Kristoffer Ajer’s arrival at Brentford from Celtic was one off the less heralded moves this summer but the centre-back has already demonstrated the impact he can have on his new side’s defensive efforts which will go a long way towards determining whether Thomas Frank’s side can extend their stay in the top-flight.
Ajer, 23, impressed on the right hand side of the back three at Selhurst Park, dealing effectively with the threat of Wilfried Zaha as the Bees limited Crystal Palace to a handful of opportunities as they registered a second successive clean sheet.
“Kristoffer certainly has huge potential,” said Frank, the Brentford manager, when asked if a comparison could be made with Virgil van Dijk who followed a similar path from Celtic into the Premier League.
“He has got the character, he has got the ability on the ball – you could see that when he was striving forward – he is also running forward and I want that from my outside centre-backs. And now he has to build and learn all the extra layers of this.
“You also need different characters. Ethan Pinnock is the mountain but he is very quiet as a person. And Kristoffer is a little bit more vocal and more extrovert and you need sometimes that to drive the team. It was fantastic to see.
“I liked the last action between Sergi Canos and Kristoffer and chest-bumped and celebrated like a goal [when they ended a Palace attack]. That is fantastic. It says a lot about the character in the team.
“Kristoffer I am more pleased with him today. He grew into it. He defended very well. Also had some good actions on the ball so I think he took a step in the right direction.”
Frank added: “I mean to praise the three of them [centre-backs] and also praise Brian Riemer my assistant manager, the master or professor of the defensive art who is drilling it into them every day of the week and I think Pontus [Jansson] put it perfectly.
“We came in Monday after we beat Arsenal: what is this angry, aggressive bulldog that we call Brian. We got a clean sheet against Arsenal and we still want more. I think that is the attitude we want to develop.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3j703tx
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