Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has insisted that while he is empathetic towards England boss Gareth Southgate and the decisions made regarding his World Cup squad, Ivan Toney should have been on the 26-player roster heading to Qatar.
Southgate confirmed his squad for the tournament on Thursday, though it had been reported earlier in the day that Toney would be omitted from his selection.
The Three Lions boss was asked about certain picks at a press conference and strongly intimated that many of his selections came down to their ‘form’, such as the decision to select Callum Wilson as a backup striker to Harry Kane.
Frank was quizzed about Toney’s snub ahead of Brentford’s trip to Manchester City on Saturday, and though he was keen to show respect to his England counterpart, it doesn’t make sense to him that the striker was overlooked on the basis of ‘form’.
“It’s life. It’s about how many hits we can take and stand up and move forward,” Frank said.
“All people in the world are biased. I’m biased my way, Gareth’s biased his way. I’m looking from this side of the fence, he’s on the other side of the fence.
“I think Gareth’s done an unbelievable job as head coach for England, semi-final of a World Cup and so close on penalties [at Euro 2020], it’s like at the flip of a coin – maybe not for England but for every other nation. So I think he’s done fantastic and we should trust the process and the selection he’s been picking.
“That said, it depends what you look at. If you look at strikers in form, you can’t find a better striker in form in the country after Harry Kane. It’s impossible.
“You look at Maddison, I guess he’s picked because he’s in form. But if you look at players who have at least one cap for England, is that the criteria? Then you’re not selected.”
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