It was Ivan. With the header. In the library.

I’ve heard some self-indulgent tripe before yet this is one to top them all. Mikel Arteta has used the build up to Wednesday evening’s top of the table clash between Arsenal and Manchester City to further whinge about Brentford. Specifically the goal Ivan Toney scored for the Bees on Saturday to level things up in the 74th minute. An apparent VAR error allowed the goal to stand and despite the apologies from PGMOL (the referee’s association) about a human error, he’s still been banging on. 72 hours on and we’ve been overloaded with Arteta’s image being beamed across our TV screens, complaining to anybody who would listen about the officials and the fact he had been denied a win.

Great finish, Ivan

I tell you what. I love it. Absolutely love it. Not just the hypocrisy but the fact that Brentford have played Arsenal and their management as easily as a second hand fiddle. We’ve been there before after Ivan Toney’s comments last season when the Bees beat Arteta’s team in the first game of the campaign. You remember – we ran out 2-0 winners and went top of the Premier League. A moment followed by Ivan tweeting about his ‘nice kick about with the boys’.

How we lauged. As much then as in the subsequent meltdown that emerged from the Arsenal TV documentary where Arteta declared,”It’s still in my stomach, and I have managed to keep it in my stomach for six months. This is Toney after the game when we played them at Brentford.

“You know what he did, you know his tweet? ‘Nice kickabout with the boys this afternoon’. So, today they play in our house guys, and there is only one team in that f****** pithead. Only team, they don’t play, we take the f****** ball, we take the game and we go for it. Let’s win this f****** game let’s go.”

Nice kick about with the boys. ⚽️ @BrentfordFC

— Ivan Toney (@ivantoney24) August 13, 2021

Sure, they did win. Just. 2-1. Well done. Yet our own retribution this time around was ten times sweeter. Brentford were magnificent on Saturday. Picking up where we’d left off from the defeat of Manchester City at the Ethiad. From the 3-1 trouncing of Liverpool. From an unbeaten Premier League run that stretches back to Aston Villa away (move along everyone, nothing to see there) in late October 2022. From a season that saw Manchester United humbled 4-0 in our first home game.

Have some respect for the opposition, Mikel. Have some class. Let’s be clear. Arsenal were lucky to get away with even a draw. Totally outplayed, let’s not forget that only the woodwork preserved their modesty in the first half. Ivan, Bryan and Rico carving them open with aplomb whilst, of course, Mbeumo had a legitimate goal denied early on.

Gabriel channeling his inner Tom Daley and falling over under no pressure whatsoever was deemed to be some sort of foul after we’d found the back of the net. Where was VAR then? Where was Thomas Frank crying his eyes out to anybody that would listen? Nowhere, because that’s not what we do. That’s football. Much as it hurts, a game is played out over 90 minutes. It doesn’t always hang on single moments. Cripes, if we are going to that level then where was the late penalty that could have been awarded to Brentford for handball?

Arteta’s claim that Ivan’s goal, “Cost Arsenal two points that are not going to be restored so we are going to have to find those two points somewhere else in the league” is nothing more than salty nonsense. Bitter excuses about his own team’s ineptitude. About his own team’s inability to outplay a magnificent Brentford side who, frankly, should be the ones feeling upset about only taking a draw. 

The subsequent racist abuse dished out to Ivan Toney at full time by Arsenal fans was as abhorrent as ever. Nobody needs further lecture from me on that side and we are all with Ivan in feeling sickened. Albeit nobody can really put themselves in his shoes. Not truly. Yet if anything, it shows the entitled attitude that permeates the Emirates. They don’t win so play dirty. They don’t win so go crying to the referee.   

The simple fact of the matter is that Arsenal enjoyed 63% possession and had 23 shots over the course of the 90 minutes. If they were unable to do anything more than limp to a draw then that’s their problem. Not PGMOL’s. Not Brentford’s. 

Arsenal and Manchester City slug it out this evening in a game that is truly impossible to call. Part of me hopes Pep’s team take advantage of the psychological frailty clearly now creeping into a Gunner’s side who prior to the Brentford match had, of course, lost at Everton. Part of me doesn’t actually care. For Brentford, the priority has to be continuing the unbeaten run. Continuing the push for Europe and maybe even the top four. 

We were wonderful on Saturday (and you can catch up on the post match debrief & top five players, here) but the result  has been and gone. Win, lose or draw the attitude from Thomas Frank has always been one of reflecting for 24 hours then boxing it away. Whatever happened. Focus on the next game. 

Mikel Arteta would do well to follow similar advice although I hope he doesn’t. Getting under his skin – under any team’s – is always a wonderful feeling. Always a sign that little Brentford have been underestimated. Again. 

Long may it continue.

2022-23 Brentford Player Ratings – Matchweek 22

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Do this again and the next game will be brutal. The next game will be brackets.

