Matt Le Tissier: I’ve been ‘surprised’ by one Brentford man I thought would flop
Keith Andrews has done a stellar job in charge of Brentford so far despite many within the game being unsure if he would be able to succeed Thomas Frank well after his exit.
That is according to Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier, who has exclusively told Football Insider that he thought Brentford would struggle under Andrews and so has been shocked by their strong form so far this term but expects them to stay up.
The Bees were rocked by Thomas Frank‘s exit following the end of last season as Tottenham poached him to be their new manager after seven years in charge of the West London outfit.
Andrews was promoted from within to become Brentford’s new boss, as a result, despite only being their set-piece coach under Frank and not having any previous managerial experience.
He has managed the Bees to a decent start to the 2025-26 campaign so far, with 13 points from their opening nine league games to currently sit in 11th place, despite many tipping them to struggle.
Keith Andrews has had a great start to his managerial career at Brentford
As well as Frank leaving, Brentford also sold their two key attackers in the summer as Bryan Mbeumo made the move to Man United and Yoane Wissa was sold to Newcastle late on in the window.
Igor Thiago has found form in the early stages of 2025-26 to replace their goalscoring prowess somewhat, while Michael Kayode has been a standout from full-back and has wreaked havoc weekly with his impressive long throw-in.
Brentford handed Liverpool their fourth successive Premier League loss on Saturday (25 October) with a 3-2 win, while they have also beaten the likes of Aston Villa, twice, and Man United already this season.
Andrews has effectively been able to continue from where Frank left off, and it certainly seems unlikely that they will be involved in a relegation battle during this campaign despite concerns around their future when he was appointed.
Le Tissier admits Andrews mistake after thinking Brentford ‘might struggle’
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former England and Southampton striker Le Tissier admitted his surprise at Brentford remaining strong under Andrews, and insisted that they have displayed what it takes to avoid the drop in abundance already this season.
“I mean, I’ve got to be honest, he’s surprised me. I thought that Brentford might struggle a little bit this season, you know, only because of the fact that Thomas Frank had had such a long time there.
“And, sometimes you see what happens to clubs, when they have a long-term manager that does really well, when they leave. You know, you look at what happened to Arsenal after Wenger left, what happened to Man United after Sir Alex went.
“So, I thought Keith Andrews might struggle, but no, fair play to him. He’s really got a team there that know what they’re doing, very well organised, work really hard for each other.
“They all look like they’re playing for their manager, and that’s what you’ve got to have at clubs the size of Brentford. You’ve got to have a united team that want to fight for every ball, want to fight for their manager.
“That’s how you stay up in this division. So, they’ve had a pretty decent start, I’ve been pretty impressed with them.”