Frank welcomes ‘clever’ Brentford fouls
Thomas Frank said Brentford learned lessons from their run of defeats as they bounced back to beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0.
After last week’s defeat at QPR, Frank suggested one of his players should have fouled Chris Willock as he raced away from a Bees corner to set up the hosts’ equaliser.
Against the Owls, both Sergi Canos and Henrik Dalsgaard were booked for bringing down visiting players who were making quick breaks towards the Brentford penalty area.
And Frank said: “We showed we had learned from those last few games and that QPR game hopefully.
“We were clever enough to make those professional fouls – we did those twice today. Every team does them against us, so it is part of the game.”
The Bees boss was especially pleased with his team’s defending and the performance of on-loan veteran defender Winston Reid.
Frank said: “The most important thing is that we defended very well.
“We took the initiative again, but on top of that we kept a clean sheet and scored three goals. It was a solid performance – we love to defend as a team and that was back today.
“With Winston, just his presence on the pitch is spreading among his team-mates.
“We knew when we signed him we needed his personality and experience. He was a giant out there.
“We had two very good centre-backs who had done well, we needed him to come up to speed in terms of fitness and every player needs to be in top shape. Winston is getting there.”
There was some encouraging news on the injury front with the surprise return of Ivan Toney and Emiliano Marcondes to the bench, with both players coming on during the second half.
Toney missed Saturday’s game at Coventry – his first absence of the season – while Marcondes has been out since early January.
Frank explained: “After Tuesday’s press conference I got the news that Ivan was much better than we expected, but was not fit to start.
“It was a surprise that he recovered that well, but it wasn’t possible for him to play more than he did today – he hasn’t trained. It was a late call.”
However, Frank revealed that Josh Dasilva, who was another second-half substitute, will again not be fit to start against Stoke on Saturday.
25/02/2021 @ 9:08 am
If Clever Fouls are allowed to permeate through the lower echelon of football then the officials are not managing the game correctly.
Some of the fouls that have been practiced in the EFL would not be tolerated in the Premier League.
Brentford are not the culprits nor the instigators of this style of play the culprits are the clumsy ex English professionals who have collected their mismatch of coaching badges and never had the finesse to succeed at the highest levels.
The FA must follow the directive of the RFU and introduce the sin bin for these unacceptable and premeditated fouls which risk serious injury to footballers.
This has been widely spoken about for quite some time however it is now time to implement.
Also it is time to improve the standards of referees in the EFL because the errors that are strewn at lower tiers are more closely scrutinised in the Premier League.
The EFL should be a mechanism for talent to step up to Premier League levels not a dumping ground for those who lack the direction to make football the truly beautiful game for all to enjoy.