Thomas Frank
When are you expecting Christian Eriksen to arrive?
Christian will arrive on Sunday, and train with the team on Monday.
What do you make of Frank Lampard’s appointment as well as Ashley Cole joining his backroom staff?
I hope it’ll go well for Frank and Ashley Cole of course, and all the backroom staff and Everton; of course not on Saturday! Besides that, I think that they will do well. I think Frank did a good job at both Derby and Chelsea; I’m pretty sure that he will play a little bit more aggressive and forward-thinking both with and without the ball – that is what he did at Derby and Chelsea.
How important is the FA Cup to Brentford?
We would like to perform very well in both tournaments. I’ve been privileged to be in a spell in Brentford’s history where we created a lot of new history, for example with the Carabao Cup. It would be fantastic to go very far, we will definitely put a very strong team out there on Saturday for various reasons; one is that we want to perform in the FA Cup and Premier League and two is that we haven’t had a match for two weeks so there’s no reason why we can’t put a good team out there, so I’m looking forward to the game.
How important has this break been after an intense period?
I think it helps. The big thing in this, the more I’m in this business is the mental part of it. Physically, we can always sprint one more sprint, run a bit more but to really produce at a high level, you need a fresh mind or be really good to keep your energy on a consistent level. I think this break has helped massively; I’m really looking forward to seeing the team play on Saturday.
How close are the likes of Josh Dasilva and David Raya?
Much closer. Both of them played a friendly against Aston Villa on Tuesday, and both of them played around 65 minutes so that was very positive. David looked his normal self, so now I just need to speak to my staff and Manu (our GK coach) about David potentially starting on Saturday. Josh Dasilva also; that was his third game, he played 45 and 45 for the B Team, now 65 and he scored a goal. I watched the game back, there’s a bit on the intensity and the pressing game he needs to still perform to his normal level, but that was very positive and I would say we managed to sign three players in David [Raya], Josh [Dasilva] and Eriksen.
