Here is every word Thomas Frank just said ahead of his Brentford reunion with Tottenham
Thomas Frank has revealed Tottenham have not picked up any fresh injury concerns following the spirited draw at Newcastle in midweek.
The Dane has also been speaking about his time at the Bees and has also touched upon Keith Andrews, who he will be facing in the opposition dugout.
Here is every word Frank just said at Hotspur Way.
Thomas Frank derby against Brentford, any extra incentive to try and put that home record right?
Yeah, I think of course it’s a little bit more special for me because I’ve faced Brentford where I’ve been for nine years. That’s almost a quarter of my life. I had a fantastic time there. I enjoyed every second of it. There’s a lot of people I will see on Saturday that I haven’t seen for a long time. I used to see them every day more or less.
So that will be special. Of course as well it would be not true not to say that and it is very true. But today it’s been a preparation against the team. Players I know very well of course, small tweaks to what you could say I used to do. But a lot of the identity is the same in many ways which make it difficult in many ways. But when the whistle goes it’s all about getting three points and winning.
Will you celebrate if you score against your old team?
Yeah, I will. Because I think everyone respects the respect I got for Brentford. The fans, everyone before kick-off, after kick-off, after the final whistle. In the 90 minutes plus it’s all about one thing. Do what we can to win the game.
Brentford struggling away, you’re struggling at home, something has to give?
Yeah, definitely. It will be a nice timing for us to get the three points on Saturday. There’s only one way to do that. Put a good performance in there. Work on the things we are constantly working on. Phase two, phase three. Constantly make it sharper, quicker. Not direct, but more penetration when we need to have that. Play with intensity, come out brave. I’m looking forward to the game.
Any injuries?
No, everyone from the game should be ready.
What did you make of that half-time huddle that the players did?
I think it’s on the pitch. The more they can encourage each other, the more there’s a positive body language, the more, they can, you know, all the small setbacks, all the good positive actions, I think that just builds to that togetherness and that performance. So I think it’s good. They’re out there on the pitch, they’re out in the arena. None of us is out there. I know I stand close to it, but I’m not in there. They need to sort it out and they can only do that together.
When did you know Keith Andrews would make a good manager?
I think first and foremost, I think it’s a big credit to Brentford to be brave enough to promote within, but also have built something over time. So I’ve been there nine years and that was nine years, seven years almost as a head coach. And it’s definitely not about me, it’s about what we together built there, that consistency, stability and high performance level at the level. So that culture, knowing who we are, what we want to be, that was easier to, how can you say, continue with appointing Keith and I think he’s done a remarkable job. It is never easy to step up to your first head coach role.
The club lost crucial players in the summer and the way they just continued, you can see they got what I would call the Brentford identity and he knows that with culture and style of play and kept it but also tweaked it with his idea because we’re all different. So big praise. And what I saw in Keith, a very good man, good values, good coach, had leadership potential. Yeah, so very impressive.
Who had the more difficult job at the beginning of the season?
That’s a good question. No, no, no, that’s a very good question. I don’t know which was the, I think it’s, how can you say, difficult challenge, experience, whatever you call it, two different levels. He’s come within the club but he still needs to, he’s standing out there a little bit more on his own in front of everyone facing players, staff, owners, press, everything. And at the end of the day, it’s his decision and dealing with the ups and downs.
Son returns next week, will he give you luck?
That would be nice. No doubt about that. I’m so pleased for Sonny that he comes back and then really hopefully gets the well-deserved celebration and for everything he’s done for this club. I think he was a fantastic sending off in South Korea. But on Tuesday, I really hoped he got that. Yeah, they really applaud him. On Sonny, he was a character who was really good at bringing people together at this club.
Have you missed Son in the dressing room and around the place?
Yeah, I don’t know. I would say he’s not here, so others need to step up. It’s like when you miss a player for whatever reason, because leadership qualities are part of Sonny, bringing people together, also part of Sonny, whatever. The level they had, others will step up, others will shine a little bit more, because some of the players that were there before took the shine, if that makes sense.
Do you have a first-choice left-winger?
I think it’s fair to say that there is competition for that left-side role. I think everyone can see that there’s two things in it. We’ve played a fair amount of games, we play every third, fourth day, so there needs to be rotation as well. But also fair to say there’s not been one player that put his foot down, boom, I’m playing that position.
Any update on Kulusevski and Solanke?
No, I said it. I’m happy. I think 10 days ago I got a question. When they are ready to really be close to be involved in the squad, then I will give more information.
When’s Tel going to get his chance?
That’s a good question. When I take the decision. We spoke about Mathys before. It’s been a toughish season for him. Of course, the first thing was we can’t run away from that. He was not involved in the Champions League squad, but the way he carries himself, the way he trains, his mindset is very good. And that’s also why I’ve used him in games. And he also started mainly as a nine in the games he played this season. I’m very aware that he also can play off the left, so it’s a little bit about what kind of type and who you go with and how many players you can go with on the side and stuff like that. The only thing that any player can do is to keep training well, keep doing everything they can to make it very difficult for me when I make my decisions.
Xavi has not started in the last four, has he done enough in training?
Xavi has trained fantastic. The last five, six times we had he really could train very good attitude on the training pitch. I like that a lot. And we played different games with different lineups. I think that Xavi was towards something better and better. And as long as he’s the same like Mati [Tel], trains well, good attitude, then we’re getting closer and closer. And I think it’s also fair to say that he’s coming on in all four games we’ve played.
Is there a reason why you didn’t start Xavi against Fulham?
No, it’s just different scenarios. We played with two strikers against PSG. Both of them scored. I think it’s fair to say that. And I would not say that we struggled to score because we scored 23 goals. I think that’s quite a fairly high amount. So that’s quite good. But we also played with the two just a little bit different roles against Man United. So it’s just different personnel and who’s been a little bit in form and stuff like that.
