Brentford are back in action on Tuesday evening against Manchester City following their FA Cup exit at the hands of Plymouth over the weekend. Nick Bruzon preivews.
Football, eh? One minute you’re smashing a Premier League rival at their place. The next, ending up as the unfortunate ‘other half’ in an FA Cup upset.
It would be fair to say that Brentford have had a mixed bag of results in recent weeks. From seemingly indestructible at home, they have now lost three on the spin at The Gtech. Nottingham Forest and Arsenal are in the league, followed by the Championship’s basement club Plymouth in the FA Cup third round on Saturday. That one is very much a case of ‘Move along, nothing to see here’ for Thomas Frank’s much-changed team.
From being unable to do just about anything on the road beyond a solitary point at Everton, the last couple of games have seen back-to-back clean sheets and four points out of six. 0-0 at Brighton followed by last weekend’s thumping of Southampton in front of their own fans.
That, a game which if we are being greedy could well have seen the Bees end it in double figures. There were that many wonderful chances created that one has to wonder how it ‘only’ ended up being 5-0.
First-world problems. Brentford were quite magnificent on the south coast and now head into Tuesday night’s game with Manchester City looking to prove more than a few points. The ability to now concentrate on the league following that cup exit probably scant consolation for coming undone.
Let’s be honest here. Plymouth deserved it. A Bees scratch XI failed to show up. At the same time (cliché alert) you need to take each game as it comes and not dwell on any frustration that has gone before. Besides, whatever else happened in that game there was the most wonderful sight of Rico Henry finally returning to action.
I can only see KLP beginning this one at left wing-back but just to have Rico on the bench is the most incredible feeling. Let alone thinking he may be on from the get-go shortly. Imagine having both of them in the same starting XI? Double trouble down the left, with Bryan and Mads Roerslev (an alleged target for Udinese) on the other side. A tantalising prospect for sure.
Until then, it’ll likely be a starting XI of: Flekken, KLP, Collins, van den Berg, Roerslev, Janelt, Norgaard, Damsgaard, Schade, Wissa, Mbeumo. Nobody from the usual league subs impressed sufficiently against Plymouth to suggest they would be ousting one of ‘the regulars’.
As for Manchester City, they’ve finally pulled up from the potentially fatal-looking nosedive that saw teams lining up to feast at the Pep Guardiola all-you-can-win buffet. The last two games (Leicester City and West Ham) saw the sixth-placed team finally emerging victorious in back-to-back top-flight games for the first time since October’s double over Southampton and Wolves.
One has to wonder what on earth is happening at The Etihad. A squad with that much strength in depth can’t continue to cry ‘injury’ ? Quite frankly, there are few tears being shed and few tosses given by anybody outside of Moss Side.
The fall from grace, no matter how momentary it may ultimately prove to be, has been a thing of beauty to behold these last couple of months. The all-conquering, big-spending mega stars being hung out to dry by anybody that fancies.
Draws with Everton and Crystal Palace. Done over by Bournemouth and Brighton. Obliterated 4-0 by Tottenham. Albeit the biggest surprise in that one being the fact that Ange Postecoglou’s team actually managed to keep a clean sheet.
Alas, normal form has since returned. A win is a win, even against the abject opposition they have faced.
Leicester could have come out on top but aging Jamie Vardy looked so far off the pace in that one he’d have struggled to catch a cold. His timing a run to beat the offside flag or ability to get a ball on target something that was more a memory of days gone by than anything likely to bear fruit.
West Ham, meanwhile, are West Ham. A team so woefully out of sorts that they’ve joined Everton in hopping on board the managerial merry-go-round his week.
Trying to predict a staring XI from City’s galaxy of stars is pointless. Expecting to win against them, likewise. At least, normally.
These are strange times. City are proving fallible. Something is rotten in the state of Debdale but can the Bees take advantage or will City’s 8-0 tonking of Salford City be the final nail in the coffin of their own mediocrity?
That rout proving so one-sided that Pep was able to keep Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Joško Gvardiol, Rico Lewis and Bernardo Silva on the bench for the entire game. They’ll no doubt be chomping at the bit for action at The Gtech.
Fingers crossed they have another quiet evening on Tuesday. Bring it on and see you there.
