Thomas Frank
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Thomas Frank
I gave the gpg a miss last night and it looks like it was a good decision.
I was there last night as usual and this result was nothing to do with TF's tactics and everything to do with the players attitude.
We had that look of a billy big nuts team who thought they could stroll through the game against a minnow and any anger should be directed at them not TF.
We're doing well in the league when you think about all the injuries we have to cope with but we always have an element of our supporters who are never happy and can't wait for a chance to have a dig when we have a tough period.
You need a reality check and ask yourself would you rather be a Gills supporter who just had their night of glory but sit 22nd in league 2 or be part of a fantastic journey that's seen us leave teams like them in our wake and are playing Man city on saturday instead of Colchester or Crawley.
Some of you don't remeber that becuase you didn't even know we existed before last season.
I was there last night as usual and this result was nothing to do with TF's tactics and everything to do with the players attitude.
We had that look of a billy big nuts team who thought they could stroll through the game against a minnow and any anger should be directed at them not TF.
We're doing well in the league when you think about all the injuries we have to cope with but we always have an element of our supporters who are never happy and can't wait for a chance to have a dig when we have a tough period.
You need a reality check and ask yourself would you rather be a Gills supporter who just had their night of glory but sit 22nd in league 2 or be part of a fantastic journey that's seen us leave teams like them in our wake and are playing Man city on saturday instead of Colchester or Crawley.
Some of you don't remeber that becuase you didn't even know we existed before last season.
stevendamico
Silly Yank
Thomas Frank
I think it's a little unfair to say those of us who think Thomas needs to improve over the break don't appreciate the team.
My point earlier is that Frank has been very poor to adapt to the team's injuries and has tried to plug too many players in rather than adjusting the tactics. I also said the physio department needs to take a hard look at itself, and that Frank show's too much favoritism to JDS. These are pretty mild critiques when it comes to football fans being upset with gaffers...
Food for thought - don't gaffers have responsibility for player attitude? Our attitude was fantastic all last season - what has changed?
Thomas Frank
But plenty more than the squad that got us promoted two years ago and they are still our best players. Raya, Norgaard, Henry, Jensen, Toney for example. Plus Mbuemo, Janelt, Dasilva, Janssen, Pinnock All would start if all fully fit. Hickey would be the exception as we didn't come up with a Right Back.
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Les Beeavinu
Administrator
Thomas Frank
Stop it. He's a right back, I know that makes it uncomfortable for you but you can't just talk b***ocks because you want it to be true.
rebus
On my final warning
aawharris
Doesn't do well with idiots.
Thomas Frank
So continuity is a bad thing?
Or would you prefer us to be Nottingham Forest and have 249 new players.
How are they doing again?
Im pretty sure people would have moaned had we got promoted and sold Toney, Mbeumo, Henry and replaced with worse and got relegated.
Voice from the Braemar
Well-known member
Thomas Frank
You accept we have a lot of injuries and these are important players who make a huge difference to the way we play.
Norgaard has just come back from a long injury and it would be madness to risk him for a full 90mins on his return.
Who else on the bench should have come on to replace him other than JDS?
That isn't playing favourites that's just working with what you have.
It's easy to criticize the tactics but you offer no solutions but that's understandable as you state your no football expert,few on here are tbf and no one on here is better equiped to do that than TF himself.
I do agree though it's more than a little concerning that the players were'nt up for it last night and expected a response after halftime.
Thomas Frank
When you look at this list of previous signings, the players signed since we've been promoted are way short of the mark.Not sure I'd be busting a gut to sign any of them from what ive seen so far.
TF is doing an amazing job with the players he has available to him...we still haven't replaced Benrahma, we have nobody who can run with the ball or beat a man that's why it's all sideways and backwards. We had a far greater attacking threat 3 years ago in the championship and were much more entertaining to watch.
If i was MB I'd be keeping a very close eye on recruitment.
Guildford Bee
Well-known member
Thomas Frank
Mbuemo, JDS and KLP are all more than capable of taking players on with the ball.
Thomas Frank
Where have I said that, we have spent 75 million which is massive for a club like us. I listed 10 players that would start for me every week if fit. My issue is not against any of those 10 players. But how many of our signings over the last 2 years have improved the starting team. I would say Hickey as he's better than MRR.
