Thomas Frank has praised Ivan Toney’s mental toughness after Brentford drew 0-0 with Bournemouth. The Bees battled hard at the Vitality Stadium, dominating possession while keeping their first away clean sheet in over a year.
A solid start to the campaign has Brentford sitting 10th in the table after eight games. Former Newcastle United striker Toney has been central to their success - bagging five goals to earn a first England call-up.
However, the 26-year-old did not feature on international duty and returned to West London without a cap to his name. Similarly to Alexander Mitrovic last weekend, Toon supporters have long debated whether it was the right call to let Toney leave in 2018.
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Rafa Benitez, governed by his remit to get - and then keep - Newcastle in the Premier League, never gave the striker a chance to impress on Tyneside. Four years on, Toney is now one of the country’s most prolific goalscorers.
Frank highlighted his importance to Brentford ahead of their trip to St James’ Park on Saturday. The Bees boss said: “He (Toney) needs to do everything he can around the pitch every day, and I think he did that at Bournemouth. Ivan was a constant threat throughout the game, it’s not that often a number nine has four or five chances. He was constantly there.
“And he cleared the ball off the line as well, which is important. He’s so important to the team, we all want to win all our games, but sometimes you need to collect one point on an average day for us.
“We maybe could have lost the game but we also could have won. But Ivan’s mentality is one of his biggest strengths and you can see that in the games as well. He misses a chance, he’s on to the next action. He is very, very strong mentally and that’s why he is where he is now.”
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