Here’s hoping for a starry, starry night on Tuesday.

Middlesbrough has been and gone. Another trip to the Riverside and another win. Easy when you know how. Winning up there is starting to become a bit of a habit for Brentford but let’s not dwell on it any more. The points are in the bag and the team that scored the most goals won. Next up is the visit of Cambridge United to Griffin Park in the League Cup on Tuesday evening. And whilst we’re hoping it won’t be another ‘last ever’, who knows what might happen should the team be anything but on their game.

The weekend at Middlesbrough was fantastic but it’s been and gone

As Brentford saw last season when pitted against the likes of Oxford United and Barnet, league position is no guarantee of cup success. Yes, we did beat both teams but neither game was anywhere near as emphatic as the divisional gulf may have suggested prior to kick off. Just as we’ve been the team administering the shocks in the past, now Cambridge United will be looking to throw down a potato skin from the depths of League Two. Will Thomas Frank put his foot in it though?

Well, I can’t help but feel there’ll be changes. Albeit, strong ones. Those acquisitions made later in the window are sure be given a go. Aren’t they? Presumably we’ll see Joel Valencia, Bryan Mbuemo, Dominic Thompson and Dru Yearwood on the team sheet. What about a certain Mr. Benrahma, too? Josh Clarke? Luke Daniels? It will be interesting to see how much Thomas tinkers but get it wrong and we face paying the ultimate price i.e. losing. Which could then bring us to the aforementioned ‘last ever’. Namely, cup game under lights at Griffin Park. And whilst I’m already in danger of ploughing the West Ham furrow of last ever this/that and the other at Upton Park / The Boleyn Ground, it does make you think.

If nothing else, about how wonderful an atmosphere can be generated by an ‘after-dark’ cup tie. Here’s hoping it isn’t our ‘last ever’, if only for the reason that  I can’t be ticking that one off the list in August. And it also means that Cambridge will have scored a first goal of the season after opening their League two campaign with successive 0-0 draws. So if you haven’t got your ticket as yet then it’s not too late. Besides, what’s the alternative? Staying at home to watch the ultimate Sky TV love-in of Salford City v Leeds United? Pass me the bucket. Please.

The other bonus about Cambridge visiting is that we get an unexpected glimpse at one of THE kits of 2019/20. Namely, their Hummel away shirt which is a spin on the Vandanel effort from the early 90s. So glaring it’s beautiful. One fan’s explosion in a paint factory is another’s Starry Night or Birth of Venus. And I’m definitely in the latter category. Much like Van Gogh’s masterpiece, let’s hope we don’t get lost in those blue and white depths.

Elsewhere, I did promise we’d try and keep on top of The Last Word Fantasy Football League this season. So here we go. After the first round of head-to-head fixtures the top ten are as below. Thanks all for entering and let’s not forget there’s a shirt on offer for the winning team at season end. Please let’s not forget….

Until then, here’s to Cambridge United on Tuesday. See you there…

Nick Bruzon 

Away win? What’s the fuss about? Easy!

That’s one jinx well and truly laid to rest. Not just last season’s awful away record but, it would be fair to say, Middlesbrough have had the psychological advantage over Brentford since our paths crossed in the Championship. Of course, The Bees ended that one in some style, and a rare three points, with a 2-1 win at the Riverside a few months back. Fast forward and we’ve done it again. Three more points on the road against our one time nemesis in what was almost a mirror of last Saturday’s visit from Birmingham City. Domination from the home team that should have seen them out of sight before being caught out and then unable to get back in to the game. This time, though, the architect of victory was the the ever enthusiastic Sergi Canos who did magnificent work down the flank to serve it up Ollie Watkins, yards out from the goal. He needed no second chance and that was it. 1-0. Game over. And elsewhere, have you got anyone from Aston Vila or Brighton in your Fantasy Football team as yet?

Not my words etc….

Whilst we don’t do full-fat match reports on these pages anyway, I wasn’t at this one due to a prior family commitment in a gale on the South coast. However, what has become evident from the mid-match messages being received, intermittent Twitter updates when the 3G was in the right spot and a subsequent watch of the highlights is that Jonathan Woodgate’s Middlesbrough (TM) are likely to be fuming over their cornflakes this morning. Two disallowed first half (handball and offside) were marginal as David Raya was on hand, with the woodwork, to keep them out after the home team opened the game in rampant form. Sound familiar? As the shot count ranked up in their favour to our nil, it had the fetid whiff of Birmingham City all over it.

