Injury blues, red cards, 3 points and the verdict on Football League Tonight

“A Bees win by any scoreline will do me. At the end of a difficult week, it would be a shot in the arm for everyone.” Not my words but those of Brentford CEO Mark Devlin ahead of our trip to Bristol City. However, even he would have been doing well to predict the outcome of this one as the Bees surged to third place in the fledgling table. And after the game there was the latest attempt from Chanel 5 to restore some credibility to the terrestrial highlights with the latest episode of Football League Tonight.

A 4-2 scoreline only tells half the story of a game that saw City end with ten men after Luke Freeman was shown a straight red by referee Keith Stroud (who else??) for a boot to the head of Harlee Dean. Indeed, the hosts were lucky not to end on 9 after James Tarkowski suffered what Marinus described as a ‘badly broken nose’ following an elbow from City captain Aaron Wilbraham.

Tarks posted this post match selfie on Twitter

Goals from Alan Judge and Andre Gray sandwiched an o.g. from Derrick Williams. Philipp Hofmann rounded things off to complete a heavy win for Brentford who made it six goals, and unbeaten, from our opening two league games. As ever, should you want the full match report then I’d suggest the BBC, official site or Beesotted.

Moreso as I had to give this one a wide berth for family reasons, so wasn’t even able to follow on Beesplayer although social media suggest that might not have been such a bad thing in this instance.

Who provided the summary? And was this tongue in cheek?

Bees fans would have been ecstatic to see Andre starting, despite the constant rumours linking him with a move from Griffin Park. Marinus made it quite clear after the game that we want to keep him although was unclear if that would happen, adding “there is a lot of money in England and sometimes money talks”.

It does now beg the question as to whether Matthew Benham will look to ‘cash in’ or make Andre an offer he can’t refuse (although presumably not Vito Corleone style). Just how much is a player who can find the back of the net so frequently worth?

Besides, would Brentford really want to lose another player after the awful run of form that saw Andreas Bjelland join the long term casualty list in midweek with a cruciate injury that has ruled him out for the season? And to that you can also add Jota who missed the Bristol City game with an ankle problem. It is an injury that Marinus subsequently told Beesplayer would see him “ out for three or four months.“

Nobody needs any reminding of the Spanish midfielder’s ability and this may also go some way to explaining the shenanigans at the end of the Ipswich Town game, where he and Jonathan Douglas appeared to have had a falling out. It was one which culminated in the former Bee swinging an arm at Jota as the Bees celebrated our last minute draw.

Eagle eyed Beesplayer viewers saw Dougie’s ‘girly shove’

Still, if this was more bad news for Marinus after our cup exit, I have to give him huge credit for the team he picked. After criticising our head coach for his post match reaction towards his young players on Tuesday (something I stand by), fair play for naming Jermaine Udumaga, Josh Clarke and Courtney Senior on the bench for a high pressure game.

The other thing to catch the attention yesterday was an uncanny parallel to the last time we played Bristol City, a 3-1 win at Griffin Park back in January 2014.

That was a game which also saw City gift the Bees an own goal, from Aden Flint. Whilst Derrick Williams was the provider this time around, that previous match also saw him struggle with what was described at the time as, “The worst free kick I’ve ever seen…. rather than deliver a killer deadball into the box from 25 yards, (he) simply bobbled the ball directly out of play for a goal kick to Brentford. It went closer to the corner flag than the goal and was an effort that made Miguel Llera seem like Gazza.”

And so to the real elephant in the room – Channel 5. Saturday night saw their latest attempt to replace Manish and crew with ‘Football League Tonight’. Their opening show of the season had, rightly, been met with a barrage of almost universal despair as swiveling league tables, awkward audience members, confused pundits and cringey ‘banter’ all nestled alongside the random sequence of match highlights to make a show that was messier than James Tarkowski’s nose.

