Tottenham boss Thomas Frank believes the referee made a "mistake" in not allowing Djed Spence time to get back into position for Newcastle's opener in their 2-0 Carabao Cup fourth-round loss at St James' Park.

Fabian Schar headed Newcastle in front at a corner, but Spurs players were unhappy with the referee Chris Kavanagh as they felt Spence was not given enough time to take his position in the box after putting his boot back on after losing it in the build-up to the corner.

Frank said: “We conceded two goals from mistakes. The first is a mistake from Chris (Kavanagh), the ref, because he didn’t allow Djed (Spence) time to come back in, which he clearly should’ve done.

"And on top of that, Djed is supposed to mark Schar, who scored.

“The second, unfortunately, was a mistake from Tony (Antonin Kinsky).”

He added: “It was completely common sense [to allow Spence time to get into position].

"It’s not the 88th minute. Djed’s coming back to a position; he’s not doing anything on purpose.

"He needs to do his shoe laces - clearly it had come off the boot, so that’s just my little feeling.”

Frank: Carabao Cup semi-finals should be played over just one leg

Thomas Frank wants Tottenham to go all the way in the Carabao Cup this season, but questioned why the semi-finals were still two-legged.

Spurs travel to holders Newcastle in the fourth round on Wednesday, eager to stay on track for more silverware after they ended a 17-year drought with Europa League success in May under Frank’s predecessor Ange Postecoglou.

Tottenham played 60 matches in the 2024-25 campaign and the midweek trip to St James’ Park will be the club’s 15th of this season, which has led Frank to suggest a change-up for a domestic competition often under scrutiny amid an ever-growing football calendar.

“By the way, one thing I’ve been thinking about is that there should only be one semi-final,” Frank said.

“I think two reasons. For the smaller clubs, if you want to beat a bigger club, it’s much much easier to play only one game, so we really want someone to break out and it’s not the same boring same teams winning – of course except from Spurs!

“Then we need to skip one semi-final for everyone else that plays so many games. It should only be one.

“If it’s about money, then someone needs to fix it. If it’s Premier League paying money to EFL (English Football League), because as far as I understand it, it’s because of that. So someone has to fix it. It should be very, very easy."

Frank relaxed about Van de Ven future

Tottenham boss Thomas Frank is relaxed about the future of defender Micky van de Ven, insisting he has a big part to play in plans moving forward.

The Dutchman netted twice in the 3-0 win over Everton, making him the club's top scorer this season with five goals.

His impressive performances have seen him linked with the likes of Real Madrid in recent times, but with other important players such as Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur recently tying themselves down to longer deals at Spurs, Frank isn't phased by the speculation surrounding his centre-back.

“Yeah, very happy with Micky. I think he has been brilliant for the club since he signed and he has taken some steps up this season,” Frank said ahead of Spurs' Carabao Cup fourth round tie with Newcastle.

“He actually defends even better. He is still very good on the ball, he added the goals and the headed goals, which I am very happy with. He’s a threat from set-pieces.

“Character and leadership also growing and as far as I know, we have a good contract with him but definitely a player I see with a big future at the club.

“I think he is happy here, that is very important and we’re happy with him, so let’s see what happens in the future.

“The most important thing is it looks like he really enjoys his football, he really enjoys his time here, I am very happy with him, everyone is really happy, so that’s a good sign.”

'We'll definitely go for it!' | Frank says Spurs won't hold back at Newcastle

Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank says his side will "definitely be going for it" at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup as they chase their second piece of silverware in two seasons.

Frank: It's about finding the small margins

Spurs head coach Thomas Frank on whether the game is now more direct in the Premier League:

"I haven't seen every game, every league, or at least just the top five leagues. When you just focus on the Premier League, we have more goals this season from set pieces so far.

"Definitely more long throws in general from a lot of teams. So that's definitely a clear example of more focus on it.

"I think every club wants to compete. It's about finding the small margins. I think the success that we had at Brentford was maybe not as fancy because it was a smaller club.

"But also that Arsenal picked it up. I think Liverpool two or three years ago as well. So the top clubs also picked it up. So I think we probably need to do this if we want to be able to compete or raise the bar to be even better. So I think that's probably it."

"For me, I think every phase of the game we need to be good at. We want to build a top team. But set pieces obviously. I think it's a third of all goals, isn't it? Something like that.

"Do the right thing. Construct the team so you can defend them. But definitely attack them. I think that's a major strength. I'm very happy with how we are at the moment with that."

Frank: We will do everything to win at Newcastle

Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank says his side will do everything they can to win this season's Carabao Cup ahead of their clash with holders Newcastle United at St James' Park on Wednesday evening, a tie you can see live on Sky Sports.

Frank has made an impressive start to his time in charge of the north London club having replaced previous boss Ange Postecoglou at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium last summer.

The popular Australian was sacked despite guiding the club to victory in last season's UEFA Europa League by beating Man Utd in the final - the club's first piece of silverware since 2008 - but the new Spurs coach says his team are going all out to win every tournament they compete in this season.

"I think it was very clear that we're in this game because we love it," said the Dane ahead of Spurs' trip to the northeast on Wednesday night."

"And if you are in a club like Tottenham we would like to do whatever we can to win.

"I said from the beginning I'd like to be able to compete in every tournament. We have an opportunity in the tournament where we play, not tomorrow but Wednesday, against a very strong team. The holders have done very well. It's a very difficult place to play.

"But we'll go out there and do everything we can to compete and win and progress."