Thomas Frank believes his Brentford side were “close to perfection” as they recorded their first away win of the season with a thumping 5-0 win over lowly Southampton.
Kevin Schade opened the scoring for the Bees early on, before a Bryan Mbeumo double, including a penalty, put the result well out of Saints' reach.
The hosts' goals were compounded by injury-time goals from Keane Lewis-Potter and Yoane Wissa, ending the Bees' nine-match windless run on their top-flight travels (D2 L7).
Brentford's five-star performance was also their biggest winning margin in the Premier League and their biggest win in the competition since beating Preston North End 5-0 in April 2021.
Frank's side were more than worthy of their victory, with a total of 4.23 expected goals (xG) from their 20 attempts, limiting Saints to just one shot on target.
“I think that was very close to perfection,” Frank told BBC Sport when asked about his side's display at St. Mary's.
“We gave nothing away for 90 minutes, defended excellently and created chance after chance after chance.
“There could easily have been more than five. I am extremely proud of this achievement.
“I don't think people understand how hard it is to go to a game like this and be as dominant as we were and get the job done the way we did.”
Biggest ever win in the @PremierLeagueBiggest win in the top flight since 1938Biggest ever win in the top flight
A record-breaking afternoon pic.twitter.com/w1Acjyqn8z
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) January 4, 2025
Frank also praised the goalscoring duo of Mbeumo and Wissa, with the pair continuing their good start to the season with another impressive performance on Saturday.
Mbeumo has now scored in ten Premier League matches for Brentford this season, with only Mohamed Salah (14) and Alexander Isak (11) scoring more in league matches this season.
Wissa, meanwhile, scored his 36th top-flight goal for Brentford, becoming the joint top scorer for the Bees in the competition (alongside Ivan Toney, also 36).
He has been directly involved in 18 goals in his last 22 league games (14 goals, four assists), the same number as in his previous 64 league games.
“You just run a little bit faster, you look for your good friend a little bit more,” Frank said of Mbeumo and Wissa's blossoming relationship on the field.
“They have a very good relationship, both on and off the field, and I think you can see that in the goals today.”
Ivan Juric, meanwhile, is still searching for his first win as Southampton boss, with the Croatian losing all three games since taking over from Russell Martin.
Saints have managed just six points from their opening 20 Premier League games this season (W1 D3 L16), equaling the worst points tally at this stage of the season in the competition (Sunderland in 2005-06).
Juric branded Saturday's mauling a “total disaster”, adding that any promise from his match against West Ham has since completely evaporated.
“We are angry. [I’m] disappointed with myself for not changing the situation in these two weeks. It was a very, very bad day,” Juric told BBC Sport.
“After West Ham I had good feelings, but today I saw too many difficulties. It was a total disaster. They were much better than us. I can only say sorry to our fans because they don't deserve this.”
“We now have more days to work, to understand how to play and what we can change to get better. It is clear that in some situations we are not ready.”
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