Brentford prepare to welcome Burnley on Saturday, with further questions hanging over the team selection. Nick Bruzon preivews.
Whilst the Manchester United game has had more post-mortems than the average episode of Quincy, perhaps the more telling takeaway from that one was broken players rather than broken hearts.
Keane Lewis-Potter and Mark Flekken were last-minute additions to an ever-growing absentee list that gets more gruesome with every read. Ivan Toney, Kevin Schade Rico Henry, Shandon Baptise, Ben Mee, Mikkel Damsgaard and Josh Dasilva were already out before being joined by the aforementioned duo.
With Ethan Pinnock since missing from the Jamaica squad during international break and Aaron Hickey suspended for this one following his yellow card at Old Trafford (that’s five for the season), Thomas Frank will be very much down to the bare bones.
The good news for Brentford is that Ben Mee has been pictured in training this week although how close he remains to a start is anybody’s guess. Likewise, Ethan’s absence could be nothing more than smoke and mirrors with the Bees’ medical team picking up a minor knock they wanted to monitor. He says optimistically.
The two things Thomas can 100% control are who plays up top and who slots in at left-back. Personally speaking, I’d swap out Wissa for Neal Maupay. For whatever reason, the former just hasn’t had the run of the ball in recent games whilst his cause has hardly been aided by the machinations of VAR. Neal must be chomping at the bit for a start with his cameos from the bench on our travels suggesting some extended game time could reap rewards for The Bees.
As for left-back, that makes for a more interesting discussion. Saman Ghoddos has come on as a substitute to fill in before but to do so for 90 minutes is a big ask. One thing’s for sure, he wears his heart on his sleeve and would give his all. The other option is Vitaly Janelt. He has already featured on the left side of a back three when we beat Watford back in December ‘21 – alongside Pontus Jansson and Charlie Goode. Albeit, still had Rico covering in the flank.
Whomever Thomas picks, the best form of defence is attack. Burnley are yet to keep a clean sheet this season (indeed, only Sheffield United have a worse goal difference) and fell apart against Chelsea last time out. A 1-0 lead heading towards half-time saw the defence go awol and they were 4-1 down by the time the game moved into the final quarter hour.
Just to put that into context, prior to that one Chelsea hadn’t scored four in over a year and a half. Thomas Tuchel was still at the helm the last time that happened. April 2022 at Southampton with The Saints paying the price for the previous week’s 4-1 humiliation at the Bridge against none other than our brilliant Bees.
Of course, we all know that’s not how football works and complacency is the mother of all mess-ups. Vincent Kompany will no doubt look to our own record of just one win in eight games and sense his own chance to get a second victory of the campaign. Concentration will be key.
The other thing Brentford have up their sleeves is that whilst the table doesn’t lie, we are as much the victims of bad luck over bad form. Surely that has to change and something go in our favour? The injuries aside, VAR has spannered us at Forest and Newcastle as well as at home to Tottenham. Perhaps the focus on this following the Darren England affair at Spurs v Liverpool might, finally, see the system used properly.
Only our officials can determine that although they aren’t the names to inspire confidence. Card-happy Josh Smith is at the helm for only his third game at this level. Our old friend Stuart Atwell is on VAR duty and – deep breath everybody – the game also marks the start of rehabilitation for… Darren England. He’s been named as the fourth official.
Their involvement will be crucial. Let’s hope that for once they remain anonymous.
