Thomas Frank is targeting an end to Brentford’s “sticky patch” when the Bees face in-form Wolves in the third round of the FA Cup on Friday.
Hampered by injuries to key players including Bryan Mbeumo, Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey, Kevin Schade and Kristoffer Ajer, Brentford have lost five successive games to slide to 16th in the Premier League table.
The heaviest of those defeats came against Wolves on December 27, with Hwang Hee-chan netting twice as Gary O’Neil’s side won 4-1 at the Gtech Community Stadium.
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Despite Brentford’s poor results, Frank is certain his players retain faith in their approach and hopes a change of competition might help them return to winning ways.
“We are in a sticky patch and a spell I would like us to get out of as quickly as possible,” Frank said on Thursday. “It happens every year for every team in any league in the world.
“Hopefully it is only one spell we will have this year, and we get through it as quickly as possible.
“Clearly, we have to get better results than we have had. But the big positive that I enforce in the players is having belief in the work we do, in the way we do things and in the players we have.”
Matchday -1 work ???????????? pic.twitter.com/qxGWiJrt6C
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) January 4, 2024
Reflecting on Brentford’s recent defeat to Wolves, which saw defender Nathan Collins commit two costly errors against his former club, Frank said: “Wolves are flying, they’re very impressive.
“Obviously, on the scoreboard it was not an even game, but the actual game was even on the stats. I expect more of the same tomorrow, but hopefully we can cut out the mistakes.”
Gary O’Neil’s team followed their win in west London by routing Everton 3-0 at Molineux, making it three successive wins and moving within three points of the Premier League’s top seven.
Wolves will be without leading goalscorer Hwang for Friday’s game after he left to link up with the South Korea squad for the Asian Cup, and with Sasa Kalajdzic attracting Bundesliga interest, they are reportedly in the market for another forward.
Highlights from our last trip to Brentford.@EmiratesFACup ???? pic.twitter.com/vUGn4RXTVU
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 4, 2024
Asked about Wolves’ plans for January, O’Neil said: “I wouldn’t say I’m worried, we have been a bit short up front but we have scored 30 goals and have 28 points.
“We have coped so far, my job is to carry on for the next four or five months. I am fully focused on what we have, but I will also support the recruitment team.
“We will do the best we can over the month. That’s what we look forward to. My main role as a coach is to prepare the players we’ve got.”
