Brilliant Brentford continued their incredible run of home form on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 defeat of Newcastle United at The Gtech.

End to end. Start to finish. A game played out in windy conditions on a rubbish strewn pitch (but enough about referee Simon Hooper) never stopped giving from the moment it started until Kevin Schade wrapped things up at the death. His injury time goal ensuring the best home record in the Premier League continued. 20 goals scored by Brentford in the last 5 games played at the Gtech. 7 (seven) wins and a draw out of the 8 league fixtures in TW8 since the campaign began. Not even leaders Liverpool are close to matching that.

Before Schade did his thing we’d enjoyed a game that surpassed even Leicester City for Brentford at their free flowing best. A line-up change that saw Schade and player of the season (to date) Mikkel Damsgaard benched with Vitaly Janelt missing from the squad surprised. Instead, Yehor Yarmoliuk and Fabio Carvalho were drafted in to the starting XI alongside Igor Thiago, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoanne Wissa and the returning Christian Norgaard.

If supporters were wondering how this would all work, Newcastle didn’t have a clue. Despite an early scare when Sean Longstaff smashed one against the bar from distance, The Bees were soon doing what they do best – scoring goals.

Thiago knocking it down, Norgaard with a quite magnificent heat-seeker of a pass that fell straight to Bryan Mbeumo. He cut inside, teased the Newcastle defence, worked the space before firing high to the left of Nick Pope and into the back of the net. 1-0 Brentford with less than 10 minutes gone.

Get in!! What a start. The stuff of dreams. Swiftly followed by the stuff of nightmares as the Magpies restored parity in a matter of minutes. Aleksander Isak getting the last touch on a ball played in to the box that really should have been cut out.

Then, THE moment of the match. Absolutely game changing. Isak again. Taking advantage of a slip up in the Brentford backline that saw him race clear and round the ‘keeper. Yards out in front of goal, all he had to do was pick his spot. Somehow, Flekken was able to fling himself back around the player, telescopically extend his arm and as Isak dithered over where to place it, our number 1 reached across to flick the ball off the Newcastle forward’s boot laces.

It was a quite remarkable save and one on which the rest of the game hung. Had the visitors gone 2-1 up things may not have turned out anywhere near as well for The Bees. The crowd knew it. The players knew it. With Flekken’s name ringing around the stadium Brentford pushed on and the lead was soon restored.

This time it was Wissa on the scoresheet. Taking advantage of a mistake by Harvey Barnes he raced towards the box and on reaching the 18 yard line, lashed it home to Pope’s left. An absolutely sumptuous finish that left England’s number 4 no chance.

Game on. Game off. Again, mayhem in the Bees’ backline allowed the visitors straight back in. Barnes this time doing the right thing and levelling up within five minutes. Flekken powerless to resist and the Brentford defence perhaps asking questions as to how that one had been able to get through .

No problem. This is a team of ongoing positivity. Ongoing good vibes and good times. The second half-continuing in much the same vein as the first – Brentford driving forwards. Wissa breaking clear, again, only to see his shot somehow parried on to the post and safety by Pope. With Thiago and Carvalho both well placed in the middle it could so easily have been 3-2 but it didn’t matter. Soon enough, the goal game Albeit via unlikely sources.

Mark Flekken hoisting a free-kick into the box from well out. The Newcastle defence playing After you, Claude in some style and Nathan Collins scarcely able to believe his luck as the ball fell perfectly. The chance still needed to be taken but he made no mistake, making the low shot to Nick Pope’s left (hmm, picking up a theme here) look easy. It wasn’t. Credit to the centre-back for taking it so well.

Just shy of an hour played and Brentford with the lead for the third time in the game. Surely this one wouldn’t slip? It didn’t, despite the best efforts of Simon Hooper (whose decision making was questionable at the very best – the ref doing as much as the elements to try and spoil the game) and Newcastle. The arrival of Anthony Flash Gordon making little difference as the home defence held firm.

Instead, Brentford put it to bed in style. Bryan Mbeumo releasing Kevin Schade to wrap it up in injury time. The German showing exemplary composure to pick his moment. Pope unable to pull off a miracle. 4-2 Brentford but not quite game over.

Mbeumo coming oh so close to rounding things off in hilarious fashion. Pope committing a cardinal mistake as he sortied forwards well outside his box, Bryan whipping the ball off his toes and breaking clear down the left.

His shot from distance towards the open goal seemed destined for the back of the net but, alas, the precision needed from an acute angle required a trade off in terms of pace. Dan Burn somehow able to race back, time his slide clearance to perfection and wrap a foot around the ball as it seemed sure to cross the line.

