Tag Archives: Ben Hamer

The good, the bad and the ugly. Bees win, Liverpool draw with West Ham and Kingsley is back. A week in football (Europe special).

11 Dec

Brentford got back to winning ways after despatching Burton 2-1 despite the best efforts of referee David Coote. Newcastle United and Brighton traded places at the top of the table, twice, as Dwight Gayle’s hat trick saw him move a further goal ahead of our own brace grabbing Scott Hogan. Nottingham Forest’s derby defeat to, erm, Derby saw the Bees climb an additional place to 15th on Sunday via the medium of goal difference whilst art the bottom it’s as you were. Cardiff City, Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United occupy the relegation spots although the Millers did, at least, have the pleasure of beating QPR. Stop. Sniggering.

That’s the latest Championship action in nutshell. Yet there has been so much more going on in the division and beyond. In the latest edition of our regular, weekly feature we look back at those things you might have missed from the world of social media.

This week it’s a European special although, of course, we start with Brentford. With new co assistant head coach Thomas Frank joining in the week, was the win down to him?

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Perhaps. Although captain Harlee Dean was quick to recognise his team mates. How much better to read this sort of thing rather than any ‘going again’?

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harlee-on-sawyers

Before kick off, this faith wasn’t shared by all. Careful, they’ll remember you.

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And it wasn’t just the musical choice that was causing some supporters pain.

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But in our last game before Christmas, those three points were all that mattered. There was a festive vibe before kick off and one that was matched at half time as supporters crowded a forecourt that remains dominated by that beautiful tree. Great work to all at the club for what really is a wonderful centrepiece.

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Hats off to Beesotted for a clip that needs no other words, beyond…..Push Up, Brentford.

And as our penultimate Bees related thought, those of you with a yearning for all things Spanish may want to look away now. Please, come back…..

From Eibar, further into Europe. In Portugal, Benfica have officially killed football.

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In Germany, Manuel Neuer has officially killed fashion.

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In the Champions league, Spurs limped into the Europa places whilst Leicester City had a familiar face between the sticks as they went down 5-0 to Porto.

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Still, that didn’t stop them humping Manchester City 4-2 on Saturday night. Well done to the Foxes although perhaps City still had their minds on a shocking incident that occurred as they played the dead rubber against Celtic.

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North of the border, Celtic may be running away with the title but that doesn’t stop the rest of Scotland having an awful lot more fun. The kings of football Twitter, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, were back and as ever the club remain happy to wade in on any subject.

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Meanwhile Kingsley, the unchallenged mascot heavyweight champion of the world, was back. Twice. Oh Buzzette, if only your paths could cross….

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kingsley

 

Back home in the Championship, hapless Fulham were doing what the do best. Being hapless.

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Massimo Cellino at Leeds has been found guilty of something again. And banned. Again.

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Whilst Norwich City legend Darren Huckerby has hit Twitter with some hime truths.

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At Old Trafford, Manchester United did something unheard of in footballing circles. They won a game. Yer prior to kick off, manager Jose Mourinho had been displaying all the seasonal goodwill of Scrooge.

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Later on, he went down like he’d been shot. That, or his Peter Crouch robot dance really needs more work.

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Liverpool were also in action on Sunday, against West Ham, in a game that was dominated by the goalkeepers.

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Although perhaps events prior to kick off had affected both teams. For Liverpool, an opportunity very much missed.

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For West Ham, David Gold’s lack of pop culture was apparent to all.

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We finish with a double helping of Moose. Ian, that is. He had an old friend in tow on Saturday.

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But, as ever, we close with his birthday friend of the week. Which of Ian’s good friends from the world of football did the Talksport DJ wish happy birthday to, via the medium of a Twitter post and picture of them together?

This week: former Bee Les Ferdinand

moose-brthday-ferdinand

Nick Bruzon

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Will Brentford be above Bristol City in the football league tonight?

15 Aug

Brentford travel to Bristol City today, with several obvious questions on everybody’s lips. Can we bounce back from the midweek humbling at home to Oxford United in the Capital One Cup? Will Andre Gray be ‘ready’ to start after speculation continued to link him to Hull City and, erm, today’s opponents? Who will be fit for the Bees? And can Channel 5 salvage anything from their ‘Football League Tonight’ show after last week’s car crash of a season opener.

First up, Bristol City. Well the good news is that we can expect 11 changes from the team thrashed by Oxford United. The not so good news is that Andreas Bjelland’s replacement will be an enforced one after the first half injury he suffered turned out to be severe cruciate damage that will keep him out for the entire season.