Even official would take to Twitter at half time to declare: “We’ll be happy to get into the break on level terms after a disjointed opening 45 minutes on Teeside.”  

Few could disagree but football is a game played out over 90 minutes. A game of taking the opportunities when you can. As Thomas Frank’s unchanged team started to find a way in to the game during the second half we did wonder if something might happen . And then it did…

WATKINS…. read the text message. This was either really delayed news coming through about his recent contract extension or something even better. The internet signal couldn’t be that bad? Could it?

We’d been following the game together in a cafe and when that one flashed up on the phone it was enough to make a bored 6 year old leap up from the swivel chair he’d been practicing his Blofeld ‘reveal’ in – albeit, I’d been unable to persuade him that uttering the words, “I’ve been expecting you” was a really cool thing to do – to see what the fuss was about.

Goal, was the answer. And from there followed as anxious a countdown for the final half hour, and five minutes of injury time, as has ever been squirmed through. It can be tense enough at a game but when you are out of touch with nothing but a flaky Phone reception and trusted friends to keep you abreast of proceedings, it’s tough. Yet by all accounts, like Birmingham the week before the Bees really snuffed out the hosts and made the denouement a comfortable one. Perhaps. I’ll never know but I’ll also take those three points all day long.

Ultimately, it was a conversation between Harry (6) and Mrs. Bruzon as we watched the highlights together later that evening which summed it all up:

Rachel: Blimey. It’s all Middlesbrough.

Harry: But mummy, WE got the only goal.

Captain Pontus Jansson had taken to Twitter before the game where he declared: Such an important decision. Will be really important for us the coming years! Let’s go Ollie.

Spot on, Pontus. It was a comment borne out during the game and cemented afterwards by Sergi:  “Who needs a striker? Myyyyyyy guy OLLIE WATKINS!!!! “

True enough, although hats off to Brighton who of course have signed the aforementioned missing striker. Their own 3-0 win on the road at Watford was rounded off with a goal from none other than Neal Maupay. What a start to his top flight career. Now our paths have gone in separate directions but we’ll survive. I’ll take the FPL points c/o Neal and, more importantly, the Championship points c/o Brentford.

For all that yesterday made me smile a lot on the footballing front, it was one comment just prior to the Spurs – Aston Villa game that really showed why it has been such a special few days,

OH Fuffuxake! On Twitter (aka @TheChauffeur) noting : They just announced the Vila team. Benrahma must be on the bench.

Whilst Neal did the Fantasy Football business for Brighton, Dean Smith didn’t use Ezri Konsa and Jota had to wait for a hour before getting on the pitch as a 1-0 lead turned into a 3-1 defeat at the death. For me, there was as much interest in the post match interviews in this one. Would Dean trot out the standard line about his team deserving to win after going down to the Champions League finalists ? Well, “The better team won on the day….” he noted before continuing with “in the second half”.

Oh Dean. You are great. I loved his tenure at Griffin Park and, like Neal, was sad to see him go. That’s football. Players and coaches move on. It’s how you adjust to it that’s important. As we saw yesterday.  

The view into Harry’s room this morning whilst he sleeps. That was him. Thanks Sergi & Ollie.

Nick Bruzon

Is this the stuff of Griffin Park fantasy? Win a prize, too.

Tense. Nervous. Headache? Sweating over who’ll be in the team for Saturday ? Keeping fingers and other extraneous appendages crossed ahead of ‘that’ window closing on Thursday evening? Yes, there’s always the risk that Benrahama, Watkins or Henry may leave Brentford. Plus ça change on that front. Besides, Brighton have already torpedoed us below the water line when it comes to this campaign’s round of heroes exiting. Farewell, Neal Maupay. Just hoping you cut the phone lines and locked the doors, windows and gates on the way out of Griffin Park to stop anyone else leaving. Out of interest, and on a totally unrelated note, does Aston have a beach? 

Who could forget Simon Moore’s trip to Cardiff beach?

But we digress. Griffin Park related transfer activity and the weekend team news isn’t just a case of those on pitch departures to the Premier League. There’s only the small matter of Fantasy Football, with this season’s tournament kicking off on Friday evening when Liverpool host Norwich City. And, as we did last season, The Last Word will be running a Fantasy Football competition. Unlike last season, I’ll actually keep an eye on things this time around rather than promptly forget about it until I was reminded 6 weeks before the season ended. And then promptly forgot about it again.

