Frank hints he won’t change formation despite Bees defeats

Thomas Frank has urged his Brentford team to “look forward” after heavy back-to-back away defeats.

The Bees’ past two away games have seen them thumped 5-1 at Newcastle then hammered 4-0 at Villa.

They return home on Saturday to take on Wolves, but asked whether the results had changed any of his ideas about how to approach away games, Brentford boss Frank said: “I think I’d rather look forward. We need to perform well and play well and beat Wolves.

“And when we play Nottingham Forest, we need to show we can put a good away performance in.

“Of course I knew we were going to Villa Park to play a team that had been suffering and had changed their manager.

“I knew what to expect. I hoped and actually expected that we would handle it a little bit differently but moments, goals, things happen in the game that unfortunately meant it turned out like it did.

“We need to look behind it and analyse it. Especially, I would say, the Newcastle one was that more freak one in terms of three big personal mistakes, a set-piece goal and a well-drilled goal.

“Besides that, there was a lot of good things in the game.”

Brentford are yet to win away in the Premier League this season in six attempts, but have lost just once at home – and could return to the top half of the table should results go their way this weekend.

Frank opted to go with a back three in both of his side’s recent away defeats but is refusing to make any sweeping judgements based on the losses, including on the system he plays.

“The funny thing is that I think when we play with a back three, we are more solid defensively. And we’ve showed that many, many times in the games we’ve played here in the Premier League,” he said.

“So that’s why we shouldn’t just think because we were in a back three, now we need to play with a back four or a completely different system in any way.

“In general, when I change systems it’s because I think it’s the best way to win that game and I’m not looking too much back on what happened in the game before.”

Meanwhile, Christian Norgaard is closing in on a return to action having been out since August with an Achilles problem.

And Keane Lewis-Potter is set to return to the squad to face Wolves after missing out against Aston Villa as he continued his recovery from a foot injury, while Ben Mee is also available for selection having been an unsused sub against Villa due to carrying a slight ankle knock.