Heading into Sunday’s fixture against Aston Villa, Thomas Frank spoke to reporters at the club’s Jersey Road Training Ground, revealing an update on Bryan Mbeumo’s injury and of course speaking about how his side could match up against Unai Emery’s men.
‘We all have that bounce-back mentality’
Thomas Frank was asked about the mentality of the group and if the focus was still there having lost four of the last five matches, the last of which was a 1-0 defeat away at Sheffield United.
‘The players train good; win, draw, and lose. I think we all have that bounce-back mentality after, and it was a disappointing result. Second half we played bad, that happens in football – it will probably happen again… hopefully not on Sunday but its how we react to these situations.’
‘Mbeumo out for 12 weeks’
Frank told reporters on Friday that Bryan Mbeumo would be having an ‘operation today, in the ankle, out for 12 weeks so that will affect his AFCON. Bryan is a positive guy, everyone that gets a setback is tough to take but he will come back stronger. I am convinced he will come back stronger.’
Mathias Jensen remains on the injury list too, with Frank explaining that his injury is ‘tendon related, it doesn’t heal as good as we think. So he will be out for Sunday.‘ Moving forward, Frank hopes that he would be available for ‘either Wolves or ready for Nottingham’.
Despite the bad news about Mbeumo and others, there was some news for Brentford fans to cheer about as Nathan Collins was ‘training with the group, so he could be available’ and Michael Olakigbe’s availability to the group was highlighted as ‘very important’. Frank noted that he had been ‘training with us every day’ since the summer, despite not being selected for the first team then.
Embed from Getty ImagesEmery is ‘a student of the game‘
Frank also piled praise onto the man who would be in the opposite dugout on Sunday, explaining that ‘what I like about [Unai Emery] is that he always tries to develop. For example, his high line is something I haven’t seen from his sides before Villa which shows he’s a student of the game.’
Frank also spoke positively about his side though, adding that ‘we know we are a threat against any team in this division and hopefully, we will be there on Sunday and we will do what we can to execute our game plan and hopefully get 3 points.’
Villa could be ‘title contenders’
Villa have no doubt been impressive this season, and asked whether he thought they could challenge for the title, Frank explained that ‘any team who is in and around the top 4 can be title contenders. Same with Villa, it’s all about keeping the performances and results throughout the season. If they keep it up they will perhaps on paper, but there are more favourites like Liverpool, City, and Arsenal.’