Is there a way to dress that up? Can Brentford take any consolation in the no show at Brighton (sadly, we don’t mean the home fans). What next for the visit of Manchester City on Wednesday evening? With Pep Guardiola’s team bracketing Leeds United the other week and then falling one short of the magical 7(seven) against Leicester City themselves, that one has all the potential to be a turkey shoot if the Bees don’t find whatever was missing at the Amex. Starting a game without Vitaly Janely (covid) and Rico Henry (hamstring) was always going to be tough. Moreso, given the longer term injuries felt by David Raya and Kris Ajer. Yet, yet, yet surely we could have offered something, anything, more than a first half so laid back as to be practically horizontal. Beautifully taken first-half goals by Leandro Trossard and Neal Maupay (of course, although kudos to the man for his own reaction and post-match comments) were the least Brighton deserved but by the time Brentford got their arse into gear, it was too little too late.

🗣 "I respect them so much, everything they've done for me."

Brighton's Neal Maupay says he didn't want to celebrate his goal against former club Brentford as they gave him his chance four years ago 🙌 pic.twitter.com/xYxOaxZ0ym

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 26, 2021

Neal. Class, as ever

There are no words to really describe how frustrating this one was. Bryan Mbeumo limped off with little more than a half hour gone whilst Matthias Jensen was pulled off with the tea cups still being thrown around the dressing room at half-time. The makeshift defence having twice held open the door for Brighton to seize the initiative and put this one beyond reached after the initial threat that Brentford had been hinting at disappeared into the ether. By the time we rediscovered our mojo in the second half, the game had already been put to bed. Robert Sánchez in goal for the Seagulls preserving their dignity when Baptiste and Pinnock got the ball goalwards.

Having now caught up on the highlights, it feels even more deflating than seeing it at the time.

The legs, as much as the door, held open for the second goal

Perhaps we have been spoiled this season. Perhaps it is as much the fact that, at times, we’ve made the step up to the Premier League look easy. Perhaps games like this – whether outclassed or just not showing up – were always going to happen. Likewise, there is the dreaded Covid factor to factor in. An added element of pot luck to chuck into the mix of trying to prepare for big games with key names already absent. 

I’m certainly not in the doom and gloom camp – anything but. Prior to this we’d had two wins, two draws and a solitary defeat in our previous five league games. It could, probably, should have been three wins but for the 95th moment up at Leeds United. The only performance of real concern being that one at Spurs. This ranked alongside it. Alongside Burnley away. Signs as much has anything else that the Premier League is just so, so tough. Play slightly below your best and watch that gulf in class unfold into a gaping chasm.

We don’t generally do match reports on these pages. Not huge ones, anyway. Besides, we’ve all seen the game – whether at the Amex of c/o our friends at Sky. Thanks a bunch, again. Instead of regurgitating what we all know (albeit the player feature will be up later) , it is as much about where we go from here. Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool (a) are next up in the league. Assuming, of course, Covid doesn’t do its thing in either camp. They’re going to be as tough a set if fixtures as they come. One could almost argue they are games with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Moreso given we know that Christian Norgaard will also be on the casualty list for the City game, given his (soft) yellow card now takes him to five and a mandatory one game ban. 

Certainly, there’s a chance for a midfield bereft of him and Vitaly to either crank it up a notch or be brutally exposed. Given the current popularity and wayward form of his Danish international team mate, one can guess which way supporter feeling will be leaning. 

The pace of Rico Henry was another crucial dimension to our game missing last night. Here’s hoping his stint on the sidelines is as short as possible albeit hamstring injuries don’t, as a rule, cure themselves overnight. On the plus side, Shandon Baptiste is really adjusting to this level well and looking more and more exciting with each game. Had Sanchez not been equal to his effort early in the second half we could well have been sitting here in a different frame of mind today. But we aren’t. That’s not how football works.

So close – Brentford ‘official’ capture the moment on their Twitter feed

Crying over being below par won’t help us recover. It certainly won’t help us against Manchester City on Wednesday. Just about the toughest job in football – stopping pep Guardiola – will only become ten times harder if we aren’t all fully on it.

So, yes, it was a terrible performance. No question. It shouldn’t take that long to get out of first gear – at any level. But it is the Premier league and the game is now over. We put it to bed, file it under b and move on.

Here’s to Wednesday. Here’s to some good news on the health front. Here’s to Manchester City. Here’s to emulating one of my all time favourite football moments. Perhaps…… See you there.

The quintessential Brentford FA Cup image

Nick Bruzon 

Solitary diamond atop a dungheap of a performance sees Bees devoured by hungry Wolves.

Brentford 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2. Let’s start immediately by saying well played to Wolves and that the points went to the right team. Much as it pains me to say this the visitors fully warranted the points on a night when only one side showed the desire, or the ability, to win a game of football.

We don’t deserve to ‘be any good’ by divine right. We don’t deserve to win every game of football, much as the fans would like it. Yet, by the same virtue, the supporters do deserve to see their team put a bit of a shift in.  Don’t let the Sky video highlights, or the stats, fool you. Wolves ended the game with an apparent 57% possession yet watching on from the sidelines I’d have said nearer 75%. It felt as though we were that much under the cosh, the second half especially.

