Brentford manager Thomas Frank defends 'fantastic' player from 'keyboard warriors'

Brentford manager Thomas Frank praised the performance of goalkeeper Mark Flekken after the shot-stopped made an incredible 12 saves in the side's 3-1 defeat to Manchester City on Monday night.

The 30-year-old spent much of the first half keeping Pep Guardiola's side at bay as the Champions tried to come back from an early Neal Maupay goal. Flekken was assured when facing talisman Erling Haaland in a one-on-one and even picked up the assist for Brentford's goal with a long ball forward from a goal kick.

The player, who arrived at the Gtech Community Stadium from Bundesliga side Freiburg for £11 million last summer to replace Arsenal-bound David Raya, has come under criticism from some supporters amid a poor run of results for the Bees. Speaking after the match, Frank said: "I think his overall performance, his best game of the season.

"I'm pleased for him that the fans were singing his name, he deserved that. I think he's been better than all the criticism he's been receiving... to be fair I haven't read anything but I've heard. Maybe it's these keyboard warriors out there.

"I think he's been good. I think his distribution has been good, he's been out in the box dominating that. The last bit was these crucial saves and today he did some fantastic saves. He's just coming into a new league and adjusting, today he's showed why we signed him."

The Brentford manager was determined to take the positives from his side's latest defeat, including a strong showing from Spurs loanee Sergio Reguilon on his first start.

Frank said: "That's what we need to take from this, no doubt. These last two performances have been better than the Nottingham performance when we won the game. There are a lot of players performing out there. Reguilon today showed why we signed him. There's a lot of positives for us to take.

"I think he was very good, defending very aggressively and he came flying forward very positive. He gave us a different dimension going forward."