Football’s farcical 24 hours as one innovates and one goes a bit ‘Ratners’

This could be the most crazy 24 hours in modern football. We’ve already had the farce of last night’s Checkatrade trophy opening round where the lure of West Ham and Leicester City U-23 teams (please note, your definition of under 23 may vary) was not enough to persuade supporters to drop the proposed #BteamBoycott in this most maligned of tournaments. And then today sees ‘Transfer Deadline day’ as Brentford supporters join the rest of the footballing community in wondering if any new names will be coming through the ‘in door’ or if anyone is heading out?

Jim White, Natalie Sawyer and the rest of the gang lead the madness on Sky Sports before the window eventually ‘slams shut’ (TM) . You all know the drill by now. Yellow ties, yellow dresses and lots of cutting to empty stadia where nothing is happening. Plus, presumably, archive footage of Harry Redknapp leaning out of a car (subject to his sore knee).

To read the rest of this article, season 2016/17 is now available for download on e-book in the retrospective: Welcome Home, King Jota (Brentford FC season review 2016/17)

Priced at just £1.99, all sales are being donated to the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust.

Likewise any sales from the previous titles – Celebrating like they’d won the FA Cup (2013/14), Tales from the football village (2014/15) and Ready. Steady. Go Again. (2015/16) – are also now going to the BFCCST.

Containing the least bad of the blogs from May 16 to May 17, you can pick it up, here. Its all for a great cause and,hey, you may even enjoy it…..

Jim and Natalie do their thing on deadline days gone by

 

Brentford’s most recent signing activity

 

Nick Bruzon

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Hurt pride and injured team but no need to panic

Brentford fell to their fifth defeat against Middlesbrough in little over a calendar year, as a 3-1 reverse at the Riverside saw the Bees slip to fourth bottom in the table. On a night where injuries meant Marinus was unable to even field a full substitute’s bench (and those he did name included two goalkeepers) it was a result predicted by many but, actually, it was a game that sounded a lot closer than the scoreline suggests.

Let’s be clear. I wasn’t amongst the 149 Brentford supporters who made that hellish journey on a Tuesday night. Middlesbrough is hard enough to get to from West London as it is, let alone for a game with a 7.45pm kick off that meant many of those who travelled only got in as the rest of us were starting to wake up.

Hats off to those who braved it. Twitter updates from the likes of Beesotted and BIAS very much helped supplement the dulcet tones of Billy Reeves on Beesplayer and the subsequent goal highlights on Sky Sports News.

Hats off to the hardy 149

From all these accounts it was an end-to-end game, with Brentford desperately unlucky not to make it 2-2. Lasse Vibe lifted a Marco Djuricin cross over the bar from yards out, immediately after Uruguayan international Christian Stuani had restored the home side’s lead. Likewise, Marinus used his post match interviews to note, “We created a lot of big chances”.

That said, all the possession in the world (according to the Beesplayer panel, Brentford are the divisional leaders for ball retention) and chances (4 on target per team) count for nothing if you can’t put them away. Ultimately, the only stat that really counts is balls in the back of the net and that’s where Middlesbrough, despite all our positivity, remained market leaders. As Marinus himself acknowledged, “the quality of their finishing was the difference.”

Injuries didn’t help, of course. The likes of Sam Saunders, Andy Gogia, James Tarkowski and Philipp Hofmann being added to the already lengthy sick list. Nobody on the bench had started a league game for the Bees before and, whilst the first XI that Marinus named gave a cracking account of themselves, there was nowhere else really to go when a change was needed.

No room for Marcos Tebar in the injured outfield side

It does beg the question of just how we have been so unfortunate on this front? Selling those key players was always a risk but moreso when those brought in to help replace them then get crocked. If this is nothing more than bad luck then I feel desperately sorry for Marinus. Every attempt to build a side seems to be spannered by factors outside of his, and our, control.

No excuses. You can’t deny a team who create, and take, their chances anything but the win so fairplay to Middlesbrough on that front. On the flipside, I’m not going to fall into the same panic mode that seems to be gripping many supporters just yet.

We’re only 6 games into the season and have already played the sides in 2nd, 3^rd and 5^th places. We’re a game behind the vast majority of our rivals, thanks to ‘pitchgate’ and now have a run of four home games out of the next five fixtures to try and consolidate.

We’ve already played several of the sides showing early form

Only when we reach the ten game point that (subject to postponements) comes at Derby in early October, will we have a true idea of what this season will bring. Who are the makeweights? Who is in with a chance of promotion? Who will be hoping for mid table security? Who is already plugging the likes of Scunthorpe United and Fleetwood Town into their tripometer for next year?

This campaign has a hell of a long way to run and, like last season, I’m predicting us to really get going come October/November time. The likes of Maxime Colin and Marco Djuricin are already looking like very decent acquisitions whilst the promise of Jota returning, and Josh McEachran starting, is one to look forward to.

Until then, roll on Saturday and Preston North End.

Nick Bruzon