Thomas Frank

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Thomas Frank

Humblebee said:
Out of interest, is that through being taught English at school, or watching English (American) language tv programmes?
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...the former....both Denmark and Sweden teach English from a very early age in schools...i have to pay for Swedish lessons for my 5yr old over here....but thats ok....cant really expect Swedish to be taught as a second language over here i guess.
 

Thomas Frank

JCMcBee said:
...the former....both Denmark and Sweden teach English from a very early age in schools...i have to pay for Swedish lessons for my 5yr old over here....but thats ok....cant really expect Swedish to be taught as a second language over here i guess.
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Swedish isn't really a lot of use unless you're going to live and work in Sweden. My mate's grandaughter was learning Swedish on the insistence of her Swedish father and hated it.
 

Thomas Frank

Wenger still hasn't found a job, perhaps he could be the #2 , match made in heaven with our style of play
 

Thomas Frank

JCMcBee said:
...the former....both Denmark and Sweden teach English from a very early age in schools...i have to pay for Swedish lessons for my 5yr old over here....but thats ok....cant really expect Swedish to be taught as a second language over here i guess.
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Not completely relevant but I met a Bulgarian bloke on holiday, he said they didn't learn English at school per se but they did their Maths and History lessons in English so they all learn it that way.
 

Thomas Frank

Humblebee said:
Out of interest, is that through being taught English at school, or watching English (American) language tv programmes?
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I think that it's probably down to American programmes on TV, and what always seems to me, to be a proliferation of American books in the English book section in the library. Their top English language course at school is I belie called Cambridge English.

If also the British novels are bought from an American source, they are likely to have been translated into American from English. I couldn't believe that actually happened until I saw it in the US a few years ago.
 

Thomas Frank

Courses in "American" come standard with rising intonation and multiples of "like" in every sentence. Yuck not Yank.
 

Thomas Frank

What will be different to the DS team under TF? More defensive or attacking? Earlier substitutions, or later?
 

Thomas Frank

Frothybaby said:
What will be different to the DS team under TF? More defensive or attacking? Earlier substitutions, or later?
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Hope Frank’s initial focus is improving movement when attacking from deep, moving the ball faster and getting Sawyers, Watkins and Canos back to their best.
 

Thomas Frank

Frothybaby said:
What will be different to the DS team under TF? More defensive or attacking? Earlier substitutions, or later?
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I don’t think the initial approach will change much but I’m hoping Frank will be better at reacting to what happens in the game and in time might even develop some variant approaches and formations for certain situations, obviously without compromising the basic passing philosophy. And earlier substitutions.

No more just letting things drift when they start to go wrong.
 

Thomas Frank

jbee said:
I don’t think the initial approach will change much but I’m hoping Frank will be better at reacting to what happens in the game and in time might even develop some variant approaches and formations for certain situations, obviously without compromising the basic passing philosophy. And earlier substitutions.

No more just letting things drift when they start to go wrong.
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Would also hope he can devise an effective strategy for playing 'spoiling' teams, like Forest, Reading and Brum, of late - we seem to struggle to break 'em down. However, we do much better against teams that want to 'play properly'.
 

Thomas Frank

jbee said:
I don’t think the initial approach will change much but I’m hoping Frank will be better at reacting to what happens in the game and in time might even develop some variant approaches and formations for certain situations, obviously without compromising the basic passing philosophy. And earlier substitutions.

No more just letting things drift when they start to go wrong.
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Yeah.
Agree on the subs. DS was poor on that front and often waited ages to address obvious issues and it cost us points imo (same for the setup of the team).
I think we just need minor tweaks to improve.
Defending set pieces is probably where we've been poorest imo and needs some work (as well as getting players like McE out of the box as he's a total liability/distraction in there).
Countering set pieces we should have a fast runner outside of our box (along with McE who can tidy up and feed them).
In midfield we did well at the start of the season with the creativity of McE+Sawyers+MacLeod, but teams quickly adapted to this, and they don't have enough pace between them against teams that set up properly to address this. Unless MacLeod and Sawyers discover an extra yard of pace and workrate we're probably going to do best with a bit more athleticism in the middle at the expense of one of those creators (so perhaps McE+Kamo+Sawyers).
Our wingers have all had their moments but I think they need to be coached into helping the team out more when we don't have the ball and tucking back in to make a midfield 5 instead of three. Doesn't mean they can't look to get into space when it's looking like we might win the ball and break though.
 