Andreas Bjelland in pre-season

Andreas Bjelland in pre-season

One can only wish him well after this most awful of starts to his life at Griffin Park. Interestingly, Marinus ruled out our playing surface as being a contributory factor, although it was something he had already acknowledged in his Beesplayer interview as, “more dangerous than a good pitch.”

This is a cruel twist of fate for our record signing and sees him join the ranks of Scott Hogan, Lewis Macleod and Josh McEachran as potentially game changing players who have come to Brentford but then seen injury rob them of the chance, so far, to impress.

On the more positive side, Marinus also confirmed that Alan Judge and Harlee Dean are both fit to return (expect to see the later line up alongside James Tarkowski at centre back) although Jota (ankle) and Nico Yennaris (dead leg) are doubts. As for Andre Gray, the impact he made against Ipswich Town last weekend was clear for all to see and one can only hope he is going to begin the game against Bristol City. Certainly, Marinus remained a lot more upbeat on that front, when pressed on the latest speculation, saying: “No news. I expect he will be playing on Saturday”.

Another player who could feature, although I expect it will be too soon, is new right back Maxime Colin. The former French U-20 signed yesterday from FSC Anderlecht, providing competition in the wake of Moses Odubajo moving to Hull. I’d still expect Alan McCormack to begin today but it will be very interesting to see how this latest new player performs when he pulls on the red and white stripes.

My prediction for today’s starting XI: Button, Bidwell, Dean, Tarkowski, McCormack, Diagouraga, Kerschbaumer, Gogia, Judge, Hofmann, Gray

Max Colin - no truth that the signing shirt has to be replaced as it is full of holes

Max Colin – no truth that the signing shirt has to be replaced as it is full of holes

As for the Oxford United game, it is done. Let’s all put it behind us. Move along, nothing to see here.

Marinus was man enough to admit, ”Maybe I was a little bit naïve about the game” and, no matter how well our opponents played (which was ‘very’) we all know that was nowhere close to the Brentford FC starting XI. It promises to be a tough match today against a Bristol City team making their first Championship appearance in front of their home fans after last season’s promotion and so expect a passionate, full house.

That said, Brentford have come out smiling from tough venues in the past. Last season gave us an excellent grounding for Championship life and so I don’t expect atmosphere to be a factor.

Instead, the challenge will be for the team to carry on where they left off against Ipswich Town and try to find a way past former Bees ‘keeper Ben Hamer in the City goal. Matthew Benham used Twitter last night to acknowledge the role Ben had played for the Bees and few who had seen him in action could disagree.

Well said Matthew

Well said Matthew

Ashton Gate or Beesplayer are the obvious places to see how things do pan out today but, if you are feeling particularly masochistic, how about avoiding the scores until 9pm and then tuning in to Channel 5 and Football League Tonight?

No. Seriously!

Surely, there can be no way this week’s show can be as bad as what was served up last week as the alternative to Manish and team? My own thoughts on their effort have been well documented and mirrored those of supporters up and down the land.

Presumably George, Kelly and the production team have taken some of the criticism about format on board. It IS a tough challenge to try and do something different and the basic elements are in place – decent presenters and League football. It was everything else, from start to finish, that was wrong about a show which is going to have to adapt, fast, to survive.

Can they do it? At 9pm we find out.

Nick Bruzon

Ambassador – with these goalkeepers you are really spoiling us.

30 Jul

Farewell, Simon Moore.

When the news we all feared was finally confirmed on Monday the only real shock was not so much our goalkeeper’s departure to, ironically, tonight’s opponents but the fact that Cardiff DOES, infact, have a beach. A quick search of the news channels revealed that Cardiff Council recently purchased more than 300 tons of sand to create an artificial beach in the city’s Bay. So rather than being an elaborate smokescreen, perhaps Simon really had gone to the seaside and it was just a case of one thing leading to another, culminating in his transfer to the Premiership outfit.

Whatever the course of events, it was really pleasing to see the massive outpouring of good wishes from the Bees fans towards Simon, even before the news had been ‘officially’ released. Moreso compared to Harry’s departure, which barely registered a ‘1’ on the Richter scale. Simon, see you soon in the England jersey (and maybe tonight in a Cardiff one).

So, what next?

Well, if there’s one thing we seem to have the knack of in TW8 its …

 

To read the rest of this article, season 2013/14 is now available to download onto Kindle, in full. Containing previously unseen content, you can do so here for less than the cost of one matchday programme.

 Thanks for reading over the course of the campaign. For now I need to make space on this page for any follow up.  The ‘close season’ / World Cup columns continue in full, further on in this site.