Well, let’s give Channel 5 some credit. Whilst not, officially, acknowledging their previous failings, Kelly Cates strode in front of the cameras to announce that, “Over the next ninety minutes we’ll bring you all of the goals and the best of the action – in order. “

And that’s what we got. The league ladders that looked as though they have been plonked on kebab shop skewers remained although at least they waited until the end of the Championship highlights to show them. And then, they had already been ‘rotated’.

The awkward looking audience members were another reminder of last week’s season opener – something I understand will be remaining (watch this space…) – whilst Jamie Cureton’s trousers were somewhat disconcerting. Actually, just the presence of Jamie Cureton is somewhat disconcerting although us Brentford fans have personal reasons on that score.

However, overall you have to say that, much like Marinus against Oxford , the team at Channel 5 have learnt from their mistakes.

Some things remained despite ‘lessons learned’ for Channel 5

Nick Bruzon

The only winners were Holby City fans. And Oxford United

Well played Oxford United. Let’s get that out there first of all following their 4-0 Capital One Cup victory over a Brentford XI last night. To go three up within twelve minutes deserves credit at any level and, being honest, we were lucky it wasn’t more.

Let’s be equally clear, I don’t blame any of the youngsters on show. I’m all for using this sort of game to blood a couple of less experienced players. But don’t make so many changes and leave them with so little first team support. The lads were on a hiding to nothing against a physically stronger Oxford team.

For that, you have to look to Marinus and wonder why he felt it a good decision to give so many untested players a game simultaneously. He blamed injuries but have we really got that many just one game into the season? Let’s hope they can learn from this and we do see more of them being, gradually, phased in rather than another such baptism of fire

And if you are going to make such a decision then have the balls to stand by it. At a time when the new look side were crying out for some direction, Marinus’ body language spoke volumes. I’ve seen more animated statues as he cut a forlorn figure rooted to the edge of his technical area. Worse, there was no handshake for Courtney Senior when he came off. Indeed, it looked as though the youngster was actually given the cold shoulder as he turned to the head coach on reaching the dugout.

A similar snub was offered to the entire team at full time aswell as the crowd. Aside from a brief chat to the Oxford management and officials, he headed straight for the dressing room with no further word or sign being offered.

Perhaps this is just Marinus’ style and he does his talking in the dressing room. But at a time when the youngsters he’d chucked into the lion’s den needed an arm around the shoulder it was this that really upset me. Defeat I can take but at least back your team in public.

Marinus is a solitary figure as the action unfolds (note: your definition of action may vary)

Andreas Bjelland had a debut to forget. Whether it was worry about a pitch that continued to cut up or first game nerves, he didn’t put a foot right as challenges were missed and clearances misdirected. As one wag in the New Road suggested to me, “He looks like a defensive Nick Proschwitz”. Harsh, perhaps, but matters became worse when his game to a premature end following injury just before half time.

But it’s not fair to single him out. Jack Bonham struggled with his distribution – Oxford’s third goal being an exquisite strike by Kemar Roofe who put the goalkeeper’s headed clearance straight back past him from 40 yards. Lasse Vibe barely had a touch whilst Nico Yennaris was played in an unfamiliar central midfield role.

Marinus would later describe it as, “An embarrassing performance from my team. After 12 minutes it’s game over. I think there was no organisation, no leadership in the team.” In layman’s terms, Holby City hadn’t even started on TV by the point we were 3-0 down.

Brentford practice kick off. Again. Holby starts in 3 minutes

Look. I like Marinus. He comes across as a genuine bloke and a wonderful straight talker. I have no doubt he and the team will bounce back and so I hope this is just one that we have to chalk up to experience. A heavy defeat at the hands of a better team.

Mistakes were made but at least they have been realised. Let’s just put it behind us and focus on the game at Bristol City. Three points there and this will all be forgotten about.

As for the youngsters. If any of them are reading then chin up. There was a lot of potential out there and I’m sure we’ll see the likes of Courtney, Josh Clarke, Jermaine Udumaga and Josh Laurent again. As Alan Hansen so famously said, “You can’t win anything with kids” and look what happened next.

For now though, we just have to take it on the chin.

Well done Oxford United.

Nick Bruzon