Brentford manager, Thomas Frank has admitted that the club can take heart from a “positive” Third Round exit in 2022-23 FA Cup.
Frank’s Bees suffered a narrow 1-0 home loss to West Ham courtesy of a 79th minute winner from ex player, Said Benrahma.
Brentford though only mustered one shot on target throughout the match in difficult weather conditions, which left the Danish manager feeling “disappointed” with the defeat but vowed that he is “positive” about the benefits of “a real fine performance” with controlled dominance.
Reflecting with Brentford’s official website on the team’s overall display despite making seven changes, Frank commented: “We dominated the game and we created chances. It was a tight, narrow game, but I thought if there was a winner it should have been us.”
Frank though felt that the players lacked “that final, quality decisiveness and all margins with us to score the first goal.”
Defender, Kristoffer Ajer meanwhile made his first start in just over two months following his recovery from a knee injury.
“It was very, very good to see Kristoffer out there,” added Frank as he praised the Norwegian for a strong “performance” which felt like he hadn’t been absent for the last two months.
New signing, Kevin Schade was utilised as a substitute in the 69th minute with Frank delighted by the German’s “positive” impact upon the game despite the loss.
On Schade’s immediate best qualities, Frank added: “I saw some of his pace there and his directness. He was in and around when the ball dropped. He was in there for the second ball and the duels. I liked that.”
Brentford now shift their focus to the remainder of the Premier League season where they’re in a tight battle for a possible top-six finish, currently sat ninth and two points behind sixth-placed Liverpool with a home clash against Bournemouth on Sky Sports next Saturday (14 January) evening.
The 49 year-old manager therefore is eager to see his Bees continue their upward form despite seeing their seven-match unbeaten run in all competitions – excluding penalty shootouts – ended on home turf.
“We’re in a good run of form in the Premier League and we want to continue that,” said Frank as he admits that the team need to be wary of a “very difficult” Bournemouth and “hit a top performance”, as he vowed to get “on the players from Monday morning.”
On what will be needed to ensure that his team can quickly bounce back from this defeat and avoid hitting a rut, Frank concluded: “We need to train like animals the whole week to keep the intensity up and come out flying on Saturday.”
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