To be Frank it could get a bit Messi with James
THOMAS FRANK insists only Lionel Messi is as good at free-kicks as super Saint James Ward-Prowse.
Ward-Prowse has scored 11 free-kicks in 286 league games for Southampton – seven behind David Beckham’s record.
The 27-year-old has only netted one this season but Brentford boss Frank said ahead of tonight’s game: “Ward-Prowse is fantastic. Maybe the best set-piece taker in the league, maybe the best direct free-kick taker in the world.
“There is one left-footer at Paris Saint-Germain that is maybe better, so WardProwse is probably the best right-footer in the world. We have seen so many times over the last couple of years how he puts the ball into the top corner. It’s close to a penalty for him.”
Frank has warned his players no one is safe in his Bees squad and they must keep performing or lose their place. He said: “It is about the culture, how hard they train.
“I have seven or eight players that if they do well they will play. But they have to perform. There will always be a time when their time is up.”
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has been picking the brains of their new director of football Rasmus Ankersen, who was behind the Bees’ rise into the Premier League.
He said: “We have spoken about the club and for sure he has a lot of knowledge about Brentford.”
Dane Ankersen adopted a version of the so-called Moneyball system used in American sport as a recruitment strategy there.
And Hasenhuttl says Saints are already masters of Ankersen’s ‘buy cheap, sell high’ model.
He added: “We have shown this in the past when we sold Danny Ings for £30million and other players for good money then rebuilt the squad with this cash.”