I believe 2 good signings that would improve the first team would be better than sharing the money on 5 or 6 signings. Just my view as you have yours. I don't want 250 signings and don't want us spending above our means.
brentfordfc4ever
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Thomas Frank
The only player who has the ability to leave a player for dead and drive through is JDS. BM and KLP both move forwards, then turn back or pass ahead of themselves. Not saying that is an issue, but we don't have wingers that can drive forwards to beat players
All my opinion of course
Thomas Frank
As usual attacking players take longer to adapt and integrate into a team. There are examples all over the premier league - Almiron is one
stevendamico
Silly Yank
Thomas Frank
We can agree to disagree, but I think it's a bit unfair to say I haven't offered solutions. I have.
The first specific suggestion is reducing the size of our "rotation" (to borrow a term from the basketball). Our strategy has been to aggressively use all five subs to get fresh bodies on the pitch and allow certain players to go "all out" for 60 minutes knowing they will be coming off. That was an amazing strategy until we lost 5-6 players from our rotation. Some NBA teams have a rotation of 11 players because they have the depth to do it. Some might only have 7 regular players. Instead of reducing the size of our rotation he has done subs like Jensen for Ghoddos with five to go this previous weekend. My suggestion is stop with the planned subs until we have the depth to do it properly.
The second suggestion is adjusting our midfield to account for how special Norgaard is. When he's on the pitch he covers the ground of two players. When he's off, we struggle with midfield because we do not have a player good enough to fill in perfectly. FTT and Janelt can give it a good go for 20-30 minutes but run out of steam. Thus, I think it's been a mistake not to look at adding a body in midfield when Norgaard is injured or comes off the pitch.
The third suggestion is that because we have so many deep bench players having to play significant minutes, switching systems mid-match may not be something at which they excel. I think Frank should reconsider some of the mid-match system changes. I realize there is some tension with this argument given what I just said about Norgaard, but I never said the solutions were easy.
Overall, my issue is with how Thomas has adapted to the injuries. I'm also concerned that something weird is going on in training leading to many of these knocks, but that is a hunch rather than anything for which I have evidence.
Thomas Frank
Where did he play for Hearts and Bologna Left Back. Yes he plays for Scotland at Right Back but Scotland have the best 2 Left Backs in Britain. He's done a good job for us at Right Back and we miss him badly. Just because you don't agree with the statement doesn't make it b*******.
AB
Well-known member
Thomas Frank
Buying undervalued players in the Championship and giving them 3+ years to develop into good PL players is very different to buying players immediately ready for the PL as a PL club. None of that list would have been remotely ready to play in the PL in 2019 apart from possibly Pontus. We got Toney in 2020 in part because no PL club wanted to take a punt on him and even if they had, might not have got much from him immediately or played him enough to get him up to it. Now we’re looking for a higher base skill and higher ceiling and £10-20m is pretty much the bottom end for such players. We need to trust that the likes of KLP next season and after will be getting to that high level and be pleased that we have not had to sell the likes of Toney yet.
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Les Beeavinu
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Thomas Frank
He's not a left back playing out of position, he can play both sides. You're just wrong.
Paul O'Brien
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Thomas Frank
In years to come, I'll put last night in perspective by thinking of 21 Sept 2010. Don't remember it? We beat Everton on penalties after a match when Everton had dominated for a large part - but not all - of the game.
It didn't mean Balkestein and Spillane had suddenly become amazing players. Nor that Baines, Neville, Coleman, Fellaini, Arteta and the rest were rubbish. Least of all, it didn't make Moyes a dreadful manager.
It just meant that the gods had wanted us to go through instead of Everton... oh, and that Lee was a better penalty-stopper than Raya.
S**t happens. That's why I'd rather watch football than any other sport.
It didn't mean Balkestein and Spillane had suddenly become amazing players. Nor that Baines, Neville, Coleman, Fellaini, Arteta and the rest were rubbish. Least of all, it didn't make Moyes a dreadful manager.
It just meant that the gods had wanted us to go through instead of Everton... oh, and that Lee was a better penalty-stopper than Raya.
S**t happens. That's why I'd rather watch football than any other sport.
Thomas Frank
I can do what Roeslev did last night - completely killed 95% of our attacks by turning
and going backwards. Decent tactic for this Saturday when we are one up at Man City,
with three minutes to go, but not for a home cup game against Gillingham when we were
crying out for some X Factor and flair. Two years ago he got down the line and put in some decent crosses. Why was he playing further forward than Ghoddos ?