Primarily because this time around there will be a prize of a shirt on offer to the winner. This is not a drill. This is not a false alarm. There WILL be a prize for the winning Brentford fan. In addition, the league will be played out in the ‘Head-to-head’ scoring mode. Initially because I hit the wrong button – you try doing this on a fast moving train – but having dug in to it a little bit more, the format sounds intriguing :

In a league with head-to-head scoring, every team plays a match against another team in the league each Round. The match result is based on the Round score of each team minus any transfer points spent preparing for the Round. The Head-to-Head schedule is generated at the start of the league’s first Round. Once the schedule has been generated the league is locked and teams will not be able to join or leave.

Those aren’t my words but those of the Fantasy Football people. I ‘think’ I get it but let’s just play along and see how it all works out. If you’d like to join you have until Friday afternoon to get your teams submitted.

The website is here: https://fantasy.premierleague.com

The League name is: The Last Word – Brentford

The Pin code : iep75s

Thanks for your time. And see you there. With, perhaps, a chance to see how some of our former stars perform at a higher level……

Nick Bruzon

Here we go. It’s Millers time. And a challenge for any wannabe Rasmus (or the real one…)

Let’s keep this brief today and cut to the chase. There’s a game this afternoon!! Get in!! Oh, I can’t wait. Brentford host Rotherham United as Championship football returns to Griffin Park once more. I’ve woken up to the news that Ryan Woods is still, currently, a Bee whilst I must offer huge thanks to Fulham (not a typo) after their fans bit spectacularly in response to yesterday’s #TotallyMawson piece. Bless. You have to love them. Well, you don’t but they are great value !  If you have two mins, do check out some of the comments where we were only ‘not a London club’ short of a full house in bitter bingo.

But we digress. 3pm is the time. Griffin Park is the place. Rotherham the visitors. Always sad when they are sans Steve Evans but, nonetheless, it still promises to be a great occasion. Although let’s step back. If anything, 2pm is the time. Specifically, as we’ll then get the first look at Dean Smith’s Brentford team. The 2018/19 version. Who starts? Will there be a place for Ryan Woods? Is Neal Maupay fit? Might Marcus Forss be thrust into the first XI? Which of the news signings will feature? Who from the environment of leaders, not followers, will be given the captain’s armband?

Questions, questions, questions. I can’t answer them. Any of them. I’m just the numpty on the terrace yet it is this anticipation, this excitement, that sees yours truly sitting here at 9am, already wishing the clock was another six hours further forward and kick off was here. Whilst the World Cup was incredible, there’s nothing like that pre-match build up for the first game of the season to really get the blood pumping.

Beyond that, I can’t say much more. We went out for a few drinks last night and then took a stroll back from Kew to Brentford, via Griffin Park. What a sight. Whilst it very much felt like calm before the storm, just the feel of being in the shadow of those floodlight pylons was enough to get me buzzing once more about what is to come today. And I really can’t wait. As may have been mentioned more than once this week. Sorry.

Griffin Park – the night before the morning after

If you are coming to the game, its already shaping up to be a hot one in TW8. Slap on those shorts, sunnies and factor 50. And your brown/orange away shirt – its never too soon to give one of the Championship’s best ‘change’ kits a run out. Even if we won’t be using it in the league until next week and the trip to Stoke City.

The match day programme also includes the return of the ‘Park Life’ column  (not quite sure how that happened but there you go….) where the World Cup and the rest of best – and not so good – Championship kits come under the microscope.

Aside from that piece, the programme also offers quality content and you can read about that on ‘official’ .

Otherwise, aswell as the Fulham fans I’d also like to offer thanks to all those Bees who have entered the ‘Last Word’ Fantasy Football competition. If you fancy yourself as having a Rasmus style eye for talent or picking up a Premier league bargain then you can sign up on the official FPL site, which is here. Incredibly, over 40 of you already signed up on day 1. Wow. I’m in shock. Thank you. The  league details are below and everyone is welcome to see which of our Bees fares the best.

That said, I’m still desperately hoping to get co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen involved. I’d love to see which top flight players his system would pick. And how they’d fare. If anyone sees him today, please have a word. And Rasmus, if you ARE reading (unlikely, but….) how about it ?

Until then, there’s nothing else to say beyond – see you there and enjoy the game.

Or if you prefer to copy/paste : 707088-156816

Nick Bruzon