Thomas Frank hits back at Jamie Carragher and explains why Micky van de Ven is like Lionel Messi

Thomas Frank was a happy man in his press conference after Tottenham won 4-0 against Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Brennan Johnson scored 19 minutes into the contest when he took a Xavi Simons pass into his stride, touched it past the keeper and rolled a lovely finish from outside the box into the empty net.

Randal Kolo Muani missed a couple of big chances late in the second half but made up for that in the 51st minute. He chased down a long Pedro Porro ball and got a foot to the keeper's attempted clearance which sent it high up in the air. The Frenchman took an cushioned touch to bring it down and picked out Wilson Odobert to slide it home.

Then things took a turn when Johnson was shown a red card after the referee was told to go to his monitor to watch the Spurs man's tackle on Marcos Lopez which caught the Copenhagen player's heel.

Tottenham however found another gear despite their numerical disadvantage. First Micky van de Ven raced from the edge of his own penalty area and just kept going and going before burying a shot past the goalkeeper inside the left-hand post.

Spurs broke again soon after when Odobert flew up the pitch and played the ball to Romero, who had kept pace with the Frenchman and the captain fired it across to substitute Joao Palhinha to slide home via the keeper's hand. There was still time for academy striker Dane Scarlett to win a penalty, but Richarlison sent the resulting spot kick crashing off the crossbar and not quite over the line, as he had done with a header not long before.

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.

Have you seen a better goal scored by a defender?

I definitely need to think a little bit about that. But it seems like we had Lionel Messi turned into Micky van de Ven, roaring down from his own goal all the way to the other end and scored a fantastic goal. I think he's our top scorer in all competitions, so he can keep going. He can keep walking past me if he's angry after a game!

What did you make of the red card?

I think I understand why it can be given. But I think it's a little bit - what I've talked before - that still footage, studs on leg, is what the ref sees the first thing. That's where it looks bad. There was no recklessness in this tackle from Brennan. He goes down into a sliding tackle, you can say 'why give the opportunity?' But when he goes down, there's literally no leg in front of him, so when he slides, then the player steps down, and then it looks bad after that. I think it was a little bit unfortunate, and I think it was harsh.

Do you finally see your attacking players gel tonight?

I think it was a step forward. I liked what I saw from Brennan, it was classic Brennan, running in behind. And I really liked the assist from Xavi. Very good assist from Xavi. So happy that it was a goal from Brennan, assist from Xavi. I liked bits from Wilson, and also of course he scored. I think Kolo looked like a handful, in many situations he could easily have scored one or two goals maybe in the end. But I think all of them have much more to come. But it was definitely a step forward.

What did you say to Xavi when he came off?

I don't know, I didn't say too much I think. Of course, everyone wants to play, and he saw the opportunity to maybe play a little bit more. It's just at that point, at 2-0, you don't really know, so I thought 'ok we do a little bit more defensive', swapping Joao, so that's why we did it.

Brennan Johnson was top scorer last season, four goals this season, what does he need to do to nail down starting place?

I think he's started now three in the last four, I think that's definite steps in the right direction. Played a good game against Everton, ok against Newcastle, just a little rotation for Chelsea, and now starting again. So I think he's in a good place.

I don't know if you saw Jamie Carragher's comments last night....

No, I didn't.

He said 'I think the Spurs lacked courage, confidence and ability against Chelsea'. I just wanted to get your assessment on that. Do you think you saw enough of those qualities tonight?

Yeah, I didn't see his comments. So not too much to say to that. The pundits are pundits. They need to say something about the games. I've been a pundit myself sometimes. Put it this way, I know it's easier to be that than stand down there.

I saw a good performance today, which I'm happy with. We talk a lot about, how can you say that, bounce back mentality because in life and football there will be setbacks. Every team will experience that. And it's how we react to that to come out after a bad game or a bad spell and come back to it. That's part of a good team.

I'm very happy with the response the players came with today. I think we controlled the game from minute one to the end, more or less. There was, of course, a little bit about the red card and making the side that should not be a problem.

And then we won a very good win in the Champions League. And it's never easy. I know Copenhagen hadn't had a good start, but I just know they are, in general, very difficult to play against. And I'm pretty sure we'll not see them lose 4-0 again in the Champions League.

When you took off Xavi and brought on Joao, was the master plan for Micky to score and then Cristian to charge up the pitch and get the assist?

No, that's the beauty of football. The players take initiative and do a lot of bits on their own. So, yeah, of course, that's fantastic to have players that do that.

I just wondered if you could expand a little bit more on Randal Kolo Muani, in particular, what he did in the build-up towards Wilson Odobert's goal and what he's offering this team now?

I think he's just taking steps in the right direction and he's getting more and more fit. And I will still go as far as I don't think he's fully firing yet. But you can see he's such a handful to play against. The goal is a ball in behind where he just can't really control it, the defender and he's practically on the goalkeeper. And then he shows extreme composure to just take the ball down and a nice assist for Wilson.

And he's through two or three times and could have scored more. So I think he was a threat. Probably also should have scored on the header.

How important was it for the team to bounce back from Saturday?

I think, of course, it was important. You want your bad performance to get out of the way straight away. And the quicker you can bounce back, the better. I was happy with the response.

And do you think this could be a turning point, this game?

I would say it was a step forward in terms of how we want to play. Of course, assist and goals for some of the offensive players and also good performances. And I think also the structure was good today.

What can you say was positive and good about Copenhagen's team tonight?

Of course, it doesn't always look super good if you lose 4-0. But as a coach I also know that it's never as good or as bad as you think it is, no matter what game you're in. I don't think we created a chance by chance situation in the first half.

We created dangerous situations. I think we have two chances to score a goal. And of course, if we don't score 3-0, it can be a bit more difficult for us because there's a bit more room for them.

Again, I see a well-trained, structured team that hasn't just broken down but has the calmness and the plan to keep the ball when you need it in a game like this.

But it was a game that was easier to win than you expected?

I definitely didn't expect us to win 4-0 in a game like this. I expected it to be difficult. A combination of I know Copenhagen is a difficult opponent, also in Europe and on the pitch. I know it's even more difficult in the park, of course. And it's clear that our offensive game hasn't been super explosive. So that combination could have been tricky, but luckily it went the right way for us.

How do you react after beating Jacob Neestrup?

I would say that Jacob is good enough and knows enough about this game. I don't doubt two things. One he's calm. He's probably irritated because I would be the same when we lose. But he's also calm enough to keep working.

It's been a year since they played two equal games against Chelsea. So I think we need to take a snapshot and not focus too much on this game. I know we do. I can tell you that we focused a lot on our last game here on Saturday. So we need to be careful. It's clear that we play in the best league in the world. We have an ambition to be at the top of the league. The Danish league is a bit further down the rankings and below the top five. So there needs to be a difference. Sometimes there are fewer games, sometimes there are more. No, we'll see. Hopefully he'll make it. We can sit down and agree that football is great sometimes and not so great other times.

Xavi could have probably had three assists in the first half. Would you say that was a much better performance from him? And also, he was unfortunate that it was him who had to come off?

I will say two things. One, I think that was a step forward today. I'm very happy for him. I think it was a good assist and I agree with you. A little bit more sharpness for him and the other players. I think he probably had one more assist.

I think he found good pockets, good spaces. I'm really pleased with that. Of course, I understand his disappointment in the moment. But it's always about the team, of course. At that stage, it's 2-0.

We are still building layers in this team. I think it's obvious that we are progressing forward but are not where we want to be. In that situation, we just take no risk and put a more defensive player in. Which afterwards, of course, looks to be an absolutely top decision. But you never know.