Thomas Frank
Port Vale v Brentford was a league fixture not too long ago, now it’s League 2 vs Premier League. Is this where fans appreciate how far this club has come in such a short space of time?
We are not even six months into our first Premier League season, but to put things in perspective, we are in the Premier League and Port Vale are in League 2. We need to embrace that we have done so well and I think sometimes, that is more clear when we are playing in the cup competitions.
Robbie Williams is Port Vale’s biggest celebrity fan. Were you aware of that and are you a fan?
No, but I like him and think he’s made some fantastic music. Fan’s a big word but I like his music!
You’re favourites this weekend. Given there have been many games where Brentford have been underdogs, how will the team deal with the tag of being favourites?
I would say what we did the last two seasons in the Championship, especially last season most of the games we went in as the favourites. I haven’t really thought about that [being favourites for Saturday], my approach will be the same like the other games; try to do it our way, try to attack the game from the first second of the game and I’m pretty sure that will be fine.
You’re doing well in the Premier League. Are you going to have a crack at the FA Cup?
I think about the next game, which is the FA Cup game at Port Vale. Try everything we can to win, maximum focus and then after that, onto the next game against Southampton. I like to win, I want to win.
More games to come. How difficult does that make it for you to pick the team you need when you look at COVID/injuries?
It’s finding the right balance between playing a team that is strong enough to progress to the next round of the FA Cup and giving some of the players that deserve to play more minutes. The good news is that Kristoffer Ajer will start, so that’s very positive; we need him to play. There are others who need to get up to speed, so it’s finding that balance because we are also playing on Tuesday against Southampton. I think there is no problem playing Saturday/Tuesday with the same starting XI, but it’s about finding that right balance where we try to make the strongest team in all three games that can go at the highest intensity over three games.
