Tottenham's bigger issue clear in telling Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence snub reaction

Tottenham players have faced accusations of "lacking leadership" following Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence's apology for their conduct after the defeat to Chelsea.

Spurs endured boos from their own supporters after suffering a 1-0 defeat against their west London neighbours in the Premier League on Saturday evening. Fans were left even more incensed when video footage emerged showing captain Van de Ven and Spence apparently disregarding Thomas Frank's directive to acknowledge the crowd, with the clip circulating extensively on social media.

The Tottenham boss confirmed on Monday afternoon that both defenders had subsequently offered their apologies after being spotted trudging dejectedly towards the tunnel instead of remaining with their colleagues to recognise the supporters following the final whistle. However, former Manchester United and Wrexham keeper Ben Foster has launched a scathing attack on the entire Spurs team regarding the episode.

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The ex-England keeper branded the squad as "having no real leaders" whilst claiming they collectively failed to challenge the duo over their behaviour. "It's a massive problem and it's a pure lack of respect," Foster said on his Fozcast podcast.

"It's a lack of respect to the manager, to the team and to the fans. The fans see that and they think, 'You little p*****, we have worked all week for this.

"'We're looking forward to this massive derby and this is how you perform, for one, but then you walk off the pitch.' It shows that there are no real leaders in that team.

"If you've got a real leader in that team, a big captain, he goes over and he goes, 'Woah, no chance.' You don't even need the manager to be able to do that. Even if the fans have booed you throughout the game, you put your shoulders back and go, 'Thanks everybody, we'll do better next week.'"

Despite the concerns the incident raises regarding squad morale, Frank maintains that a line has been drawn under the issue following apologies from both Van de Ven and Spence.

"Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday unprompted and just said they wanted to say sorry for the situation," he said ahead of Tottenham's Champions League clash with Copenhagen on Tuesday.

"They didn't want it to look bad or disrespectful, or any kind of perception you can get in this beautiful media wor‎ld. That was not their intention to me, the team or the club. They were just frustrated by the performance, loss and the booing during the game."

Frank added: "If they didn't come in then I'd have had to ask them about the situation of them walking in, what they were feeling and why they were doing it, because we all have a perception – and we do that strongly.

"[It could be] because their mum wasn't well, or they didn't like the head coach, or they were irritated with the performance because they lost, or whatever. We're very good at that and yet none of us know.

"Of course I'm happy [they came in] because I knew the question would come today. That means they care and I think that's very good, that they care about the team, the club and in this case, me.

"We had a good talk about a lot of things and like with everything, we keep it internally. Like I said to the players, it would be very very very unusual if I ever throw a player under the bus. We're all human and I'll always protect them."