Frank defends Brentford’s more direct approach

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has defended his decision to adopt a more direct approach and insisted he is happy to sacrifice style if it means staying in the Premier League.

A barnstorming start to life in the top flight for the first time in over 70 years saw the Bees beat Arsenal in the season opener, draw 3-3 with Liverpool and give Chelsea a huge fright in a narrow 1-0 defeat following a furious second-half aerial bombardment at the Brentford Community Stadium.

The Bees also chalked up excellent away wins at Wolves and West Ham but have since tailed off, taking just four points from a possible 21 in their past seven matches.

At Tottenham on Thursday, Frank’s side offered little variety in attack in a 2-0 defeat relying on the long throws of Charlie Goode in a vain attempt to disrupt the Spurs defence.

It was a tactic that was unheard during the Championship days when they cultivated a reputation as one of the most creative sides outside of the top flight.

But Frank denies they have drifted away completely from the swashbuckling style that earned them a long-awaited and deserved promotion after 74-year absence from the top level of the game, but insists against the better resourced sides his team need to use physicality of Ivan Toney to try and disrupt the rhythm of their opponents.

“I think if you look at all of our games individually you can clearly see the intention that we try to build from behind and get on the ball,” Frank said.

“Against Tottenham it was clear we really wanted to be on the ball, but in moments we do go longer at certain opportunities because we have Ivan up top and I also think it is a good idea to mix it up.

“We are also facing more quality and we are not one of the best teams in the league like we were last year.

“So it is still a case of wanting to create but getting the balance of being a pressing team and doing what we need to do to get enough points to stay up.

“We are a team that are more physical than other teams and in the Championship we dominated a lot of games.

“But in those games didn’t need to use long throws because it was not an advantage to us.

“But in games where we are facing a team like Tottenham, where we know we can much them in tempo but we can’t match them in quality, we have to take the game to them.”

Brentford travel to Leeds on Sunday in a match that both sides need to win to stop them sliding towards the bottom three.

The Bees are currently in 13th spot and a defeat would see Marcelo Bielsa’s team leapfrog them in the table.

“It’s another Premier League game and one we are looking forward to,” Frank said.

“It’s a great place to play.”