Lovely article by Alyson Rudd (again!) in
The Times today:
Thomas Frank became a laughing stock among Manchester United fans in January when he emerged, after Brentford’s 3-1 home defeat to Ralf Rangnick’s team, to pr
www.thetimes.co.uk
Thomas Frank became a laughing stock among Manchester United fans in January when he emerged, after Brentford’s 3-1 home defeat to Ralf Rangnick’s team, to praise, to the hilt, his side’s display. They called him deluded. It was the only occasion that anyone goaded the Danish coach in a magnificent season after their promotion and Frank had the last laugh on Saturday.
Actually, he was right to have complimented his players seven months ago as they had outplayed United in the first half and Frank needed to keep his team buoyant as external doubts were raised that Brentford, on a poor run, could evade relegation after all.
The 48-year-old was busy not putting a foot wrong again after the comprehensive victory over United. Frank carefully dismantled the reasons why some fans had chosen to jeer Christian Eriksen and concluded that it was not, for him, a classy response to the return of the player they had so hoped to keep, while at the same time not saying anything to upset the home supporters.
Indeed, the relationship between Frank and the Brentford faithful is rapidly approaching one of the most truly, madly, deeply satisfying in the land. He led the players on a slow, romantic lap of honour after the game as the fans sang along and jigged to
Freed From Desire. Somehow he managed to make sure the whole thing was entirely free of hubris.
“I think you see a lot of happy faces and smiles and proud faces and in a way you are filled with joy and you don’t know what to do with it,” he said when asked what was going through his mind as he strolled around the pitch. “I think it’s important we celebrate every win. Sometimes you take winning for granted and you can’t do that.”
Still, it all meant that he did not have time for a quiet word with Eriksen, the player he had coached when the midfielder was a teenager and whom he had enticed to west London when the rest of the world was too worried about whether a player with a heart-starting device could compete safely.
“Obviously I would like to speak to him,” Frank said, “but I’ll most likely speak to him in the week. I don’t think we’ll speak too much about the game. Just ask how’s the family, have they found a house in Manchester?”
Honestly, you can imagine Eriksen picking up the phone and welling up with tears at his former head coach’s solicitousness, delivered without an ounce of bitterness or smugness about the fact the Denmark international had chosen to leave for a club that is a laughing stock.
Frank calmly explained that you cannot assess United, decide they do not run enough and then tell your own players to simply run more and everything will fall neatly into place.
“Of course we spoke about it before the game,” he said, “but you can’t just say, ‘Oh can you do it?’ It’s [about] a long strategy and communication. In general, my teams run a lot. We speak about it and enforce the message that we need to do it. Because if you do that we press more, with the transitions, concede less goals and we train hard. We try to make an effort on it. If you run more than the opponent — also it’s about passing — but if you run more than the opponent you have a very good chance to win.
“We know the fitness is a big part. We need to defend well and do well on set pieces. That’s the foundation. Then we’d like to add even more quality football and try to dominate more. So, when I speak about that message almost every week, and then you have a win like that, it reinforces that message. And they know we can do it.”
Ninety minutes after the end of the game, a Brentford supporter was walking with his two very young children.
“I’m so glad you saw that, kids,” he said, on the verge of tears. “Moments like that don’t happen often in your life, you should know that.”
