Jensen ‘needs to step up’ following Eriksen’s departure
Brentford boss Thomas Frank has urged midfielder Mathias Jensen to “step up” following the departure of Christian Eriksen to Manchester United.
Eriksen rejected the offer of a new deal with Brentford to sign for United on a three-year deal, having spent the second half of last season with the Bees on a short-term contract.
The 30-year-old’s arrival came at the expense of Jensen, who lost his place in the team to the former Spurs and Inter Milan playmaker.
And while Frank accepts that he will not be able to replace Eriksen directly, he is hoping to find different ways for his team to create chances.
“I’ve said it many times that of course I would have loved him to stay,” Frank said.
“He obviously brought a lot of quality to us. We can’t replace that, that’s impossible to replace Eriksen’s quality.
“But we can hopefully replace it with something different. So when a player goes out if they are sold or get injured, always another player steps in.
“You tweak things that create other relationships, other dynamics. That’s what I’m constantly trying to think about. Hopefully we can construct a different game where we can still create a lot of chances.
“But Mathias, for example, needs to step up a bit more. I still think we have some very interesting midfielders in both Shandon (Baptiste), Josh (Dasilva) and even Saman (Ghoddos), that have some of those qualities.”
