Cristian Romero took to Instagram minutes after the January transfer window closed to bemoan the ‘disgraceful’ lack of players Thomas Frank had to call upon in Tottenham’s draw with Manchester City on Sunday.

Romero was withdrawn at half-time thanks to what Frank revealed after the game was an illness, leaving Radu Dragusin on the pitch as Spurs’ only fit centre-back with?Micky van de Ven missing the game with a knock and Kevin Danso out with a toe injury he suffered in the Champions League win in Frankfurt.

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Spurs won a point from 2-0 down after Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo had put Pep Guardiola’s side into what looked like a comfortable lead before a brace from Dominic Solanke was enough to earn a draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

And with the squad in general ravaged by injury, Romero took to Instagram to vent his frustration at the insufficient depth at Tottenham.

‘Great effort from all my team-mates yesterday,’ Romero wrote.

‘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,’ he continued, accompanying the paragraph with a facepalm emoji.

‘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.’

Tottenham have brought inConor Gallagher from Atlético Madrid in a ￡34m deal this winter, while left-back Souza has joined from Santos for ￡13m, and teenage strikers Mason Melia and James Wilson arrived from?St Patrick’s Athletic and Hearts respectively.

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But Spurs fans – promised the purse strings would be loosened following Daniel Levy’s departure – will question why more business wasn’t done in January amid huge pressure on Frank over his future at the club with them sitting 14th in the table.

“I said it, the club worked relentlessly to try to do the best they can to improve the squad, especially Johan, Fabio and Vinai, and of course all the people behind them,” Frank said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s game against Manchester City.

“I mean it, we can’t be too obsessed with short term fix that’s not helping on the long term, because if we don’t do that, all the hard work we put in now can be limited for the future. And that’s not that we (don’t) want badly short-term success as well.

“I can promise that the Lewis family is super committed to this project. They want to do everything, and I would go against my rule, hopefully only once, that there’s no doubt it’s clear that the club wants to sign Semenyo. They did everything.”

“I think that’s a clear signal that the Lewis family is very committed. That’s a big signing with finances and all that. So it’s aligned with that,” Frank continued.

“That’s the quality players we are looking for to improve the squad. And if we can’t find that, then it’s definitely better to take the right decision. It’s not the same that we’re just getting quality players going forward, because we all know it’s not that easy.

“And I’m sure if we’re not, for whatever reason, able to get another player in, or players in this window, then for the summer, it’s a big summer ahead, and I’m sure we’ll see big improvements there.”