Have you ever seen two managers interview each other before a game? Well, Thomas Frank and Graham Potter did exactly that before Wednesday's Premier League clash between Brentford and Chelsea – and it was a superb watch.
Viewers who tuned into Amazon Prime's pre-match coverage were treated to this fascinating meeting of minds.
Simon Thomas, who was fronting the live coverage at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium, opened the segment by suggesting the Premier League managers ask a question to one another.
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He said: "If there was one question you could ask this man ahead of kick-off, what would it be?"
After a few laughs on a panel that also consisted of former Chelsea striker Gianfranco Zola and former England international Rachel Brown-Finnis, Frank soon got stuck into his question. How good is this?
Here's how the conversation went down:
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Frank: "First, I would like to praise Graham. I think it's a fantastic journey he has been on and I'm so happy a coach that has walked the long way has been given a chance to manage a top six club. I think Graham has shown his qualities. I know that he would will do a good job at Chelsea. The one question...why are you changing your formation so many times?"
Potter: *Laughs* "Good question. We don't really see the formation as the end goal. The team needs to look consistent, regardless of the formation. And then it's about the personnel, about how you want to attack the opponent, and how you want to defend against the opponent. These are the things we consider. Hopefully there's things that look the same, even though the shape changes."
Potter: "What's the biggest difference between the Championship and the Premier League?"
Frank: "The pace of the game, I would say. The quality of the players is crazy. You can make one minor mistake and get punished. The speed of the game... the modern game is playing in the Premier League. There are so many changes and formation shifts during the game; a lot of teams are doing that more and more. It's a big challenge."
Potter and Frank's pre-match chat was met with widespread positivity on social media.
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One fan said: "How many sports/competitions would do this? Whatever the answer, more of them should..." while another commented: "This is genuinely innovative + informative."
A third wrote: "Probably the two best managers you could have gotten to do this, tbh. Really cool idea," and a fourth said: "This is excellent. Both top, top coaches who speak so well about football."
In terms of what happened on the pitch, both teams walked away from West London with a point after a scoreless draw. But then again, we got to witness this brilliant exchange between two of the Premier League's best coaches.
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Not a bad result, really.
Featured Image Credit: Amazon PrimeTopics: Chelsea, Brentford, Graham Potter, Premier League, Football
