2019/20 – After 18 games Brentford had picked up 27 points and were sitting 8th in the Championship table. We’d just gone down 1-0 at Blackburn Rovers. Fast forward a year and we’re 6th after the same number of games. The points total four better on 31. The Bees returning home following a 3-1 tonking of Nottingham Forest. Ivan Toney clear of Adam Armstrong in the race for the golden boot. His late strike blowing the beautiful curler from Josh Dasilva clean out of the water in any attempt to find goal of the day. All this, at a time we’re having to rest/rotate the squad as often as we’re playing games, given the two a week schedule we’re currently racing through. With the televised trip to Watford next up on Tuesday, be sure of more to come. Likewise, be sure of more moaning. Seriously! The announcement of yesterday’s team the latest place where the more unhappy element of our fanbase came to the fore in the replies. Frank out. Yeah!!
We talked about this after the game Blackburn game. We’ve a club here doing so much for their fans. Look at the way we’ve rallied around Jamie Powell and those before him who have found themselves in the most unimagineable situations. A club doing so much in the local community. A club set up for ongoing growth. A club that is better placed this season (points/table) than at any other time in our Championship life. A club that don’t have an unlimited supply of funds yet are spending, selling and reinvesting in unspotted talent in a style that makes us the envy of the football world.
Yet there are still fans who seem to relish being able to slag off players before a ball has even been kicked. Demanding ‘Frank out’ (are they SERIOUS ?) with nothing more blatant than pure pleasure as a cause for doing so . The treatment of Sergi this season has been horrific. Emiliano last time out. He seems to be flavour of the month once more.
We win and lose as a squad. Those of us with eyes have been under no illusions that squad play has been essential. Will continue to be so. Thomas has been unequivocal about his need to make multiple substitutions per game. Before and during. There will be times when we see players start that we think would be better placed on the bench and vice-versa. That’s football. Its all about opinions. But for a squad and head-coach that is so well placed to come under such constant attack from certain quarters is utterly baffling.
I’ve seen us when we genuinely shit. This is nowhere near it. I’m not using ‘we used to be broke’ as the sole excuse to appreciate what we’ve got now. It’s massively important to know your history and remember where we’ve come from but that’s only part of it. No player will ever be 10/10 game after game. No squad has a divine right to win every match. We’ve said this so many times before but its true. So suck it up.
Benrahma has gone and, whilst I’d love him back here still (who wouldn’t) we’re still scoring goals for fun. To be 11 unbeaten and still carving out the wins is nothing short of incredible given the intense physical pressure the players are under. It may not always be the 100mph football of last season and it may, sometimes, be a horror show to sit through (Middlesbrough and Derby anybody…) but we’re finding our groove. We’re finally into our new home. We’re three points off automatic. We’ve just obliterated Nottingham Forest. We’ve just seen Ivan Toney score one of THE goals. Highlights below.
It went up as high as it went forward. The hoof (and there is no other word for it) from Janelt coming down with snow on it. Ivan keeping his eye on the ball all the way through to beat his man and fire a quite exquisite finish home on the half-volley. There are no words to really do it justice. Just watch again. And again.
To think, Nottingham Forest ended up with Lyle Taylor. Both our clubs heavily linked with both players over the summer. Safe to say we’ve got the good end of that deal. Frank out. Sack the board. Where’s the money, Benham?
Before that, Henrik Dalsgaard had opened the scoring early for a much changed Brentford line up. We still played the same way. We still tried to pour forward as we’d done against Blackburn. We still created chances but this time, unlike the Derby game, they went in.
There could have been more. Mbeumo coming close whilst Ivan Toney almost scored a first half wonder goal after connecting with an inch perfect cross from Emiliano and seeing his acrobatic effort swoop just over. In the end, it was Josh Dasilva who double the lead late on with a left-footed curler from the corner of the box after Sergi Canos continued his red hot streak with another assist. It was a goal that would have been the moment of the match, had Ivan not come along and done his own thing minutes later. Frank out !
Next up, a trip to Watford on Tuesday night. I’d love to be there but we’ve no hope. Urgh. Corona. Then, assuming there is no change to the London tiering, we’ve another 2,000 fans able to get a taste of Lionel Road when Reading visit at the weekend. With both teams above us, these games are real six-pointers. A chance to reel in the promotion pack and perhaps even hit those automatic spots.
What a fantastic opportunity awaits. With Newcastle United to come in the league cup quarter-finals, life is definitely looking up on the pitch. For most of us.
Nick Bruzon
BrentfordFC 
Well yes, but..there will always be glass half empty types whatever the club achieves, as there are online/ (formerly) propping up the bar for every club across the land. Ignore ‘em. And part of the fun of supporting the Bees is the surprise from supporters of PL teams who still think of us as a lower league outfit struggling to extend a stay in the Championship each season, who then stand corrected when they see where we are, how we play, and who emerges from our ranks each season. Onwards and hopefully upwards. Thanks MB, carry on the great work, TF and all the playing and coaching staff.
You are to be commended for finally calling out those morons, masquerading as Brentford supporters whose only objective seems to be, as a result of their own insecurities, have a need to be noticed for making outrageously stupid comments about things of which they know very little.
They have no idea what goes on when training, what injury niggles are carried, etc, and take scant note of the fact that opposition teams actually plan and work to defeat Brentford, sometimes unfortunately, with success.
They also seem to have a desire to unsettle individuals who, week in, week out are doing their utmost to be at their best individually and as a team.
Perhaps another name for those morons is booffoon because with a dictionary definition as ‘a ridiculous but amusing person’ perhaps sums them up better, meaning perhaps we should just laugh at them and carry on because we all need amusement from time to time.
Only a complete moron slags of the players or calls for Frank to go so why take any notice of them?
Agreed that only a complete moron would go down that route but its been incessant all season from a certain group on social media. Its been tantamount to bullying in the case of Sergi, with the player been tagged into moronic posts and I even saw one ‘death wish’ following Diego Maradona’s passing. I can’t ignore that level of toxicity. Moreso now fans are coming back into the ground. I don’t want that level of bad vibe around me or spilling out. Our club doesn’t need pricks like that.