THOMAS FRANK embraces Brentford's reputation as the kings of home entertainment in the Premier League.
And the Bees boss promised: “We want even MORE attacks on our fortress.”
Gtech Community Stadium fans have seen a whopping 40 GOALS in eight top-flight games so far, ahead of today's match with Nottingham Forest.
Spread over an entire season, that average of five per game would break Chelsea's record of 82 goals in the double-winning 2009-10 season.
And if it continues at the same pace, Gtech's tally could be close to a hundred goals – a thought that made Frank's eyes light up.
The Dane, 51, said: “That would be quite a story, wouldn't it?
“Maybe it has a little to do with the fact that we are too open, you never know. But I want us to be as attacking as possible.
“We did that in the championship. In the two years I was in charge before promotion, we were the top scorers.
“When I talk about having a little more control in the games, it's more about whether we can get to a position where we can play a ball in the back, or spread it across the ball, or maybe go on the counter.
“But I like to play fairly open matches. That gives us opportunities because we have great players who can exploit that space, the way we have built the squad over the last four years.
“That has now given us this opportunity. The structure, everything in the club, makes us want to play even more offensively.”
Frank points to Mikkel Damsgaard, Kevin Schade and the dynamic 19-goal duo of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wisse as summarizing a philosophy he has carried since childhood.
He added: “I have always studied the game immensely and for many, many years I was most attracted to attacking football.
“I always looked a bit at the Ajax team, the total football idea, and then it was Barcelona, the first Dream Team under Johan Cruijff – where of course Michael Laudrup, another Danish player, was at the center.
“So I watched all those games, unbelievable. And then of course Pep took them to another level.
“The first for me was Morten Olsen. He was head coach of Denmark for 15 years and then spent time at Cologne and Ajax.
“Firstly, because he was Dane, on the national team.
“As a player he was a central defender, but more of a librero, the man who drove through the lines himself, very offensively minded.
“As a coach, he was the one who first came up with the 4-2-3-1 formation, with very wide wingers.
“He was a bit ahead of his time in many ways and a great inspiration to me.
“But I was also inspired by watching what Jurgen Klopp did at Liverpool.
“They were the most difficult team to play against from a defensive point of view because they attacked from all angles.
“Also Arsène Wenger's Arsenal. I liked some of that, with Bergkamp and Henry, Ljungberg, Pires. . . that was fantastic football too.
“I got that inspiration and tried to put it together into my own blueprint.”
Frank is also one of the Prem's great showmen on the touchline: a whirling dervish in the dugout, kicking every ball and trying to attack the Brentford fans.
Excitement is his requirement, even if he admitted that it might not bring the biggest prizes.
'We love to entertain'
Frank said: “Hopefully you can be a great entertainer and a great winner at the same time.
“At the end of the day it's all about winning, there's no doubt about that. Winning is the most important thing.
“So we looked at it quite a bit. Are we too open? Is that the reason we give away too much? Do we need to adjust a little bit?
“I don't think you can achieve anything huge without being pretty solid at the back as well.
“We saw it at Liverpool when they won the championship. They had been close, but they bought Alisson and Van Dijk and 'boom!' – suddenly they had one of the best defenses in the league.
“City and Arsenal have done things a bit the same at times and that is extremely important.
“But if we can, we like to entertain. There have been quite a few games where we have scored and then immediately conceded, scored and conceded again.
“Then we have been good enough to score the third and finally be on top and in control of the games.
“I would like to have a few more games, like the game against Leicester where we win 4-1, that would be nice – and then I would be a bit calmer on the sidelines.
“But we're playing against some good teams.”
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