Frank backs Bees to ‘do something’ against Man City

Brentford boss Thomas Frank believes his side’s shock Carabao Cup third-round exit would not have happened “19 times out of 20” – and believes they can bounce back against Manchester City on Saturday.

Frank’s side were sent out of the tournament by League Two strugglers Gillingham after losing 6-5 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in which the Gills had just one shot all game to Brentford’s 16, with the Bees also enjoying 81% of the possession.

But Brentford failed to build on Ivan Toney’s early opener and while Frank admits the loss was a painful one, he is refusing to get too carried away.

“It was very painful to lose because I put a strong team out there and really wanted to progress to the next round,” he said.

“When I see all the big teams that are going out, it’s a little bit more painful.

“But this football. This happens. This is why we constantly say that there are no easy games and that everything can happen in football.

“There’s a lot of things that we could have done better in the game but I’m still a big believer that this probably wouldn’t happen 19 out of 20 times.

“We had 16 shots, they had one. They decided to score all six of their penalties and we scored five and missed one.

“Sometimes you can’t really explain it. Looking back at the game of course we could have played quicker, we could have found the positions quicker, we could have produced more crosses, we could have stayed more on the last line, we could have played more forward.

“So all that, I will beat myself up with how we could do that better. But it’s football, that’s why it’s so beautiful.

“It was a cup game. It was a team where we played with a 3-4-3 shape which I don’t think we’ve started with once. It was a little bit (to do with) new players, a few new positions, so it just didn’t go our way and I will look at the small football things.”

The Bees travel to City having won just one of their past eight Premier League games.

“If we touch the ball that would be nice,” Frank joked ahead of the game against Pep Guardiola’s team.

He added: “But we have never gone into a game without the belief that we are capable of winning.

“Is it going to be difficult? Unbelievably difficult against maybe, potentially, the best team in the world. They have an almost complete squad and they added Erling Haaland, who will destroy goal records in the coming years.

“They are an unbelievably difficult side to close down but I back our side to do something.”