Leicester Bee
Active member
Thomas Frank
I'd love to see the Everton forum from that date...must have been fairly similar to ours!
Thomas Frank
If it makes you happy I'm wrong. So he's a RB + LB so neither of us are wrong.
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Les Beeavinu
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Thomas Frank
Your implication that he is a left back playing out of position "Hickey would be the exception as we didn't come up with a Right Back." is definitely wrong.
Thomas Frank
I value your opinion and most on here with a few exceptions.
A player like Norgaard is irreplaceable and as a club we are just not financially capable nor do we have the status to be able to employ a top quality player who's good enough and happy to sit on the bench so he has to work with what's available.
As far as the subs a lot of our players although good are not top 6 club players so to get the best out of them we ask them to put 90mins of workrate in 60mins so they can compete.It's not ideal but again we have to think differently and work with what we have.
Nearly all of the top clubs train the same way as we do,training has to be competitive because that's what you face in a match and you need to be ready.
You can't legislate for injuries its either down to bad luck or a players indivdual proneness which only becomes apparent when you work them hard.
I'll repeat though,considering our injuries and budget we're doing amazing things and i'm not going to let one really poor game last night,for which i was very angry,take anything away from how well we've done overall.
BeeInSW19
Les Dawson's twin.
Thomas Frank
I respectfully have to disagree.
I felt the team really tried, but alarmingly couldn't break down a very average Gillingham defence. I agree with everything else you said.
djheavens
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Thomas Frank
Under pressure! Really?? We have only lost 4 games all season in the prem and he has been hit by key injuries and we are sitting mid table. What are you expecting exactly?
rebus
On my final warning
Thomas Frank
6-0 wins every week. Three of those four have also been against sides above us in the table. We'll be fine this season.
JCMcBee
Well-known member
Thomas Frank
.... watching my team has been very trying for past 6 games....... pinning my hope on this break coming up being the refresher required....and then stuffing Spurs on boxing day.
Thomas Frank
I agree with alot of that. Alot of fans seemed to have the same attitude as the players. Telling zanka to shoot everytime he got the ball 60 yards out. Its only gillingham right, its bound to go in!
sonofabee
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Gazza Bee
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Thomas Frank
I actually like Billing and think he would be good in our side when we need 2 more attacking midfielders - thought he was decent when he was at Huddersfield in the Wagner bore them to death team that got promoted.
The Pipe
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Thomas Frank
The only pressure on Thomas at present is the pressure he puts on himself, we don’t have clowns running the club, we look at the overall picture, squad ability injuries fatigue the works, we then take decisions based upon all those matrix and I would suggest overall he is doing a good job with the tools at his disposal
We don’t have a massive depth of squad and in all fairness only a few of our players would walk into a top Premier League club, it is therefore absolutely imperative that those players we have perform to the maximum of their abilities which often means running and pressing harder than the opposition.
The injuries we have picked up further damages a fairly weak hand and, quite frankly, we don’t have the depth in our squad to cover them satisfactorily hence having, at times, to put square pegs in round holes.
We have invested heavily in flair players who have yet to shine, Hickey is injured whilst KLP and Damsgaard are yet to show their potential. It is however the model we need to follow, if KLP and Damsgaard were the finished article then we couldn’t afford them. We need to show patience rather than just bin them off.
Very easy to criticise but without knowing the full extent of players covering knocks etc it is next to impossible to produce any realist alternatives.
We have a decent squad of players but apart from Christian none of them outstanding, Thomas has shown he is able to get the most out of them, it may not be free flowing football at present and more graft however for the present we don’t have a Benrahma or Jota to sprinkle star dust on the team
We don’t have a massive depth of squad and in all fairness only a few of our players would walk into a top Premier League club, it is therefore absolutely imperative that those players we have perform to the maximum of their abilities which often means running and pressing harder than the opposition.
The injuries we have picked up further damages a fairly weak hand and, quite frankly, we don’t have the depth in our squad to cover them satisfactorily hence having, at times, to put square pegs in round holes.
