Ben Mee interview: Brentford defender on feeling revitalised under Thomas Frank and improving with age | Football News

Handing out multi-year contracts to players over 30 is not commonplace in football, let alone in the Premier League.

It is also not something Brentford’s methodical recruitment strategy, generally, tends to allow for.

But with Ben Mee out of contract at Burnley following their relegation to the Championship in the summer, the west London club spotted a chance and broke the mould. Then 32, the centre-back signed a two-year deal to become part of head coach Thomas Frank’s squad.

His performances since have justified their decision several times over.

Mee has been near ever-present since his debut against Leicester on August 6, playing every minute of the 17 league appearances he has made and the third-most of any player in the squad with 1,480, behind only goalkeeper David Raya (1,620) and left-back Rico Henry (1,616).

He has chipped in with an assist and two goals, too – the latest of which was a striker-like acrobatic volley against Wolves in October.

In the back of his mind, though, he always knew that he would grab any chance with both hands.

“I spoke to a couple of clubs as well as Brentford and it would have been a one-year deal with maybe an option, but I wasn’t keen on uprooting my family for just a year,” he says in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports at Brentford’s Jersey Road training ground.

“That security of two years and seeing where it went from there was a big draw and I felt like I’d earned that because I’d played a lot of games and rarely been injured, apart from the end of last season.

“I was excited by the opportunity to come here, work with Thomas and be at a club where I was going to give the most value and I could influence the group. It felt like a good fit.

“I was willing to bide my time to get into the team because they had a really good season last year and the two boys playing centre-half mainly had great seasons. I think once I’d got into the team I backed myself to stay there. Once it was up to me to stay in the team, that changed things.”

Perhaps one of the most eye-catching elements of the defender’s success at Brentford so far has been how he has seamlessly adapted to playing in a back three.

Frank is known for his tactical flexibility and often switches between a 4-3-3 and a 3-5-2 formation, the latter of which he has used in each of the four games in all competitions since the restart following the World Cup break.

It has been a welcome change for Mee, who primarily played in a 4-4-2 during his 11-year stay at Turf Moor, a significant amount of which saw him forge a strong partnership with ex-Brentford defender James Tarkowski in the heart of the defence.

“I’m learning all the time, even at my age, so it’s fantastic the way we playing in a back three with centre-halves coming out, pressing and going one-vs-one against players. I’m enjoying it,” he continues.

“I’ve not really played in a back three before throughout my career, so I feel a bit revitalised. I’m trying to express myself a bit more, with more freedom to go and play and go forward, not defending for 80 or 90 minutes.

“I’m proving to myself that I can play different ways. Because I played the same way for so long, the demand probably wasn’t on me as much to do the other side of the game with the ball as much as probably what I wanted to or I did before my time with Sean Dyche. It’s nice to have that demand.”

He even suggests that, at 33, he is becoming a better player as a result.

“Being able to adapt quickly, take things on board, learn and use my experience, has been a massive help because I’ve had a lot of information thrown at me since I’ve been here, with the way they like to play, the set-pieces they like to do and, in general, how they like to play in different formations.

“Sometimes, that can be a bit overwhelming for younger players that are not used to it, but my age and experience has helped for sure.

“Once you do get it, it’s quite simple. It took me quite a few games to go out on the pitch and not have to think too much about it because I was thinking quite a lot about where I should be, what I should be doing, that methodical way of playing.

“But it’s coming more naturally now and I’m getting used to the positions I’m playing. So yes, I think it has helped me improve as a player. That’s something I want to do, even at my age now I want to keep getting better and give what I can to the team.”

And how does he assess the performance of the defensive unit as a whole?

“I think we are getting better and stronger. We are learning about each other as well. We’ve been solid recently, but the way we play means we want to attack and score goals, which opens you up a little bit more to conceding a bit more.

“I think we’ve got a very good defence that has held out more often than not, especially against some top-quality strikers. We’re having to do a lot of that with open spaces because we do play quite openly, maybe not against the top boys as much.

“I think we definitely want to work on keeping clean sheets a bit more, though; we’re conceding maybe too many goals sometimes and letting teams back into the game.”

Brentford have systematically crushed any talk of the ‘second syndrome’ that some had suggested they might fall victim to this term.

In 18 Premier League games, they have beaten Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool, held Chelsea to a goalless draw and drawn 2-2 with Tottenham, having been leading 2-0 with more than an hour gone.

What has made these results even better – and helped them to move just 14 from the magical 40-point mark – has been the way they have played; these have been brave performances where they have executed the gameplan to perfection and seized the opportunities presented to them.

Mee agrees. “We’ve been creating chances and taking the game to teams. We were 2-0 up against Spurs and really disappointed not to go on and win that game. Going 2-0 up against Liverpool after a strong first half, you know they are going to come back at you and push and push and push, but we won and could have scored four or five.

“To go 1-0 up away at City and for them to level, people were thinking they would come out in the second half and overrun us. But to hold out and create a winning moment at the end of the game shows the attitude of the group; we had five players storming forward to try and win the game. We’ve had some really good results and that positive attitude from the manager to want to go and win games certainly helps.

“I do enjoy being the underdog, but I enjoy winning games that you should win as well. I think that’s where you become a very good Premier League player, when you have that consistency to go and win games not just when you are underdogs and you’re up for it.

“That’s why the games coming up are important because we’re probably going to be favourites in some of them, so it’s important the mentality is right and you do perform like you did against Liverpool, City and the same levels are there.”

The first of those is Saturday’s visit of Bournemouth to the Gtech Community Stadium, which is live on Sky Sports.

Should they triumph on home turf, the Bees could – amazingly, and depending on results, of course – move to within a handful of points of the top seven.

Depending on which angle you look at it from, the fact they exited both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup at the third-round stage could prove to be a blessing in disguise for the rest of their league campaign.

So, what about the European tour the Bees fans have been singing in a tongue-in-cheek manner about? Well, Mee has not shot down the idea…

“I did it with Burnley!,” he says with a smile. “We finished seventh and went on a European tour so you can never say never.

“There’s a good group here and we’ll see what we can do. There’s every chance we can finish high in the table, but we can’t get too ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a tough end to the season, so we’ll get as far as we can and then see what we can do against the big boys at the end.

“Fans can dream all they like, but we’ll keep our feet on the ground.”