A real Löw point for EURO2016. But we have some inside men

We don’t do the serious stuff on these pages. It’s normally just a bit of nonsense about Brentford, perhaps with a bit of the national team thrown in. With Euro 2016 alive and kicking (quite literally) I couldn’t bring myself to do it yesterday. The scenes from the Russia fans and the attacks on England supporters, with the obvious and somewhat familiar retaliation, have left a rather sick feeling in the stomach.

More to the point, I’m not there. Who to believe? What to believe? A vile English minority or self-defence?

The media have been quick to jump on the England hooligans  ‘shaming a nation’ bandwagon. Perhaps true, to an extent, but the more you read the more it sounds a bit different this time.

Gangs of French ultras roaming the streets starting unprovoked attacks on those English fans they’ve targeted. Russian thuggery. A flare gun fired at England supporters during the 1-1 draw on Saturday night (there was a game, by the way). A flare gun? Amid all the terror alerts and security. After all the violence. How on earth do you get a gun of any description into a stadium?

Talk of reactive French police. Police who had taken no advice beforehand and then waded in indiscriminantly afterwards.And come 2018 we’ve got a World Cup in Russia

All in all , whoever you believe to be at fault, some pretty depressing scenes and thought provoking stuff.

Thankfully, for us Brentford fans we have our two ‘inside men’ on the scene. Billy Grant and Dave Lane from Beesotted are out in France, trying to enjoy the football but also doing their domestic thing, continental style.

Have selfie stick, will travel

Armed with nothing more than a selfie stick, a camera and a laptop they are keeping the website running and bringing us regular reports on what is really going on. And there are some pretty shocking scenes.

Great work , chaps. Please keep it up. Here’s hoping you’ve got a happier story to report soon. And in the meantime, for those who haven’t seen it their update on the trouble in Marseille is here. The video is close to a million hits already. Understandably so.

So what else have we learned so far? Never shake hands with Joachim Low. He was caught doing the old ‘scratch and sniff’ during last night’s Germany v Ukraine. A game the Germans took 2-0, for the record.

Did the Ukraine manager shake hands at full time?

Will Grigg isn’t on fire. Despite being one of several ex-Bees involved in the Poland – Northern Ireland squads, the Poles ran out 1-0 winners. And it seems that Stuart Dallas hasn’t got the memo about #Beardclub having been disbanded. He’s looking less hipster and more Rasputin these days.

Tonight sees the first chance of that classic tournament line, “And for those of you just coming in from work, the score is…” being trotted out. The game : Republic of Ireland v Sweden. the place: BBC1. Expect that to be used at about 6.15pm tonight . Despite the score being clearly available in the top left hand corner of the screen .

As for Brentford news, well the tumbleweed continues. The most I can do is guide you towards eBay where there are a number of unusual Bees shirts on sale at the moment (and none of which this kit nerd will be bidding for on pain of death – not literally, but season tickets don’t pay for themselves).

Alternatively,The Last Word ‘season review’ : Ready. Steady. Go Again and the three year anthology : The Bees are going up remain available for download. Should anybody want to go over this nonsense, relive these moments once more and remind ourselves of the pain induced by Stroud and the fallout from that penalty’ you can do so now.

It has been a stunning few years. Here’s to more of the same. We may have had a few lows (something about a penalty, the football village, the FA Cup, the pitch, the Marinus experiment) but there have been plenty more highs as the Bees made an unexpected challenge for the Premier League.

Thanks for reading.

Nick Bruzon

It’s all a bit Carry On, Brentford. But who’s joking?

It’s April 1^st. It’s a good thing ‘press day’ took place yesterday as Brentford gear up for the trip to Nottingham Forest and a return to league action. Could there be any truth to Beesotted’s latest ‘exclusive’ on the Griffin Park hall of fame? Surely Mark Chapman wouldn’t stoop to these levels? And will ‘official’ look to join in with the hilarity (blue and white 2016 ‘away’ kit to be revealed soon?)

If its humour you want then the closest I can offer is somewhat of an odd vibe yesterday as Dean Smith gave his press conference aswell as enjoying a gentle probing from BBC Billy Reeves. “Philipp Hofmann has been on the grass”, it was reported at one point. This, to help him recuperate from chronic back pain. Clearly, the medicinal benefits not to be underestimated. Of training, that is.

As for those other injuries, the midfield has taken a double hit with Dean confirming to Billy that Josh McEachran could well be out for the rest of the season after suffering what is feared to be “a refracture of the second metatarsal” (looks like he’s broken that foot, again). It is a huge blow for the player and the team – moreso given Dean has also confirmed John Swift will be missing for at least the Nottingham Forest game.

Following the injury suffered on England U-21 duty, John has had to have five stitches in his gash and it is, apparently, “very angry”. I have no idea what Swift’s angry gash looks like and nor would I want to. However, with Dean confirming that all is now forgiven following the strange affair of the ‘hipster meme’, you can be sure that the Chelsea loanee would have figured in his plans otherwise.

Could Dean be forced to pick himself?

For me, Clive, this then means that whatever our head coach says about other players being given a chance, he doesn’t really have any choice left in who he plays on Saturday. I’ll be very surprised if the team varies much from: Button, Bidwell, Nico, Harlee, Barbet, Macca, KK, Woods, Judge, Canos, Vibe.

That said, the bench may have a slightly more unusual feel to it. Could we see any of the development squad making the step up following their fine 4-2 victory over Barnsley in midweek to join the likes of Jack O’Connell, Sam Saunders, Marco Djuricin, Scott Hogan, Andy Gogia and Jack Bonham on the subs list ?

