Brentford head coach Thomas Frank had a simple message for the supporters who booed his side off after their 0-0 bore draw with Stoke – stick with us.
The Bees have now won just one of their last six Championship matches after failing to find a way past a Stoke defence that is the most porous in the division.
Stoke had conceded 17 goals in their opening seven matches, six of which ended in defeats to leave the rock bottom, but a nervous-looking Brentford were unable to add to their problems.
Frank said: “We are disappointed, but the positive is that we looked very solid defensively and gave almost nothing away at the back. We did that element extremely well.
“Going forward there is hard work to be done on the training ground to get us to the point where we play quick, quick, quick, but we had five new players starting and it will take time to get those instinctive relationships between players.”
Key players like Said Benrahma and new signing Bryan Mbeumo have failed to hit the heights this season, but Frank is adamant their time will come.
“We know our offensive engine is difficult to play against when it is working at 100 per cent, but I said after we beat Derby convincingly that it would still take time and there would be ups and downs,” he said.
“We haven’t seen the best of Said yet but he is fighting very hard to get to the highest level, while Bryan Mbeumo is still finding his feet. It will take time and we need to be patient.”
The Dane also praised Stoke’s defenders, who battled hard to keep the score deadlocked.
He said: “There is a lot of expectation where we are at home that we will win, but Stoke came here fighting for their lives and defended very well with a good game plan defensively.
“We know we need to move the ball quicker and play at a higher tempo and that will come, but we have a solid defensive basis to do it from now.”
Stoke boss Nathan Jones admitted his side’s second point of the season could be a turning point as they climbed off the foot of the table, but was disappointed they could not nick all three.
Peter Etebo should have given the Potters their opening first win of the campaign late on but was denied by a great save from David Raya at his feet.
Jones said: “In context, it’s a good point but I was more delighted with the level of performance. We showed real discipline and could have snatched it with the best chance of the game.
“We put our bodies on the line and yes we’d like to be more expansive, but if you do that here at Brentford you will get punished. Today we didn’t allow them any space and I’m a little bit disappointed we didn’t nick it.”
He added: “It’s been a tough couple of weeks but performances have been far better than the results say. A point away from home at a difficult place, a clean sheet might be a turning point but let’s see.
“We are better than what we are showing but we can’t keep saying that forever. We have gone back to basics and made sure we’re defensively sound at a place that is very tough.
“Brentford have good players, good structure and last year was an eye opener for me and they carved us open to win 3-1, but this time we were better. We could have been braver but we definitely frustrated them.”