Dean Smith would note afterwards in his BBC interview that, “That was certainly the worst performance at Griffin Park in my time here. I don’t even think we had a first gear and Wolves were better from start to finish….Normally we out-football sides but we couldn’t pass water.”

Ha! Ha! Dean. Very funny. Everybody loves a comedian and, whilst honest, what was the reason your team were so flat? Why couldn’t we break down physical opponents who clearly wanted it? Why did we just sit back to try and ‘absorb’? There was plenty of finger pointing in his interview on ‘official’ Brentford and acceptance of poor performance but what was the reasoning behind us being so far off the pace? Why weren’t our basics good enough? Why were we so outmuscled?

It has been interesting to read Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola talking about his philosophy on the BBC today, ahead of the Champion’s League tie with Monaco. His own take on their situation is a simple one.“The best way [to defend] is score goals,” adding that “when one team scores many goals and you think about just defending, you kill yourself. The idea is to try and attack”.

The Brentford performance was an even odder one because we’ve all seen how good this team can be in recent weeks. I’m not going to slag off individuals. Players have off days but the rest of the group can soak it up. Yet when they all fail to spark, and the manager is unable to motivate them or change it, you get what happened here. It was quite apparent within the first twenty minutes that there was only one side in this. The biggest miracle of the night not being that that we went into half time one up but that we then held the lead right up until the 86th minute.

Maxime Colin’s goal was a thing of beauty. A flowing move (yes, we did have one) culminated in a delightful pass from KK before the full back broke free and shot across the goal into the far corner. Sadly, it was solitary diamond sitting atop an otherwise dung heap of a performance.

Despite Dan Bentley stopping everything that came at him, aided by some last gasp challenges and Nouha Dicko hitting the bar when it would have been easier to score, eventually the pressure told with barely minutes remaining.

Both Wolves goals came from balls down the right flank, crossed  into the box before being tucked home. The second, in particular, was shocking, Having already been reduced to a point by Matt Doherty’s 86th minute equaliser, Brentford then offered Helder Costa the freedom of the Griffin Park penalty box as he was left unmarked to volley into the ground and past Dan Bentley with just seconds of regulation time left.

With it went the chance of the most undeserved of points making their way into Dean’s back pocket.  Game over, man. Game over.

Even George Saville looked vaguely competent. The former Bee actually managed to tackle Jota at one point. Which probably tells you as much as you need to know. This, despite coming in for dog’s abuse on the Braemar Road side about an incident that had allegedly happened around the back of a hotel carpark, in Brentford lock.

We may have lost, but I’d take Jota over Saville any day of the week

Only Keith Stroud’s assistant, who struggled on manfully despite being an accident waiting to happen with his clearly undone bootlaces, received more flak than Saville, Costa or any other of the players out there. Certainly it was more entertaining waiting for the inevitable ‘stack’ that failed to materialise, despite his steadfast refusal to do anything beyond eventually tucking the loose laces into his boot like a lazy schoolboy, than watching the game.

And talking of Keith Stroud, what of our favourite ref?  The diminutive man in the middle was somewhat restrained by his own reputational standards and had a generally good game. There were a few calls we all felt went the wrong way but that’s football. At one point, he even changed his mind in our favour following advice from the aforementioned assistant. I repeat. He changed his mind in our favour.

Instead, his convoluted prematch warmup routine of stretches, thrusts and synchronised dancing with his assistants was the highlight. Keith even went so far as to delay the prematch photos as he underwent one, final, shuttle run.

Big bet ; diminutive ref. But a good performance from Keith Stroud

When the most exciting part of the evening was Buzzette dancing (in the most playful of fashion) with our Ealing Road wag, you know it’s one to file in the locker marked ‘painful’ and, instead, hope for some form of retribution up at Burton on Saturday.

Even the post match tweets from the players had a somewhat similar feel. Did Harlee and Sergi compare notes before tweeting? Are they handed these by the media team? Or is it just the ultimate summary of what happened – very disappointing tonight; can only apologise and say thank you.

Did the players compare notes?

Hey, at least we weren’t offered the chance to go again.

There’s nothing else to say on this one. This was less the proverbial bad day at the office and more one of being put on immediate gardening leave from desk based activity, pending a full enquiry. Instead, we can only put it behind us and await Burton. There’s no way it will be even half this bad.

Roll on Saturday. I certainly wouldn’t want be in Nigel Clough’s position when Storm Brentford approaches.

Nick Bruzon

Decisions, decisions. Who’d be a manager? The big game awaits.

Saturday football is back. With most sports pages devoted to the incessant wittering on about if Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho will have a glass of wine together (although whether this is before, during or after the Manchester United – Manchester City game remains unclear) you’d be forgiven for thinking nobody else was in action today. But, of course, the really big one is down on the South Coast where Brentford head to Brighton hoping to pick up where we left off against Sheffield Wednesday. Albeit without the injury time equaliser or open goal chances being served up on a plate.

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 2016 to May 2017 along with a smattering of new material, you can pick it up, here. Its all for a great cause and,hey, you may even enjoy it…..

 

Today’s the day

Brentford make their third Championship visit to the Amex

Nick Bruzon