Thomas Frank

Defend set pieces better and convert more chances when we are having dominant periods in a game.
Top 6 if we can do this or else we’ll be mid table
 

Thomas Frank

jbee said:
I don’t think the initial approach will change much but I’m hoping Frank will be better at reacting to what happens in the game and in time might even develop some variant approaches and formations for certain situations, obviously without compromising the basic passing philosophy. And earlier substitutions.

No more just letting things drift when they start to go wrong.
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Given how animated he was on the sidelines with Dean and Richard when things on the pitch weren't going too well, I think this is a realistic expectation.
 

Thomas Frank

Given the pace we have up front, I really hope Thomas will leave two (or even three) up at oppo corners (as per the Warburton years).

Just don't get the argument that you can't play Sawyers and Macleod in front of Josh at home. They've got quick football brains and feet and with Ollie, Neal and Said/Sergi ahead of them there's loads of pace. It's about moving the ball forward quickly (which I think Macleod is good at), not going side-to-side and back a la Arsenal in the later Wenger years.
 

Thomas Frank

SH said:
Just don't get the argument that you can't play Sawyers and Macleod in front of Josh at home. They've got quick football brains and feet and with Ollie, Neal and Said/Sergi ahead of them there's loads of pace. It's about moving the ball forward quickly (which I think Macleod is good at), not going side-to-side and back a la Arsenal in the later Wenger years.
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All of that is true.....and if the opposition are nice enough to let us have it lots then their quick football brains and creativity will do damage.
Problem was teams started setting up to flood the midfield, or bypass our midfield, and those three are not the sort of players who're going to do anywhere near enough to stop them.
 

Thomas Frank

I don’t think there will be many significant changes in tactics or when substitions take place as he was part of the coaching team and had a major input in every game

What is more likely is that there will be little tweaks here and there as gradually the team evolves in the style that he demands.
 

Thomas Frank

IDontBeeLieveIt said:
All of that is true.....and if the opposition are nice enough to let us have it lots then their quick football brains and creativity will do damage.
Problem was teams started setting up to flood the midfield, or bypass our midfield, and those three are not the sort of players who're going to do anywhere near enough to stop them.
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If the oppo "floods the midfield" then I'd vary the play by going quicker to the front three. If teams "bypass our midfield" then the issue is with the back four and playing a higher line (and, remember, I'm talking about home games). It's all about opinions, so we'll agree to differ on this one
 

Thomas Frank

IDontBeeLieveIt said:
Problem was teams started setting up to flood the midfield, or bypass our midfield, and those three are not the sort of players who're going to do anywhere near enough to stop them.
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Isn’t that down to our wingers not supporting in defence properly?
 

Thomas Frank

The Pipe said:
I don’t think there will be many significant changes in tactics or when substitions take place as he was part of the coaching team and had a major input in every game

What is more likely is that there will be little tweaks here and there as gradually the team evolves in the style that he demands.
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But decisions could be made quicker now because he cant consult with anyone :)
 

Thomas Frank

SH said:
If the oppo "floods the midfield" then I'd vary the play by going quicker to the front three. If teams "bypass our midfield" then the issue is with the back four and playing a higher line (and, remember, I'm talking about home games). It's all about opinions, so we'll agree to differ on this one
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Perfectly happy to agree to disagree.
I think we already were trying to play quickly to the front three but got overwhelmed and the ball was stopped from getting there (that being the point of the opposition getting numbers into midfield).
In those situations we had McE pinging passes over the top to the front three but those are very difficult speculative balls that it takes a passer of his quality to execute well enough to give us half decent chances from.
However we also had Sawyers dropping deep to receive the ball as well when really he needed to be further upfield making runs in/around/behind/through the front three.
This just meant we had banks of opposition players in front of us and the front three heavily outnumbered.

The argument against Sawyers and MacLeod (along with McE) is more a defensive one though. In that McE is not a great athlete who's going to cover miles of ground and physically harry the opposition. He's got a good brain and will read danger and "nick" the ball but that's mainly it. MacLeod loves a good old sliding challenge but isn't very quick and anyone with half decent pace will often get past him. Sawyers glides around but is similarly vulnerable to more athletic players (although he's probably the most physically capable of the three). To exploit these three teams just needed to be focused on making their attacks fast paced and use the gaps either side of McE, that he's not going to be able to cover, which is behind those other two midfielders. The argument therefore being that someone like Kamo, who's more athletic, will cover a lot more ground in the middle of the park leaving McE less isolated ahead of the back four, and cut out a lot more of these attacks than Sawyers+MacLeod would.
 

