'True and disgraceful!' - Cristian Romero drops bombshell statement after seeing Tottenham make just two January signings amid remarkable injury crisis

Spurs have been in dire form under manager Frank ahead of the weekend's fixtures. The north London club came back from 2-0 down in north London to draw 2-2 with City, doing so despite an injury list that is 13-strong, and includes the likes of James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus, Richarlison and, on Sunday, Romero himself. The Spurs captain had to be substituted at half-time due to illness, and he has now taken to Instagram to send a message to the club's board, with the January window now shut. One new signing, Conor Gallagher, played against City at the weekend, while the other first-team signing of the month, Souza, is a teenage left-back from Brazil. 

Frank has defended Spurs' actions in the window, saying: "The fans just want the best for the club. Just like I want [the best], the owners, the staff, the players, everyone wants the best for the club, but I also think it's fair to say that the transfer window is not Football Manager unfortunately. It is not.

"It would be a lot easier, but also a little bit more boring. We would not have as many good stories to talk about.

"In the last 30 days, you couldn't go to work basically because there is nothing to write about or talk about. So, it is very difficult the transfer market. It's an art, it's a craftsmanship."

Romero wrote on Instagram: "Great effort from all my teammates yesterday ,they were incredible.

"I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available — unbelievable but true  and disgraceful.

"We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together.

"All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans, @spursofficial."

Looking for smarter football bets? Get expert previews, data-driven predictions & winning insights with GOAL Tips on Telegram. Join our growing community now!

Frank has admitted that he and Spurs were attempting to sign Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth before he moved to City; the winger scored at the weekend, having also scored against the club in his final game for Bournemouth.

He said: “The club are working relentlessly to do what they can to improve the squad, especially Johan [Lange], Fabio [Paritici] and Vinai [Venkatesham] and all those behind them. We can't be obsessed with a short-term fix as we cannot limit what we do in the future.

“I can promise the Lewis family are super committed and there is no doubt the club is clear, I will break a rule, we wanted to sign Semenyo. They did everything - that is a big signing with finances and all that.

"So that's the quality of players we're looking for to improve the squad, and if we can't find that, then it's definitely better to take the right decisions.

"Not just saying we're just getting quality players going forward because we all know it's not that easy, and I'm sure, for whatever reason, we are not able to get another player or players in this window, then for the summer it's a big summer ahead, and I'm not in doubt we'll see big improvements there."

Spurs have a remarkably tough February fixture list. Having played City, they now face Manchester United, Newcastle United, and Arsenal on the bounce. They are currently nine points clear of 18th-placed West Ham, and 12 behind fourth-placed United, who have won three games on the bounce under manager Michael Carrick.