Thomas Frank says he trusted Yoane Wissa to replace Ivan Toney after his brace helped Brentford bounce back from their disappointment at Fulham with a 3-2 win over Bournemouth at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford went behind on two occasions in their Premier League meeting in west London before Wissa’s sixth and seventh of the season again showed that he is capable of replacing the departed Toney, who made the switch to the Saudi Pro League in the summer.
Wissa’s brace came after Monday’s defeat at Craven Cottage, where Harry Wilson’s double in second-half added-time saw Frank’s men throw away a 1-0 lead.
And it looked more of the same on Saturday when Evanilson pounced on a Sepp van Den Berg error in the 17th minute for 1-0. After Wissa equalised off a long throw, Justin Kluivert’s finish off a short corner routine saw Bournemouth retake their lead after the break.
That advantage did not last long however. Mikkel Damsgaard equalised a 60 seconds later in the 50th minute before the goal of the match from Wissa saw him lob Kepa Arrizabalaga with a chip to help Brentford to victory.
Speaking on Wissa, Frank said: “I’m very happy, I think he’s better as a nine and I think he’s developed fantastically. His overall game with his link up, his hold up, his work ethic and two great goals was very good.
“I think Ivan was a fantastic player for us but I know that when people leave the club others have opportunities to shine. I know the level of Wissa and Bryan (Mbeumo).
“I know when Ivan was out last season, Bryan and Wissa scored a lot of goals. With that knowledge I knew we wouldn’t lack goals.
“Both of his goals were good (Wissa). He sniffed out the first goal and headed it in, and the last one, it was perfect with composure and great technique to score.”
The victory saw Brentford bounce back from Monday’s loss as well as fighting back from a goal down on Saturday.
Frank lauded the mentality of his side to claim three points, adding: “It’s a great reaction in many ways. It was not perfect but the bounce-back mentality was unbelievably good.
“We played bad in the first 20 mins, Bournemouth were better than us and we gave them the first.
“After our goal, we stepped up and found our great mentality for the rest of the half which was even.
“Second half we were clearly best team on the pitch, we gave nothing away and were dangerous going forward.”
Bournemouth failed to replicate last week’s heroics when they toppled champions Manchester City in a 2-1 win at Vitality Stadium.
But manager Andoni Iraola talked up his side’s performance despite their defeat on the road.
“I think it’s a hard one because I’m happy with the performance,” he said.
“In the first half we were the better team but we couldn’t make the difference. A key moment is when we conceded after 2-1.
“We had to manage the situation but they punished us. I think our performance deserved much more today.”