Or am I miles off the pace here and Dean be planning a bit of a shake up following his 10 defeats out of 13 in 2016? Who knows how much choice he genuinely has but you can be sure Saturday’s teamsheet will be awaited with intrigue.

The other key point of his interview with Billy was an unexpected level of honesty. “I can understand frustrations….I’d be probably booing if it was my team”, was a somewhat frank admission made at one point.

Fairplay to Dean for saying what many supporters have been thinking but I just hope this doesn’t come back to haunt him. We’re not total idiots and can see what is, or isn’t, happening out there. I’ve a hell of a lot more respect for Dean treating us like this than adopting the Arsene Wenger ‘head in the sand’ approach. If I had a pound for everytime the Frenchman didn’t see an incident I’d be a rich man by now.

Of course, he’ll need to be a tad careful. Those sort of comments can bite you on the behind and were a trademark of Marinus era Brentford (remember that? Personally, I’m trying not to). I guess the flipside is that by Dean’s own admission he doesn’t feel out of his depth whilst, in regards to Matthew Benham and the management set up he sees himself as “very supported”.

“A few of our defensive players are having a bit of a lull”, he admitted at one point. Somewhat like saying that the Titanic was having a few issues with water retention yet, at the same time only half the problem. Over reliance on Judge (I’d be intrigued to see how we play without him) and a lack of penetration in front of the goal being equally key.

Dean has his work cut out for him, that’s for sure. We’re not out of the woods yet by any stage and Championship survival is by no means assured. The good news is that destiny is still very much in our own hands and whilst that gap is getting tighter, even the bookies still see us as 33/1 to be playing in League One next season. Equally, Dean knows the areas that need work.

The question is, how does he fix them for Saturday? At Nottingham Forest, we find out.

Defensive lulls a scintilating topic

 

If another player is going to be missing, can we find our voice?

Is Josh McEachran out for the rest of the season? With the loan window not so much being slammed as quietly easing shut yesterday, it was being reported on both West London Sport and Sky Sports (although both Lyall Thomas) that the former Chelsea man has suffered a training ground injury similar to the one that kept him out for such a long time at the Marinus end of the season. And with nobody else joining Leandro Rodríguez from Everton, despite suggestions after the Blackburn game that Head Coach Dean Smith was looking to make two more short-term acquisitions what does this mean for the Bees?

Firstly, and as has been said many times, our local press love talk of a double transfer swoop. An event that is actually rarer than a Nick Proschwitz goal, when it comes to inbound activity this is one area where I take nothing as fact until Matthew Benham has fired up his cryptic clue generator, Besotted have run an ‘exclusive’ or Brentford official have published the ‘signing shirt’ photo. I’ll also accept: ‘player holding scarf aloft’ or ‘new man sitting in portacabin holding pen over contract’.

Josh signs for Brentford – classic ‘contract’ pose

Still, aside from goalkeepers (where Dean can still delve into the market to cover a ‘7 day emergency’), we now know the make up of the players available to see us, hopefully, over the line and start preparations for a third successive season in the Championship. Or do we?

The McEachran question is very much out there with nothing, as at the time of writing (Friday morning), from Brentford official. It would be a huge shame for the Bees and the player if this is the case. Josh did, if we’re being honest, struggle at the early part of his Griffin Park career but had been showing steady improvement over his 15 games. Now, it could be back to square one.

The injuries have piled up this season

Moreso, it would be yet another injury in a season which has been overshadowed (amongst other things) by the vast amount of players sidelined for medical reasons. We were told at the fans forum earlier in the season it was nothing but coincidence yet this horrendous run of bad luck has hardly helped our cause.

Still, we are where we are and there is enough quality in this squad to more than see us home. Should they play to their potential and ability – as a team. None of this ‘one man show’ stuff that we saw against a Blackburn side who were there for the taking.

Presumably Alan McCormack will slot straight into Josh’s position whilst we can also expect that other Chelsea wunderkind, John Swift, to return after the strange affair of the ‘hipster’ meme. Here’s hoping this period of enforced absence will have him reinvigorated and firing on all guns, back to the player who helped tear Wolves apart back in February. That result, a rare moment of solace in a 2016 that has seen Brentford lose 11 out of our 14 fixtures. Only the win at Preston and draw with Leeds in late January breaking the run of L’s blotting Dean’s copy book this calendar year.

We can moan and bitch about results all we want. Most of us have at various points, myself included. And rightly so at times.Yet without a bit of solidarity now, we could conceivably be facing a desperate start to 2016/17. In League 1.

The Bees still have to play 4 of the teams below us and with the gap a mere 6 points between us and the relegation spots, let’s not take anything for granted. Let’s not leave it too late to find our voice and our unity. Let’s not leave it too late to stop sniping at each other.

Absolutely, the players and the management team have to play their part. They are the only ones who can secure the points. But as supporters, we also have a our own role. Assuming we want to stay up, of course.

I saw a quite terrifying graphic on Twitter last night, c/o Jonathan Burchill. It highlighted this season and our previous Championship relegation campaign, back in 1992/93.

No words needed…..

#BrentfordFC league positions 1992-3 (Tier 2 relegation) and now. Really hope it stops mirroring soon. pic.twitter.com/pPb8iBVbyn

— Jonathan Burchill (@Jonathan77777) March 24, 2016

The choice is simple. Stay up and we could be taking on the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle United (I’m counting Chelsea as safe now, despite their mid-season hilarity). Throw it away, and it’ll be trips to Bristol Rovers, Oxford and Accrington Stanley.

Accrington Stanley, you may ask. Who are they?

Exactly.

Nick Bruzon