Thomas Frank reacts to a 3-1 defeat on New Years Day

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Brentford manager Thomas Frank reacts to a 3-1 defeat on New Years Day against one of the toughest teams in the Premier League  01/01/2025  Brentford Stadium, London, UK

Transcript

00:00Hi everyone. Ready when you are.

00:03How did you assess the game?

00:10I felt that we all performed well in the game.

00:15Very pleased, especially with the first half.

00:18I also think the second half was not too bad either.

00:21The three big moments in the game we didn't do perfect.

00:26Then we faced a team that are one of the two best teams in the league and in the country right now.

00:33They had the quality and they punished us.

00:37But the overall game I was very happy with that.

00:40I thought we were brave.

00:42That was a big thing to try to win the game.

00:44I thought we were good in phase one and relatively easy.

00:48Played out of their pressure and found some good positions.

00:52I thought we were good in the high pressure and the madman.

00:55I thought we defended well low.

00:58Scored a brilliant goal to 1-0.

01:00We need to do better in the first goal, no doubt about that.

01:03If we want to beat Arsenal, that is a very, very good team.

01:06We need to do better.

01:07Second one, we know set-pieces, they are good at that.

01:11We actually only gave three corners away.

01:14Which is the fewest corners we gave away in three years in the Premier League against Arsenal.

01:19So there is a paradox in that.

01:23I need to look more into detail, but we could have done better.

01:29But I need to acknowledge they are very good at it.

01:33We need to learn from the best.

01:36We also dropped a little bit for them.

01:39And the third one as well, we need to do better.

01:41The manner of the goal was a little bit disappointing.

01:43Obviously you were playing into clear lines.

01:45Yeah, I agree.

01:47And then Fabio Carvalho, obviously not in the squad.

01:50Minor injury.

01:52Any details on that?

01:54Muscle.

01:57Hi Thomas, good to see you again.

01:59I wanted to ask you about Damsgaard.

02:01He seems like he is a completely different player to his first two seasons at Brentford.

02:06Was there a particular moment this season or over the last year

02:11where you thought Dams has finally reached the level he was going to?

02:17I thought that...

02:20We all know the first couple of seasons were a little bit tricky.

02:24He came back from a year out.

02:26So the first one would just take time to get up to speed.

02:30Second year, we got the knee injury.

02:33I was out for four months and then took time.

02:35And then we were a little bit in a messy run of games and didn't perform that well.

02:40We played some minutes, a few games, a good pre-season.

02:44And I always liked him, knew what he was capable of.

02:48And then he just got the games he probably needed.

02:54And had the fitness now.

02:56And also took a lot of responsibility himself.

02:59But when I really saw the game...

03:01For me the game against...

03:03Was it Nottingham Forest?

03:05Yeah, that was the game we played at home.

03:07I thought he was really, really good.

03:08He was like, OK, give me the ball, I'll take care of this.

03:10I loved that attitude.

03:12So yeah, I'm pleased where he is.

03:14Of course, want more.

03:16What some people maybe don't realise is that he used to play on the left wing a lot, right?

03:21So how did you actually transform him into someone who drops deep and carries the ball further up the pitch?

03:28How long did that take?

03:29I think for me he is a quite flexible player.

03:33Basically we just need to find him.

03:36Give the best player the ball.

03:39So we need to find a position where he can get on the ball and try to create things.

03:44Either by passes or a few passes or drive through the ball.

03:47So he's got a flexible role.

03:49No matter if he starts from the left, from the right or as a 10 second striker.

03:53Have you seen a difference in him now that he's playing games where you just said give the best player the ball?

03:59Is he now confident?

04:01Yeah, confidence of course.

04:02We all know that.

04:03That's very important.

04:04He definitely is much more confident.

04:07So it's a combination of being physically fit.

04:09I think no one can underestimate how important that is.

04:12To feel that you have power in your legs when you do your actions.

04:16And can do repeated actions again and again and again.

04:20And then of course the confidence.

04:23Thomas, you didn't concede many corners but the corner that led to Arsenal's second goal could have been prevented.

04:29It looked like they let the ball go out of play.

04:32Did you think it was going to be a goal kick or was that an intentional decision?

04:38Honestly, I don't know.

04:39Of course I looked into that and see we can avoid it.

04:42But I always think we just need to defend the next one.

04:46It's not like we conceded 12, we conceded 3.

04:49How do you reverse this slight dip in results?

04:53Is it just a case of getting more bodies back or more bodies in?

04:56What, this game?

04:58Or just a general kind of loss?

05:01I think we performed well against Brighton last game.

05:07I go into every game and believe we can win.

05:13Every game.

05:14And that's the way the team played today.

05:16They also believed that we could win.

05:18But the reality is that we are facing a team that is second in the league or something like that.

05:22Competing for the title.

05:24Relatively better, maybe player for player.

05:28So it's not a massive surprise that we lose to them.

05:31But of course we believe that we can beat them.

05:33So I look at the performance and we can perform like we did today.

05:36And hopefully be even better and be more perfect in the big moments.

05:42Then I'm confident that we will win the game soon.

05:45Welcome.

05:46Sorry, I just want to double check with Van der Beek.

05:48That was within the plan to take him on?

05:50There's no injury.

05:53But it was just being a little bit cautious.

05:57He just came back and 3-1 down against Arsenal.

06:00With the best defense in the league.

06:02Not giving many chances away.

06:03I didn't think it was odds on to win the game.

06:17He did what, sorry?

06:19Did the same to us?

06:21No, I think like any coach or any individual person that strives for perfection.

06:30He works hard every day.

06:33Analyzes things well. Innovative.

06:37So he's always adjusting the blueprint to be perfect.

06:42And it looks quite perfect at this moment in time.

06:46But then I think it's that relentless consistency in the messages and the small details that they nail every single time.

06:54Welcome.

06:55Anything else?

06:57We'll leave it there then. Thank you very much everybody.

06:59Thank you guys.

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