Manager, Thomas Frank has praised his Brentford team for ‘total dominance’ in 2-0 win over West Ham amidst Ivan Toney’s absence.
First-half goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa saw Frank’s Bees cruise past West Ham to guarantee a top-ten finish in just their second Premier League season.
Brentford though were without their top goalscorer and lead striker, Ivan Toney who missed out with “a hamstring injury,” although Frank iterated that Toney would undergo assessment with view of returning for their trip to London rivals – Tottenham on Saturday 20 May at 12:30pm BST.
Frank in-turn praised Kevin Schade, Wissa and Mbeumo for stepping up in Toney’s absence, as he commented: “I think the front three looked exciting. Kevin, Wissa and Bryan together looked good.
“I would obviously like Ivan in the team, but you need other players that can step in and Wissa, again today, stepped in and scored. Fantastic.”
The Dane also applauded their teammates for playing their part in the overall “top, top performance”, which left him “very happy” because wins in their final two games coupled with defeats for Spurs could see them finish the season as London’s second-best team behind Arsenal.
Frank even compared this home win with their same victory over West Ham last season, which he thought “was a bit similar” but felt that his team were “even more dominant” this season with “massive chances” to have potentially scored at least two further goals.
With Europa League qualificatio not totally out of the question if results elsewhere go in their favour in the final two matchweeks, Frank iterated that his players are not “on the beach” mentally as he hailed how “determined” they’re to finish the season for the “fantastic fans” at the club.
On achieving a top-ten finish, Frank warned that they are not settling for tenth and want to finish higher, as he concluded: “A top-10 finish is now confirmed, which is an unbelievable achievement, but we would like to do more and finish as high as possible.”
Wissa Hails “very good performance”
Wissa echoed Frank’s thoughts about their win as he commented: “It was a very good performance from everyone,” whilst acknowledging that more goals were achievable but he is “happy” for his teammates and fans.
On scoring his sixth goal of the season from Ben Mee’s flick-on of Mathias Jensen’s throw-in, Wissa iterated that his team know the importance of awareness at “set-pieces and be switched on,” if want to maximise their chances outside of open play.
Wissa added that he had been keen to score at least one more goal this season at home, as he concluded: “I was happy for the team, and for myself as well, because I wanted to score. I know I can score from anywhere – either foot or my head – so I just need to be in the right positions.”
Leave a Reply