Frank pleased with comeback but wants Bees to tighten up

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank urged his side to tighten up at the back – despite thrashing Blackburn for their biggest win since the opening day of the season.

Frank’s side were 2-0 down inside the first seven minutes at Griffin Park before recovering to triumph 5-2 thanks to Ollie Watkins’ brace and goals from Said Benrahma, Neal Maupay and substitute Sergi Canos.

But the Bees boss played down his side’s overall performance, which he felt was inferior to the standards they reached in their previous home game, a 3-1 win against Stoke.

“Turning the game from 2-0 down into 5-2 is very pleasing and I’m very proud of them but we can’t start like this again,” said Frank.

“Both goals were good from Blackburn, but we need to do better defensively. I think we were a little bit flat and it was disappointing because we highlighted so much that Blackburn are a good side – and a good side in form.

“But I looked at the players’ body language and the way they communicated with each other – they didn’t panic. That was the best thing, that we defended well in the second half and it was difficult for Blackburn to break us down.

“Throughout the game, I don’t think it was a top performance. Stoke was a top performance and I think that game was even more pleasing because we controlled it.”

Frank confirmed he does not intend to make many changes to his line-up when Brentford take on National League side Barnet in their FA Cup fourth-round replay at Griffin Park on Tuesday.

However, the Bees could be without left wing-back Rico Henry, who went off injured at half-time and will be assessed in the next 24 hours.

“I think Barnet played the match of their life (in the 3-3 draw at The Hive) and we’ll definitely respect them on Tuesday,” added Frank.

“I have two dreams – one is to go on a cup run on Tuesday and the one after that is the next game. You can’t look further ahead.