gasp leveller. Good play from substitute Mathys Tel on the left ended with the Frenchman curling the ball into the box where Pape Matar Sarr knocked it back to the Portuguese to fire home a low effort.

• Tottenham player ratings vs Wolves - Joao Palhinha to the rescue as Xavi and Richarlison falter
• Thomas Frank press conference - Tottenham boss on Palhinha leveller and Xavi struggle

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Was tonight a reminder it is still early days for you and everyone here?

Yeah, yeah you can say that. Yeah, I think that is probably fair. I think first half was good, I was happy with that in many ways. I felt we were on top, created two or three very good chances and got into a lot of dangerous situations where we didn’t create a chance where we should have created more. You know you are thinking, ‘yes this is very good, produce a lot of crosses and we are on track’. Football is not like Wolves please roll over. It is the Premier League and it is extremely competitive.

So, you’re going into the second half and thinking I know it is not like you score, but I think OK, it could be good. I think the big change second half was probably their goal. It changed the momentum of the game and then at half-time they changed to a 5-3-2. I think that made it more difficult. Not that we didn’t know they could do it, but of course how do we get the message across to the players?

Of course we got a little bit on about the pressure and getting it right, but the goal meant we probably lost a bit of structure and coolness. It took more passes to get up into the right positions, cross it from the right area or produce from the right area instead of a cross with your weaker foot or a difficult position and a shot from 30-yards even though they crowd scream shoot. I like the effort and mentality and I think it is huge actually and I meant that to get a point on a night where it is not perfect, especially not in the second half. Now that is two times in a row we come back. I think that tells a lot about the players. Yes, we want free-floating, yes we want more and we did not hit our highest performance level today, but when you are down at 90 plus and you get a point, I think that’s positive.

What did you think of Xavi Simons tonight, it felt like he struggled to get into his rhythm?

Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I think Xavi, he had some good actions, also carrying the ball forward and you had to foul him three or four times. But there was a lot of situations where he was not as sharp, I think that's fair to say. I think he would say the same himself. But I also think it's natural.

You're coming into a new team, a new league. To find that rhythm quickly is difficult. And I also think that we said the other time, I think we're very happy with the Brighton performance in many ways.

I think the first half was positive [tonight] also, you know, offensive. But that free flow, floating to have it enough, you know, that we need to keep working on. And then there are just some days where we don't hit the highest level.

Did you suffer from not being able to bring on the likes of Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani to freshen up your attack?

I think there were enough offensive actions, but of course it's to have one natural striker. I think Mathys can play striker, but he's probably a striker and a winger. So a natural striker as Richy and Dom and Kolo would have been nice to have that extra option. But I think we could still have won the game anyway.

It was a very nice finish, but did you have an issue with Palhinha celebrating in the corner and taking his shirt off when there was still two or three minutes left?

I didn't know I celebrated myself. But of course I noticed after I could see he didn't have his shirt on. I know we wanted to go for the next one. But you can see the next three minutes we were a little bit disjointed. Should we go for it? Where were the positions? I think it's fair to say we struggled a little bit with creating that chance. So the 1-1 was probably a good point. Of course, we still lose. It feels like we, at this point, we didn't win the game. But I think the positive is we kept us in the game and got a point.

With the points dropped elsewhere was this a chance missed in the early table?

Yeah, I think if you look before the game, you would say that there was a good chance for us to win. But I think it's also, that's why I also said it before the game, we haven't beaten Wolves the last five times, no, six times in a row. And also a team that have lost the first five, there's a time where they will get something. And also I said before the game, they had played very, very even games.

So it's never easy. That said, I hoped and believed if we hit a top performance, we would win. We didn't hit a top performance.

I think we hit an average performance. But you do that sometimes. So yeah, we got a point on a day when not everything worked and then we move forward.

Palhinha and Bentancur was the midfield against Bournemouth and again today where you struggled for creativity. When you look back, will you reflect on whether you got that midfield selection right?

I will always look back at it but a good, old coach told me once that the line-up you picked, you did that for a reason and you don’t know what would happen if you pick the other one. Maybe you would have lost 2-0. So, I need to go with what I believe in of course. That is not to say I am not watching the game back and not reflecting and thinking about hmm, could we, should we, you never know? I actually think first half was quite good and we created enough. We would like to create a bit more, yes but actually after I took Rodri out, you could say it didn’t work because we lost the structure, so who knows? One thing is for sure, we need to do a little bit better in the second half.

Does the frustration from the fans make it hard for Vicario and others to be as calm and patient as you'd like?

I definitely think it's not easy. Now I need to look at the situations back but at the top of my head it looks like we could have also helped him a little bit more in those situations, open up a bit more. Give him more options. There was also one or two where he could have done better but hey, that's part of it. It's not easy but that's not to say he couldn't have done better.

It's a perennial problem for Spurs to not put away games like this where they are expected to win - do you have a theory, is it a mental issue?

I can only really speak about when I've been here of course. I think the two games you can see that Bournemouth also doing very well. I think they are a very difficult team to play. The one thing with Bournemouth is that was a bad performance. Overall just bad. Today I think there was much more positive in our performance. But unfortunately on the day we couldn't get the three points. That happens. I think it's still a small sample for me to just myself in that aspect.

Was Xavi Simons not playing as a number 10 because he isn't quite up to speed with Premier League yet?

No, I don't think [that]. I think it's trying to get the right balance into the team. For me also to learn the players and find out how we can get the best players on the pitch at the right time. So that I'm of course looking into. I'm very aware that Xavi he can play as a 10. He also got in as a 10 against Brighton because that was the third game in a week. And I think that was positive. I think today when he got in as a 10, it didn't really work. And that was not only because of him, by the way. I think the team, the whole team was out of sync in the last 35 minutes or something like that. But of course, I try to look into what is the best midfield. I think it's fair to say both Rodri and Joao have been very good for us so far in the season. And Lucas has been fantastic so you like to keep your players that are a little bit in the flow.

Richarlison has been fantastic in some games, but there have been a few games like tonight where he seems a little bit isolated. How do you get him more into the game?

I think for example, I think Brighton he did many good things but I liked him a little bit more in the box. I felt today he was more in the box and the cross maybe didn't land it for him.

And then I think it's also fair to say that especially the first half, we mainly played against a team with 11 players behind the ball which always made it a little bit more difficult. I think actually even Haaland can be eliminated in that situation. So a little bit more space and a little bit more open then you can create more opportunities.