Thomas Frank spoke to the media on Friday afternoon to look ahead to our Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest on Sunday (2pm UK).
Here’s what he had to say...
What’s the update on team news?
Thomas: “Everyone who was available for Slavia will be available for Forest.”
Dominic Solanke has posted an hourglass emoji on social media. Can we expect him back soon?
Thomas: “I guess it’s good news when he posted that. As I said with Dom, it’s an injury he picked up in July and it’s dragged on for a while, I would much more prefer to say instead of ‘he is back soon’ and all of that, when he is training fully with the team and he is available for selection, that’s when I will say something. Maybe there will be lots of footage of him training and all that but yes, that is my message.”
Have you ‘taken the handbrake off’ with the team having scored more goals of late?
Thomas: “I don’t think we have taken the handbrake off. We work with the things... Football is so beautifully simple sometimes but also so complicated. I think a lot about the relationship, the team being a little bit in sync, the right players being sharp and in form. All of that at the same time helps. There are three players I would like to mention. Richy is in maybe not his best form ever but in a very good place and also physically, Mo Kudus is, after a great start to the season, a little dip and a minor injury, back in full energy and looking sharp, and Xavi is performing at a good top level. Those three together give the offensive part of the game much more.”
There are a few darts fans in the squad – can they go and watch the World Darts Championship this month with your permission in their spare time?
Thomas: “Every player has their own hobbies and what they think is interesting. I always expect them to be professional and 24/7 pros. If they go to the theatre or the darts, it’s up to them.”
Has the mood felt different in the last couple of weeks around the club?
Thomas: “Wins and good performances always help, no doubt about that. It just makes things a little bit lighter and everything is a little bit more positive. So, of course, that means something, but it's ongoing, how can you say, work to constantly improve. That's part of it.”
What would you say has clicked between those three players that you just mentioned?
Thomas: “I just think it's just the one simple thing, all three of them in form and sharp and confident at the same time. That helps something, definitely. And the relationship and the principles and the patterns we're working with are also just getting better and better.”
Do you fancy yourself to go and get another win this weekend?
Thomas: “I guess you have seen Sean Dyche's teams over the years? Are they easy or difficult to play against? Very difficult. I expect a very, very difficult game against a team that is managed by a good colleague, a friend of mine in the game and every single time I see his team, everything I'm analysing, they're extremely competitive. Then they play at home, that's a difficult place to go, so I expect a tough, tough game. I think we are in a fine place, not an exceptional place, but I think we're in a fine place. I think we've been good away from home, I think we've been very competitive. I expect us to go there with confidence and belief. I expect us to go there with a good chance of getting three points, but I also expect it to be unbelievably difficult.”
How do relationships work between managers, do you ever go for a drink together?
Thomas: “Well, I think, of course, some you meet with in different circumstances for whatever reason, but we come together, and the coaches talk about life and football. And I think it's fair to say that we're the only ones that really understand each other. We're in the same (situation) together and dealing with the same problems and the same all sorts of things, so I think that's nice to share experiences and thoughts with good colleagues and friends there. Of course, when we play against each other, it's very competitive.”
How do you get more consistency in the team’s performances?
Thomas: “I think if you look into performances, I think it's about having consistent performances and then some of the consistent performances don’t necessarily pay off in a good result. Those performances I think have been fairly consistent. I think there have been three games I’m very unhappy with in terms of performances, the rest have been with quite good stuff in them and some of them very good. That’s just ongoing work to keep getting us more consistent, to keep competing every single game. We're competing in all different competitions, so that's quite normal. That will take a little bit of time.”
Are you deliberately playing Archie Gray in a position that you think he's best in?
Thomas: “Yeah, I like what I see from Archie. I think he's a very talented young player with big potential and I think we've seen glimpses of that now. I think I said a few times before the Monaco game he was really on a high and really ready to kick on and unfortunately got the calf injury. Now I think he's back in a place where he's really ready to compete again. I like what I've seen from him. Everything from the Burnley game in the beginning of the season to those bits in the Fulham game I liked from him. I think there were definitely very good bits in the Brentford game and also in the Slavia game.”
How do you manage to unwind when you have a couple of days off?
Thomas: “Of course I try to simply just relax a bit. I have time with my wife and maybe see some friends for lunch or dinner, but I must say there’s still bits to be done so unfortunately these two days were not purely days off, but at least I was at home. There were meetings I had to prepare bits and pieces for. I think the next day where I do nothing football is maybe in March. There's also a transfer window coming up and there's still so many things. I'm still new into the job, so a lot of things (to be done).”
How important is Ben Davies going to be now that he’s back?
Thomas: “Very important. It was very good to have him out there for the first time this season I think actually playing minutes. I would say we missed him with his injuries. Now he's good and ready, so that's important. I think he can both be a left-back and a centre-back.”
What was the reason for Brennan Johnson missing out against Slavia Prague?
Thomas: “A minor thing. I expect him to be available for Forest. He trained today.”
Is Dominic Solanke training by himself at the moment?
Thomas: “He is, yeah. I'm happy to answer all these questions. I'm just a little bit bored of it because let's talk about Forest. It's much more interesting. It’s much better news when you say ‘now he’s training fully with the team, he’s available soon’, but I know you guys need to ask questions of course.”
How close were you to signing Archie Gray at Brentford and what did you like about him last season?
Thomas: “I think what I like about Archie is he’s very good on the ball. I like that he plays with his head up so he can play short. He can drive the ball, the pass to Pedro Porro for the penalty against Slavia was an excellent pass, perfectly weighted. Playing in behind, great capacity to cover the pitch, good pressing skills, and I think he's young but he has a very good character. I think he could be a leader in the future.”
How long does it take for players to buy into a manager’s philosophy?
Thomas: “I think there’s a lot of things, also when you play a lot of games and you need to rotate and you try to find your team and all that, so it’s not only about what I want. There’s also a lot of circumstances that make it a little bit more tricky to make sure we're going to be or we want to be as quick as possible. But I experienced a buy-in straight from the off. I think the PSG game where we played one system, three days later another system against Burnley was two good signs of how they are willing to go all in, City a little bit after, then we had, let’s say, some results that didn't go our way and now it's positive – that's all part of the journey. Going forward there will hopefully be even longer spells of good performances and wins but there will still also be some downs and we need to get through that. So I think the only way to get closer and closer to each other is time and working on relationships and working on understanding each other's ideas. That's the biggest thing. And then it is how we together handle the bad spells because there will be bad spells. How do we handle them?”
