Another season begins, another round of opening day disappointment for Brentford. The Bees left Sheffield United on the wrong end of a 1-0 defeat which could have been more – the second of the hosts two disallowed goals subsequently being deemed very unlucky to be chalked off. Yet on a day dominated by home teams where only three away goals were scored in the Championship, including one for Hull City in their 1-1 at Aston Villa (as predicted yesterday – I’m still in shock), Bees fans should remain upbeat.
And if you’d like to read more whilst helping the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust …. the rest of this article can now be found in the Kindle e-book Ten Times Better. Brentford FC Season review: 2017/18. Inspired by ‘that’ interview it contains the least bad of these columns in one, handy volume as it looks at our own campaign as well as wider divisional life and the promotion / relegation races.
As a bonus there’s a whole host of new material. New that is, for my pages. Specifically, all the programme articles submitted (both home and away where, if nothing else, you can get the original versions of both Birmingham City and Millwall).
In addition, There Is No Plan B. Brentford FC Season reviews: 2013/14 – 2017/18 takes us all the way back to the start of this latest leg in the journey. That penalty. League One. Harlee Dean was a hero. Jota was something we thought happened to the temperature for one week in July. Alan Judge had joined on loan whilst the Marinus Experiment was something nobody had contemplated. Bringing things bang up to date by the inclusion of this year’s volume alongside the four previously published campaign round ups, it has five seasons in one weighty tome. As weighty as a download can be, that is.
Relive the memories. See how often the same material gets regurgitated. Remind yourself about the likes of Betinho, Martin Fillo, Javi Venta and Marcos Tebar. Certainly, if there’s no Marcos Tea Bar at Lionel Road it will be an opportunity missed.
All proceeds from any sales will go to the Community Sports Trust. For less than the cost of a half / pint respectively, they may help while away some time on the commute. By the pool on holiday. In the bathroom. Who knows? It will certainly do some good for the Trust, whose work has been well documented at Griffin Park but you can read all about it on their site.
And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve been given something very special. A 2017/18 third team shirt with Lewis Macleod’s squad number on the reverse in the EFL typeface. Anyone with half an interest in Bees kits will know that these were never made available in the club shop. Anyone who has read any of this before will know what a kit nerd yours truly is so when I say this is rare, take that in good faith!
To be in with a chance of owning it, download a copy of either before the end of June 2018 and you’ll go into a draw to win this. Just DM/tweet me (@NickBruzon) a copy of your purchase confirmation mail and I’ll add your name to the list before selecting a random Bees fan to win this on July 1st.
Nick Bruzon
BrentfordFC 
We got what we deserved yesterday. United were more up for it, fought harder, passed the ball better and had plenty of energy. We looked as if we have just played 8 games in a month. Knackered! Passes wayward, often backwards & regularly going into touch. Centre of defence porous, lead footed & prone to every attack. Finishing…well you saw clearly what our finishing was like!
I did wonder about the team selection before the game. Colin & Barbet both dropped. In my opinion, unfairly. Maxime for me, Brentford’s best ever right back. Replaced by Dalgaard who had a debut to forget. Then there was the three across the midfield Kamo-Woods-Josh. None of whom you would expect to get themselves in the penalty area, leaving Lasse at times quite isolated. Although Ryan was ginger head & shoulders the best player in green.
It was not until Nico & Ollie came on that there was finally some energy in the side. Their cameos could see them start on Saturday. Whereas Maupay was nearly an instant hit if it wasnt for the excellent Blackman.
Great atmosphere in the ground although the many Bees were pretty deflated. Got to be honest though from what I saw of Sheffield, its quite a nice city.
solid reply Bernard, fair and balanced as is the original author, Nick. I have hugely enjoyed reading his articles leading up to the game and post match, rarely have i seen such balanced and by in large accurate pieces written by an obviously talented an ‘in love with football’ journalist, he loves his Bee’s and football and long may that continue! live long and prosper guys, sure your football team will have some glorious days to come this season, your good enough to push the ‘moneybags’ teams all the way from what i see and read, keep the faith, support them and they will come good, nobody wins anything in August eh, although for us Blades every game is like the FA cup final lol! regards and best wishes guys. Tony. Blade 🙂
Dear All
I was a touch baffled by the team selection yesterday in midfield and the centre of defence.
Am I alone in thinking Barbet yet again has been really unlucky? He was criminally underused for much of last season until he took his chance with some style, yet here he is on the bench again. Not only is he the quickest of our fairly lumbering centre-backs, but he also uses the ball really well. It just seems as if DS feels he has to play our record signing (as he was at the time) despite his consistently underwhelming performances. Will be interesting to see what happens now Harlee is available for selection.
i can’t really see how that midfield three offer much attacking threat. In many ways I think that DS finding the ideal combination in midfield will be key to our season.
How bloody ironic that after scoring goals for fun pre-season, we fire blanks yesterday. Oh well…
Regards
Gordon
Nail on head Gordon
Dear Bernard
Thanks for that. I feared I was going to be accused of some early-season moaning by some instead of throwing in a couple of questions for debate as it was meant to be.
We seem to have gone through pre-season with a ‘we’ll score more goals than you’ approach (possibly a slightly dangerous one in this league), but then we seemed to abandon that yesterday and failed to score.
DS has some solutions to find regarding ideal team selection and best combinations in certain areas. Given our current strength in depth, this is a different problem from anything he has had before here.
For what you tt’s worth, we’re probably still stronger going forward than defending, so maybe replacing one of the defensive midfield players with a no.10 (e.g. Watkins) might be an idea.
Regards
Gordon
Back to team selection and tactical nous then – again. I’ve seen enough of Bjelland for one season, and a battle in Yorkshire was never going to be a game for Josh McEachran. We have a really good squad, now it’s all about using it properly. I see Tom Field is off to Bradford until January, let’s hope we don’t have another issue at left back. Looking forward to to Saturday.
Wise words Nick – thanks as ever
Hope we give Warbs a warm reception on Saturday but no points .