Nick Bruzon picks out the five best Bees from their narrow defeat to Fulham on Matchweek 3 of the 2022-23 Premier League season.
The archetypal game of two halves. A stunning reversal of fortune. The bitterest of endings.
Brentford went down 3-2 at Craven Cottage, c/o Aleksander Mitrovic’s 90th minute header, after hauling themselves back into a game that had looked dead and buried for vast swathes of the opening period.
In the end there can be no complaints. The Bees so out of sorts at the start it was a miracle we were only 2-0 down approaching half time.
Bobby Decordova-Reid scoring for the Cottagers with just 44 seconds gone after Pontus had played a sloppy ball in midfield. Joao Palhinha then doubling the lead on twenty.
In between, Mitrovic having another denied by the offside flag. The defence awol. The midfield much the same. The Cottagers pinging it around with impunity. Neat little triangles to outwit a static and stretched Brentford line up.
Norgaard lucky to avoid a red card for a wince-inducing challenge on Jay Stansfield. Palhinha likewise for a brutal aerial challenge on Ben Mee.
Then, with the Bees on the ropes and looking out for the count there was salvation. A light at the end of the tunnel. Mathias Jensen’s 44th minute corner found Norgaard who volleyed it straight past Bernd Leno with the silkiest of first touches. Boom. Bees fans erupted. Fulham should have been out of sight. Instead, the thinnest of margins separated the two sides.
If the first forty-five had been all about the Cottagers, whatever Thomas Frank said over the cups of tea and orange segments worked wonders.
Brentford were a side transformed. Suddenly there was pace. Intent. Attacking threat. Ivan Toney running rings around Fulham and levelling up with just minutes gone. The celebrations huge. The disappointment at seeing it ruled out by VAR for what would later be proven to be the narrowest of debatable offsides (a toe nail at best) immense.
Lesser teams would have crumbled. Brentford did the opposite and, as though responding to that ever popular call, pushed up.
The pressure building until Ivan Toney got another. His third of the afternoon and the first not to be denied by VAR or offside after great work in the box. The celebrations in front of the travelling fans showing just what it meant. The score now 2-2 with twenty minutes to go.
Fulham woke up. David Raya continuing a succession of fine saves. One. Two. Three of them in the second period.
Mitrovic outsmarted after Norgaard had set him free and then a point blank save with the striker already thinking it was in the back of the net. Brentford certainly being made aware there was still life in the hosts.
That the danger posed early on was still a threat. We could all see it. We could all sense it.
There was still a fifth goal in this game but all of sudden from Brentford almost completing the mother of all come backs. From having another Jota moment. From coming so close it was Fulham who did it. It was that man Mitrovic who had been everywhere and now got the reward he will have felt his efforts deserved.
Heartbreak for Brentford as the big man out-jumped Bryan Mbeumo for that late, late winner on Matchweek 3.
Why the smallest player on the pitch was left to pick up the Serbian behemoth is a question for another day. No doubt something Thomas will want to look at on the training ground.
It doesn’t change the end result. It doesn’t change that on the balance of play, we’d have fancied a draw.
The first half as bad as the second had been wonderful. In the end though, there’s no point crying over it.
Fulham played better than expected. Brentford were off the pace. We might have snatched something but that’s football. Cliché. Cliché. Cliché.
All of which is well and good but means we still need to find a top five and a star man from Matchweek 3. That goes down to a straight fight between two players, David Raya and Ivan Toney.
Brentford Player Ratings from Matchweek 3 (vs Fulham)
1st (Star Man) – Ivan Toney
In the end he just edges it.
Ran rings around the Fulham defence in the second half.
The interminable wait for VAR to rule out his first equaliser shows how tight a call it was. Who knows what might have happened had it stood?
The celebrations had gone on long and hard before it was eventually chalked off. However, the technique to turn and shoot still deserves plaudits.
His legitimate goal, equally so. There was no question whatsoever over this one with the finish, deadly.
He may even have found the winner late on when felled in the box. The referee gave nothing beyond letting play continue.
Why a striker brimming with confidence and bearing down on goal would, apparently, throw himself to the floor is beyond me. Then again, referee Mr. Bankes had a stinker all afternoon. Unlike Ivan.
2nd – David Raya
Oh, he looks so good. We saw last season the difference it makes when he is in the team and yesterday was yet another example.
Was sold up the river for the goals but that trio of second half saves, the third of which saw a curling free-kick tipped over with the hosts still 2-1 up, kept Brentford alive.
Gave the Bees hope. Inspired us to keep going. How he kept out the header from Mitrovic I have no idea. At the time, the update to those following back at home was . “WOW !!!! Like seriously WOW.”
Having seen it again on TV, that opinion hasn’t changed any.
3rd – Keane Lewis-Potter
Ok, so now we are getting into thinner territory on account of the first half being so below-par.
KLP’s arrival from the bench just after the equaliser gave the Bees added momentum. He really did impress breaking forward and looks as though he could well be the proverbial ‘ball tied to foot with a piece of string’ type player.
How he stayed on his feet and rode some of those challenges was a joy to behold.
One can see why Hull City were so reluctant to let their star man go. On this showing, he really could turn out to be a quite wonderful signing
4th – Bryan Mbeumo
Gave it his all. Never stopped running. Looked way more comfortable in the second half and worked much better with Wissa and Toney as our shape changed with the substitutions.
No goals or assists today but still seemed to be at heart of so much Brentford did going forward. Once we started going forward.
5th – Christian Norgaard
Really debated this one. He was lucky to stay on in the first half whilst also handed Mitrovic that golden chance in the second.
However, the quality of his strike to halve the deficit needs to be seen to be believed.
Arguably the Bees would have been totally down and out had it not been for this moment of quality. Christian takes the last point as much by virtue of this alone.
Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Players Overall (after Matchweek 3)
Meaning that after Matchweek 3, Ivan Toney (13 points) is romping into the lead ahead of second placed Josh Dasilva (7). Bryan goes joint third with Mathias Jensen (5) amd David Raya hits the top five (4).
1st – Ivan Toney (13 points)
2nd – Josh Dasilva (7 points)
T3rd – Bryan Mbuemo, Mathias Jensen (5 points)
5th – David Raya (4 points)
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2022-23 Brentford player Ratings – Matchweek 3 by Nick Bruzon
