Thomas Frank Discusses Player Injuries, Mikkel Damsgaard’s Form, and January Transfer Plans

Brentford manager Thomas Frank addressed reporters ahead of Friday’s Premier League match against Brighton, scheduled for a 19:30 GMT kick-off. Below are the main points from his press conference: Frank stated that Ethan Pinnock remains sidelined for “weeks” due to a hamstring injury. He also noted that Sepp van den Berg’s problem is “minor,” but the recovery period before the Brighton fixture is insufficient for both van den Berg and Mathias Jensen to play. Furthermore, Kristoffer Ajer will be unavailable for several weeks after sustaining an ankle injury that Frank described as “similar to Yoane Wissa’s earlier this season.” When asked about concerns regarding the increasing number of injuries, especially after last season’s struggles, Frank responded: “What I will say is I have got a very strong starting XI on the sideline with players out. But it is part of football, we need to deal with it, we have no complaints about that.” He added: “I think we have just been unlucky again. A pattern we would need to look into is if it is too many soft tissue injuries, then we would have to look into training and methods, but that is all good. We are now working on how to turn them around quickly.” Regarding Mikkel Damsgaard’s improved performance this season, Frank humorously remarked that the midfielder is “finally starting to listen to me.” He continued: “I thought he was man of the match against Nottingham Forest. I thought he was the best player on the pitch. What I liked from that game was he said ‘give me the ball, I will make things happen’. He was dangerous and very positive and creative. I’m really happy with that. Things do seem to have been clicking more.” Frank further commented on Damsgaard: “He has been built the past two years in the gym physically [after injuries] and he is in a good place, playing with confidence and we are now seeing the good player we hoped we had signed.” The Brentford boss acknowledged that the defeat by Forest “hurt a bit more” as it ended their unbeaten home record, but he considered it “a big credit to us that they changed formation because of us.” Addressing whether the club needs to reinforce the squad in January, given Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey’s ongoing long-term injuries, Frank stated: “We are always looing into the transfer window where we can strengthen. It is a valid question on the full-backs. Of course we would like to have Rico and Hickey back as soon as possible but right now they are not. We showed last year we are not afraid to get loan payers in, so maybe we do that again. But, I’m not saying we definitely will do that, we will see in the next weeks.”