Brentford vs Burnley: Thomas Frank celebrates five years and hopeful luck will improve
Thomas Frank is hoping to ring in his fifth anniversary as Brentford head coach with the Bees’ first home win of the season. Despite dropping the most points from winning positions of any team in the Premier League, Frank was adamant he is happy with his team’s form.
Brentford have not won since their 3-0 win at Fulham in August, where they also kept their only clean sheet of the season. They have dropped a total of 11 points from winning positions this season.
Frank puts some of the results down to bad luck. The injuries have not helped, either.
He reflected, “in terms of performances, we had [a] bad performance against Everton, the rest have been good. And definitely some of the games we should have won.”
After their devastating 2-1 loss at Old Trafford on October 7th, the international break might have come at the perfect time for his side. Since returning from break, team preparation focused more heavily on tomorrow’s task against Burnley instead of reviewing the defeat.
On the loss, Frank said, “I would say that was brutal. No doubt about that. I think it’s important to speak about the elephant in the room.
“For me, it took more than 24 hours, definitely. Because it was just tough. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced in my career and a few others haven’t done that to go into extra time leading with one and then lose.
“But that was tough. But it’s football, move on.”
Despite the heartbreaking end, Frank was once again optimistic about how his team played and what it means for the rest of the season.
“If we can replicate the 92 minutes, the first 92 minutes in the next 30 games, I think will be more than good the rest of the season.”
All Brentford internationals came back fit, so there are no new injuries to report. Goalkeeper Mark Flekken is available tomorrow after a bout of appendicitis caused him to miss the trip to Manchester. Luckily, he was able to be treated with antibiotics and avoid surgery. Defender Ben Mee trained with the team all week and is also in contention for selection tomorrow.
When asked about Darren England’s return as fourth official tomorrow, Frank gave a similar response to Vincent Kompany’s yesterday. He does not have an issue with England’s inclusion, reiterating that human error is part of the game.
Frank praised Kompany’s “very, very impressive promotion campaign last year.” The Brentford manager sees the pace of their front three as Burnley’s greatest asset, as well as their clear vision of how they want to play. He also empathised with their league position, believing Burnley have also been unlucky in some of their results.
Frank is hoping his players and the crowd’s energy will work together tomorrow for another quality performance, with a better end-result.
“We need to do it together to push along. Constantly say to the players that we need to give something to the fans and they will give back and hopefully it can be like a synergy where we are just working hard together towards the win.”
