Tribal Football

Thomas Frank exclusive: Our hopes for Igor Thiago; Why Brentford scouts so good at picking strikers

Tribal Football
Thomas Frank exclusive: Our hopes for Igor Thiago; Why Brentford scouts so good at picking strikers
Thomas Frank exclusive: Our hopes for Igor Thiago; Why Brentford scouts so good at picking strikersFlashscore
"Obviously, we're hoping he'll hit the ground running. He's a physically strong striker, good in the air, good in the box, good in pressing and he's also quick," Frank tells Tribalfootball.com as he describes the Brazilian currently hammering in goals for Club Bruges.

Clearly he has to adapt his level from Belgium to the Premier League which can take a little getting used to, but he's got a great mentality, so hopefully he can make it five in a row," Frank says, referring to the great run of strikers The Bees" have had in their ranks during his tenure.

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Neil Maupay went from 12 to 25 goals in a season, when Frank took over, earning him a move to Brighton. In the following season, Sad Benrahma scored 17 goals before transferring to West Ham where he never came close to emulating that number.

In the same season Ollie Watkins smashed in 25 goals before making his move to Aston Villa, while Brentford turned to Ivan Toney from Peterborough as replacement.

He then sets a Championship record, scoring 31 goals to become topscorer. In the Premier League he scores 12 in the first season before topping that with 20 in our second season," says the Danish manager, who seems to have a knack for squeezing goals out his frontline.

Well, it's a mixture of a few things. As a club, we've been good at scouting and then the way we set up to play, the demands we have to a striker also has a lot to say in the matter," Frank offers as an explanation for producing a string of strikers scoring an umpteen number of goals.

For all the goals scored by Benrahma, Watkins and Toney, Frank admits to being particularly proud of Neil Maupay.

We take him back on loan after he hasn't scored a single goal in 18 months, and then he scores six goals for us in the Premier League and eight all in all. There must be something we're doing right..."