Frank: Tottenham 'progressing nicely' as Monaco test awaits

Thomas Frank says he remains positive about the progress his Tottenham side have made since he took over, as they prepare for their third Champions League match of the season against Monaco.

Spurs suffered their second home defeat of the season at the weekend, losing 2-1 to Aston Villa, despite taking an early lead through Rodrigo Bentancur, leaving the north London outfit sixth in the Premier League table.

Despite the disappointment of that result, Frank was still pleased with aspects of the performance and believes his side are on the right track overall.

"I think the good thing with the Villa game is overall a very good performance looking back," he said.

"I was pleased with a lot of things, and now we need to take a lot of the bits into the game against Monaco, which is a very good team, with very good players, and they already started the campaign quite well with a draw against [Manchester] City.

"There has been a lot of progress overall. Very good in high pressure. Very aggressive against Villa. Offensively, we scored quite a few goals.

"We are aiming for the perfect game every game. That's what we want. But we know what we are working at and progressing nicely."

Spurs captain Cristian Romero will miss the trip to Monaco, but Frank played down the severity of the injury, despite the Argentine also struggling to keep fit last season.

"It's an adductor strain," said Frank. "We will assess it more this week before we come with any time frame."

Frank also defended club record signing Xavi Simons, who has registered just one assist and zero goals in his first eight appearances, stating that he is still adjusting to life in England.

He said: "[Florian Wirtz] is a very good player, just like Xavi, coming into a new country, new club, new city, just need to settle and it is part of it. We are all getting judged every game, but we also need to see the bigger perspective.

"I always look for glimpses and Xavi, I asked him to be more arriving in the box, and when I looked back at the game, he did. Was there a big, eye-catching moment? No, but there were glimpses, so it's going a little bit in the right direction."

This will be the fifth meeting between Spurs and Monaco, having last played in the group stage of the competition in November 2016.

Spurs lost 2-1 on that occasion, and Frank is aware of the threat the French side possess, despite recent managerial upheaval, as Sebastian Pocognoli replaced Adi Hutter.

He said: "We have studied Pocognoli and his team at Union [Saint-Gilloise]. They did very well; they won the Championship in Belgium, so that is what we do.

"We look at the last game they played and then all, or more or less, a lot of games from Union, and also this Champions League campaign.

"I think we have a good idea of what they want, but also we know that they have very talented players, and it speaks for itself."

Tottenham have won just one of their last seven away matches in the Champions League, but Frank is confident his side can come away with a positive result.

He said: "We trust ourselves, we think we're in a good place, and we'll do everything we can to win the game tomorrow."