Tim Sherwood has told Thomas Frank to “abandon” taking players around the pitch to thank supporters, after Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence appeared to snub the Tottenham manager following the defeat to Chelsea.

Frank defended Van de Ven and Spence after they appeared to ignore him and walk down the tunnel following a 1-0 home defeat on Saturday.

Joao Pedro struck in the 34th minute to help Chelsea inflict more pain on toothless Spurs with a fifth consecutive victory over their London rivals, and Frank’s team were booed off after they produced only one shot on target all game.

Jamie O'Hara was fuming at two Spurs stars against Chelsea

The Lilywhites’ form at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been a serious issue under multiple managers, with the club now on 41 home league defeats since moving there in 2019. To put that into perspective, Arsenal have lost just seven more (48) in their ground, which was opened in 2006.

Van de Ven and Spence headed towards the tunnel at full-time as Frank seemingly requested they thank the home support, an issue the manager tried to sweep aside post-match.

The trend of players walking around the ground to thank supporters regardless of result is not one that’s struck a chord with former boss Sherwood however, who told Frank to “abandon” the ritual and referenced Jurgen Klopp’s influence at Liverpool.

“When you’re the manager at Tottenham and you lose at home, an emotional game, to one of your London rivals. They were very poor on the day. Some of the players are not going to be greeted with applause from the fans,” Sherwood told Sky Sports on Monday.

“At Brentford the bar is lower, you can do that, you can walk around and they’ll clap you off being very polite. Tottenham fans aren’t gonna be that polite.

“The only problem he’s got is it’s two of his best players. Van de Ven and Spence are the best players Tottenham have at the moment. So it would be very difficult to cut your nose off to spite your face with them two.”

He ended by comparing Frank’s gesture to Klopp’s time at Liverpool, when the German famously thanked fans after a 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion at Anfield.

“You have to abandon that, it’s a new thing… It’s spread over the last five years, Jurgen Klopp was very big on it. I remember the game when they scored a last minute goal against West Brom, and he took everyone up. Some of the players must have thought ‘we’re Liverpool, we’re playing at Anfield and he’s taking us there’.

“But after a result like that, I’ve been there, Tottenham fans are not having that sort of performance.”