Thomas Frank

Personally I am very excited by the new appointment and whilst I think he was a clear and definite front-runner I also think he was interviewed pretty vigorously by the DOFs and MB. They stated they saw DS leaving as a chance to execute another step change and TF will have had to evidence how it might do this. His changes will not be cosmetic I am sure but will be blended in as he is obviously a smart and experienced coach.
As always a number 2 gets a chance to observe in a way the leader cannot and I think that insight will be brought to bear.
 

Thomas Frank

More importantly.....
Am I the only one who thinks Thomas Frank looks like Willem Defoe's Elvish cousin?
 

Thomas Frank

Denway said:
I think that it's probably down to American programmes on TV, and what always seems to me, to be a proliferation of American books in the English book section in the library. Their top English language course at school is I belie called Cambridge English.

If also the British novels are bought from an American source, they are likely to have been translated into American from English. I couldn't believe that actually happened until I saw it in the US a few years ago.
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Thought so. Thanks.
 

Thomas Frank

IDontBeeLieveIt said:
More importantly.....
Am I the only one who thinks Thomas Frank looks like Willem Defoe's Elvish cousin?
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Willem Defoe was Elvish’s cousin..?
Thank you very much, thank you.
 

Thomas Frank

I'm very much liking the cut of Thomas's jib....straight talking, cliche free and obviously knows his stuff....

This could be a very exciting few months ahead on the good ship Brentford!
 

Thomas Frank

Hamburger Hill said:
I'm very much liking the cut of Thomas's jib....straight talking, cliche free and obviously knows his stuff....

This could be a very exciting few months ahead on the good ship Brentford!
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Yeah great interview on YouTube. Seems very sharp and managed the interview really well. Onwards and upwards.
 

Thomas Frank

Yep comes across well and a real thinker.
I get good vibes about TF ...
 

Thomas Frank

Just watched that press conference and have to say I am really happy to have TF as our new Head Coach.
He came across very well, intelligent knowledgeable and very focussed.
Liked the comment regarding team selection, makes it interesting for saturday.
Also very good PR skills particularly regarding supporters and Griffin Park.
He's a Bee!
 

Thomas Frank

beenthere said:
Just watched that press conference and have to say I am really happy to have TF as our new Head Coach.
He came across very well, intelligent knowledgeable and very focussed.
Liked the comment regarding team selection, makes it interesting for saturday.
Also very good PR skills particularly regarding supporters and Griffin Park.
He's a Bee!
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Agree. Strangely enough I am more confident about our prospects now than I was a couple of weeks ago. He seems to have that obsessiveness and focus on detail that the very best coaches have. Also very curious to see who the two new assistants will be.
 

Thomas Frank

He kept going on about the smell of Griffin Park has he experienced the Ealing road phantom farter ��
 

Thomas Frank

Bill Benn said:
He kept going on about the smell of Griffin Park has he experienced the Ealing road phantom farter ��
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Probably the New Road bogs.
 

Thomas Frank

beenthere said:
Just watched that press conference and have to say I am really happy to have TF as our new Head Coach.
He came across very well, intelligent knowledgeable and very focussed.
Liked the comment regarding team selection, makes it interesting for saturday.
Also very good PR skills particularly regarding supporters and Griffin Park.
He's a Bee!
Click to expand...

So he will look to press even more aggressively and dominate possession even more? Exciting times!
 

Thomas Frank

Bill Benn said:
He kept going on about the smell of Griffin Park has he experienced the Ealing road phantom farter ��
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It's probably the smell of 'old people' around GP............... you know the one............. :sneakoff:





ONLY JOKING!!
 

Thomas Frank

Very intelligent guy, He would not be at GP if he did not have something about him. I wish you all the very best thomas
 

Thomas Frank

Probably, one of the best interviews I’ve seen from a Brentford Coach / Manager.
 

Thomas Frank

Just an observation. But I remember Frank during the Reading game. We were trailing 2-1 and just had Said sent off. He suddenly appeared from the dugout holding a piece of paper which contained a formation plan. After Smith giving him the nod he called Barbet over, Barbet feed the information to the rest of the team. We Scored soon after that. The bloke may just have the technical ability to change a game. The future looks good.
 

Thomas Frank

readingbee said:
Probably, one of the best interviews I’ve seen from a Brentford Coach / Manager.
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Totally agree. Really enjoyed watching that press conference, Thomas gave some very intelligent answers.

He seemed to have a real love for GP. Of course he'll need some time for his ideas and coaching style to

reap the reward we're all hoping for. He used the term intensity often, and to me, I have a feeling we might

see a more gegenpressing style in our game, who knows.
 
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