It would have been the cherry on the icing on the cake but let’s not be greedy. 4-2 it ended moments later. Brentford fans ecstatic after witnessing one of the quintessential Thomas Frank team performances – tactics and player choice winning out over big money, appalling conditions and even worse refereeing. The Bees temporarily up to sixth in The Premier League – at least until Nottingham Forest were to heap further misery on Manchester United at Old Trafford later in the evening.

Honestly, there aren’t the words to describe how good The Bees were. How enjoyable this was. How exciting to see Brentford continue in maintaining these quite incredible home feats.

That the key to becoming the highest goalscorers in the Premier League this season was to sell Ivan Toney…

All well and good but as much as anything else we can no longer shirk from the ultimate challenge. Picking a star player and top five from what was just about one of our best ever home performances in the top flight. As always, five points being awarded for star player, four for second place, three for third etc with the totals added up game-by-game to find an overall winner for the season.

2024/25 Brentford Player Ratings from Matchweek 15 (vs Newcastle)

1st (Star player: 5 points) – Bryan Mbeumo
Bryan back to his brilliant best after missing out on the upper reaches of our top five in recent weeks.

His goal set the tone on an afternoon where Brentford never stopped running or trying to find the back of the net. It was as much about the control and the run towards, then across, the Newcastle defence to pick his spot as it was the finish. Pope powerless to resist.

Bryan never stopped working. Let’s not forget this was his third game in just eight days but on he charged. Legs pumping to the very last moments as he first set up Schade to make the points safe and then had ‘that’ moment. Given the scoreline and the time remaining at that point, he could have been forgiven for playing it safe. Nothing could have been further from his mind as Bryan looked to turn a fine win in to a trashing. A Duracell bunny in red and white stripes.

If transfer rumours are to be believed and The Magpies really are amongst those coveting Bryan, he just stuck an extra ‘0’ on his value with this display.

2nd (4 points) – Christian Norgaard
This is why we rely on him so much. Why he was missed so badly at Villa Park.

The crunching challenges. The break-up of play when on the back foot. The fluidity of movement with ball at feet. The laser-guided precision of his passing.

His ball to Bryan for the opening goal looks better and better on each repeated viewing. The muddy kneecaps showing just how much he’d flung himself in to everything. Top of the tackle count and a rock in the middle.

The skipper was back in some style. Now let’s give him a rest before the trip to Chelsea next Sunday.

3rd (3 points) – Mark Flekken
In tricky conditions he did as much as anybody to win the game for Brentford. The wind was all over the place and at times the rain was brutal but standing there in his short sleeves, Mark soaked it all up.

More importantly, he was ever alert to swallow up the ball or make those all important saves. Let’s be honest though, no matter how well he played (and he did) when people talk about this game, it will all come back to one moment – THAT save from Isak.

Sold up the river, he had no chance to stop the ball. Even less so when Isak rounded him. What was it going to be? Red card? Goal? Both? No – we got one of the greatest saves ever seen at The Gtech. As much in terms of ability but in crushing the visitors spirit and inspiring his own team to even greater heights.

4th (2 points) – Yoane Wissa
If Thomas had taken a chance in going this strong up top, his faith in Newcastle’s Pope being unable to resist was well and truly rewarded.

The quality of his strike for 2-1 was world class. Alert enough to capitalise on Barnes’ error, he then pulled an absolute screamer out of the locker to leave the goalie no hope.

Like Bryan, he never stopped working. If anything, he deserved a second goal or, at the least, an assist. The aforementioned chance in the second-half one that, perhaps, from where we sat looked as though squaring it to Thiago would have been as good a call. You can’t criticise a player for being confident enough to try scoring. He almost did, too.

5th (1 point) – Yehor Yarmoliuk
This is how good Brentford were that two goal scorers miss out on the top five whilst there is no place for our regular Mikkel Damsgaard or the impressive Fabio Carvalho (sorry, dad).

Yet if there was intrigue as to how we’d go up top, there were as many questions about a midfield shorn of Damsgaard, Janelt and Jensen. No worries, Yehor stepped up in some style for what was, in my opinion, his best display yet in a Brentford shirt.

He seemed to match Christian pass for pass. Tackle for tackle. Something that the subsequent statistical count back would later confirm. The captain just ahead but his midfield partner putting in a performance that would allay any worries about missing players.

Thomas Frank once again three steps ahead of everybody. His own trust in players paid back by the performances of those handed the shirt.

2024/25 Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Overall (after Matchweek 15)

All of which means that after 15 games played, Mikkel Damsgaard remains way out in front although Mark Flekken now moves second and Bryan Mbeumo is right on KLP’s heels.

That game at Chelsea has it all to play for. What a time it would be to record a first away win…

1st – Mikkel Damsgaard (42 points)
2nd – Mark Flekken (33 points)
3rd – Keane Lewis-Potter (29 points)
4th – Bryan Mbeumo (28 points)
5th – Nathan Collins (25 points)