Henry withdrawal was a precaution, says Frank

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has played down the half-time substitution of Rico Henry in his side’s 3-0 loss to Liverpool and is confident he will be fit to face to Manchester United on Wednesday.

Henry, who had been sidelined since picking up a hamstring injury in the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat against Chelsea last month, was impressive up against England full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold but didn’t appear for the second half after picking a dead leg.

“It was more precautionary to take him off. It was planned that he would play 60 minutes, but he got a contact in the first half and we decided it was not worth the risk,” Frank said.

“It was fantastic to have him back. He is a big player for us and we don’t have anyone else like him. It will be good to have him back and playing more games.”

The defeat at Anfield followed Tuesday’s 4-1 thrashing by Southampton, and with Manchester United visiting the Community Stadium on Wednesday, Frank admits his team need to sharpen up defensively.

At St Mary’s the Saints scored twice from corners and the Bees conceded again from a set-piece when Roberto Firmino opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time by heading in from close range after Alexander-Arnold’s corner was allowed to bounce inside the box.

Liverpool’s third goal came from a mix-up between Alvaro Fernandez and Christian Norgaard, allowing Firmino to win the ball and tee up substitute Takumi Minamino for a simple finish.

“We are very aware of it and if you want to be a good team in the Premier League you have to do all the phases well,” Frank said.

“But if you are a newly-promoted Premier League team you need to be very good at defending set-pieces and you can’t concede soft goals.

“I felt in the first 10-12 games of the season we were brilliant at them, and then for whatever reason we have from conceded set-pieces in recent weeks and we need to do better.”