Thomas Frank
Is it a bad time to play Southampton given they have picked up form?
I think Southampton are a very good team, I think they are well-drilled and very difficult to play against, because they come with that intensity. Very open games that make it difficult so I agree that they were not in the best form, but the last five, six games they’ve looked very sharp. Intensity is back in their pressure, the structure is bang on and they’ve got some results, so it’s going to be an unbelievably tough game. Both teams will probably press high, and it’s the team that picks up that second ball and have that final quality in the final third, that will win the game. We’ll go there and do our best to try our best to win it, but we know it’s going to be tough.
Do you know Ralph Hasenhüttl well?
I like Ralph, he’s a good guy. We’ve played them in the friendlies a couple of times, and also in the Carabao Cup last year. A good guy, a very good coach and a very well-drilled team.
What satisfaction do you take when you have a glance at the table and see Brentford are above a number of established sides?
Of course, I’m aware. We say never look at the table, but of course we look at it once in a while but you can’t use that too much. We all know it doesn’t matter what happens after 19 games, it’s after 38 games that is the big target that we end as high as possible.
What did you make of the FA Cup draw [against Everton?]
I prefer a home draw and a team that isn’t in the Premier League, but it is what it is. If you want to go all the way, you need to beat all of the teams. We’ll look forward to it when the game arrives.
Josh Dasilva was pictured in training. How tough has it been for him given he’s been out for a year having been key in helping Brentford get promoted to the Premier League?
I said to Josh the other day, that I think he can be our best signing this year and I’m talking about the summer signing and the January signing, because when he comes back, there will be a new player with top quality. I really hope he’ll come back in a fantastic place, we are on track with him; he’s progressing fine, trained with the team yesterday. So hopefully, five to six weeks if everything goes to plan, he could potentially be available for the team because we need to build him very carefully, but everything is going to plan so far.