We have invested heavily in flair players who have yet to shine, Hickey is injured whilst KLP and Damsgaard are yet to show their potential. It is however the model we need to follow, if KLP and Damsgaard were the finished article then we couldn’t afford them. We need to show patience rather than just bin them off.
Very easy to criticise but without knowing the full extent of players covering knocks etc it is next to impossible to produce any realist alternatives.
We have a decent squad of players but apart from Christian none of them outstanding, Thomas has shown he is able to get the most out of them, it may not be free flowing football at present and more graft however for the present we don’t have a Benrahma or Jota to sprinkle star dust on the team
sonofabee
Well-known member
Thomas Frank
He was superb against us for Huddersfield at home but since he moved to Muff has been questioned for his work rate and is a stroller that they can’t afford in the Prem.
Thomas Frank
Best two left backs in Britain!! Ones not even the best left back for his club ?
BeeReal
Member
Thomas Frank
What has been frustrating in recent games is that instead of trying to be 'brave' and attempting a quick ball forward the general approach has been largely to play safe. This has resulted in sideways play and very few quick turns looking to get on the front foot. It feels as though our centre backs have more of the ball than any other player and, understandably, they are not our best ball players so what are we expecting them to do?
In fact in those moments when we have tried to be more incisive we have often either scored (last night or Wissa on Sat) or had a nearly moment. Yes, it doesn't always come off but they almost seem frightened to try something.
Yesterday's game would have been ideal to have tried more of that killer ball and different attacking runs. Yes Gillingham had nearly all the team behind the ball and the possession stats would have gone down as some passes would have failed but if we didn't try more of it them against far weaker opposition, when will we?
I have no idea what message TF and the coaches have given the team but yesterday's game wasn't a one off in terms of style of play.
In fact in those moments when we have tried to be more incisive we have often either scored (last night or Wissa on Sat) or had a nearly moment. Yes, it doesn't always come off but they almost seem frightened to try something.
Yesterday's game would have been ideal to have tried more of that killer ball and different attacking runs. Yes Gillingham had nearly all the team behind the ball and the possession stats would have gone down as some passes would have failed but if we didn't try more of it them against far weaker opposition, when will we?
I have no idea what message TF and the coaches have given the team but yesterday's game wasn't a one off in terms of style of play.
Thomas Frank
I’m saying in other clubs he would be in not saying he should be.
Tho I was expecting some better results with the fixtures
jlove
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AB
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jlove
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BaildonBee
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Thomas Frank
I may be in a minority here but I think despite some pretty ordinary performances recently our results have actually been okay. We beat Brighton who are a top team. We drew with Forest away who would seriously have fancied us after their result against Liverpool and our away form. Newcastle are quality as are Arsenal. Villa blew away Utd early at home exactly as they did to us. We got a good draw with Chelsea and an underwhelming one against Wolves. While the defeats were heavy, you don't get any more points for losing narrowly. What is encouraging is we didn't lose any of games immediately after. All this without key players. Just my take on things.
PhilBelfastbee
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Thomas Frank
Hard to believe but you never know. Harris always appeared aggressive towards us while Millwall boss. Maybe there is a decent bloke in there ???
PhilBelfastbee
PhilBelfastbee
Thomas Frank
Yes stuff like this happens. Had a bad feeling once we didn’t go 2 or 3 up, it would go wrong! But as the late great Jimmy Greaves said. Funny old game! Maybe we will put it right on Saturday in Manchester ?. Anything is possible. ?
Thomas Frank
What a good idea. Because right now he doesn't bother with the football club he owns whatsoever.
Frothybaby
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Thomas Frank
I love TF. I don't think he has had a chance to pause and reflect. Still learning his trade while achieving new records for us. He will make mistakes, but that is part of his development. I will allow those lows, few as they are, because he has been provided with the opportunity to shine at our club. He does shine. Long may his contribution to our fairy tale continue. I will.miss certain players when they move on, but I am dreading the departure of MB and TF.
Thomas Frank
I made the mistake of venturing onto the Brentford loyal or whatever facebook site... oh dear oh dear. A lot of Frank Out nonsense - what a bunch of wotsits on there. Suggested to the moaniest they'd be welcome down at putney and i'd like to help them get set-up there... I won't be back.
Untouchable
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Thomas Frank
These are the most amusing comments. There is never an accompanying suggestion of who could do a better job than TF with the resources and budget available.
You’re right to just not bother venturing there.
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