Tottenham captain Cristian Romero appeared to take aim at the club's hierarchy, accusing them of spreading "lies" in a now-deleted social media post. 

Spurs fell to a 3-2 defeat at the Vitality Stadium against Bournemouth on Wednesday, with Antoine Semenyo's 95th-minute winner piling more pressure on Thomas Frank. 

Indeed, since the start of last season, only Wolves (36) have suffered more Premier League defeats than Tottenham (30 – level with West Ham and Southampton).

And following their latest loss, which leaves them 14th in the Premier League and seven points adrift of the top four, Romero let his feelings known about the situation off the pitch.

The Argentine has since deleted that post and uploaded an almost identical statement, omitting the part about telling lies but still appearing to criticise senior figures at the club.

"Apologies to all fans of you who follow us everywhere, who are always there and will continue to be," Romero posted. 

"We are responsible, there's no doubt about that. But we will keep facing up to it and trying to turn the situation around, for ourselves and for the club.

"At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don't – as has been happening for several years now. They only show up when things are going well.

"We'll stay here, working, sticking together and giving our all to turn things around.

"Especially at times like this, keeping quiet, working harder and moving forward all together, is part of football."

Tottenham fans have expressed their concerns towards Frank in recent weeks, with Spurs winning just one of their last six Premier League games over the festive period. 

A chorus of jeers greeted the players after draws with Brentford on New Year's Day and Sunderland last Sunday, and those tensions appeared to spill over on the South Coast. 

Micky van de Ven and Joao Palhinha exchanged words with Spurs fans following full-time, while Pedro Porro had to be pulled away from an altercation by Guglielmo Vicario.

And ahead of the game, images shared across social media showed Frank drinking from a coffee cup with the badge of Spurs' arch-rivals Arsenal on it. 

Tottenham return to north London this Saturday for their FA Cup third-round clash with Aston Villa before taking on city rivals West Ham on January 17.