Brentford boss Thomas Frank reacts to 1 - 1 draw against Arsenal and Wissa's exceptional season
12/04/2025
Emirates Stadium, London, UK
12/04/2025
Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00So you're actually comparing us with Madrid?
00:07You must be better.
00:11Let's say that today. I think there will be a few Brentford fans that will be very happy with that.
00:15They will definitely take that comparison very well.
00:20Sorry.
00:22Two different games, of course. Two different teams.
00:27Arsenal are very good.
00:28And I think they've also been very good this season.
00:32I think they, today, they're so difficult to play against.
00:37I saw it with my own eyes live Tuesday against, with all due respect,
00:43probably a tiny bit better team than us, Madrid.
00:47What I would say today is that I thought that we were excellent defensively.
00:53I thought we worked very hard.
00:55I thought the structure, the discipline was exceptional.
00:58We're actually basically limiting Arsenal to a lot of set-pieces, which we handled well, and they are very good at it.
01:06A big moment to Martinelli, where Christoph Ayer has a last-second crucial block.
01:11And then the moment to Saka, where Mark Flecken probably underestimated the situation just a tiny bit.
01:16So, that said, and then we're coming back after being down 1-0, just, you know, big credit to the players, their mentality, character, and focus to stay in the game.
01:28Don't get too frustrated.
01:30Don't open up too much, because we knew we would have our moments, and we took it very well.
01:38Thomas, Brian and Guemo usually get the headlines for you, but Visser now has 15 Premier League goals.
01:45I think that's more than Oli Watkins and Colpahama.
01:47How good have you been this season?
01:49I think it's been very, very good.
01:54You just mentioned Oli and Colpahama, the two top players, but how many teams have a number nine that have scored 15 goals?
02:03You know, how many?
02:04I don't know, is it two, three, I don't know, teams?
02:09Isak and Haaland.
02:10Isak, yeah, and Haaland, maybe the only two with a number nine scoring goals.
02:14So, that's exceptional from Visser, big credit to him, hopefully also to the way we play, and the chances we create.
02:21And then, of course, you need to be on the end of it.
02:24So, he's been very good.
02:28And having Visser and Brian on 15 goals or more, I think we're also the only club who have that.
02:35So, that I'm very pleased with.
02:37Just out of interest, did you know about him before the club signed him?
02:40Or was he assigning from the directors, because he was playing in the French 2nd Division, wasn't he?
02:46Yeah.
02:46Or were you scouting?
02:47Yeah, yeah, no, no.
02:48First and foremost, it's our scouting department.
02:51That is very good.
02:53You know, Lee Dykes is in charge of it, and we have some very great scouts.
02:57The good thing with our club is that we never take a decision on playing without me, Matthew, the owner, Lee Dykes, or Phil Giles are involved.
03:06So, the four of us take the decision together, so I was very aware of him, and I watched him a lot myself.
03:10To be fair, we looked at him as a winger.
03:14He was a winger back then.
03:15But what I liked about him was he was very good to, what I would say, arrive on the last line inside the box.
03:20That's why I thought he was, yes, that's a player who scored goals for us.
03:24And so, he's the 2nd winger I've converted to a 9 with OK success.
03:29Thanks.
03:29Thomas, Gabriel Martinelli's told the TV that he thinks Christian Norgard's tackle could have broken his leg.
03:36Did he play today?
03:37No, Martinelli.
03:38Ah, sorry.
03:39Sorry, sorry.
03:39Oh, sorry.
03:40Martinelli, I thought Gabriel.
03:41Yeah, sorry, Gabriel, I missed it.
03:42I just wondered what your reaction was.
03:44He says he believed that Norgard could have broken his leg with that tackle.
03:50Yeah, I can't.
03:53How can you say?
03:54That is his opinion.
03:56I thought it was a strong yellow.
04:00That was a yellow.
04:04Thomas, what would be your approach if you were going to the Bernabeu 3-0?
04:10I'm not, but I would love the challenge.
04:18You need to speak with Mikel about that.
04:21I think him and his coaches have shown over the last, whatever, four, five years he's been here now, how good they are and how much they have progressed this club.
04:32I think Mikel have done an exceptional job, making Arsenal extremely competitive every year the last three years.
04:43And also, you know, constantly adding layers also in Champions League.
04:48Was it Bayern Munich in the quarterfinal last year they lost to?
04:51Now, they are definitely in a good position.
04:55We all know that it's maybe two places where you can turn that around.
04:58That's Bernabeu and Anfield.
05:01So, one thing, looking from the outside, Arsenal work hard.
05:08They're very good defensively.
05:09They're very good on defensive set-pieces.
05:11So, I think they'll be fine.
05:16Thomas, Mikel has all but given up on the Premier League title when he spoke to us.
05:21But after that result, there's no reason for you to give up on your hopes of playing in Europe next season, is there?
05:28Of course, we're ambitious.
05:31We want to enter as high as possible.
05:32I think there's some very good teams above us and I think we need to have a perfect run for that.
05:46We always focus on one game at a time and that's the biggest thing because we can keep that laser focus made and we'll get that momentum.
05:55But already now, so far, I think we've had a good season.
06:01Without being an exceptional season, I think we've had a good season.
06:05Okay.
06:06Thanks so much, everybody.
06:08See you again.