A 1-0 defeat to bottom side Sheffield United was about as tough as it gets for a Brentford team who, for the first time this season, finally looked as though the pressure of the injury crisis had taken its toll.

There was an almost inevitability about how this one might play out beforehand.

For every double over Manchester City, trashing of Man United or defeat of Liverpool, The Bees seem to have an uncanny knack of coming unstuck against the lower placed teams. Who could forget the time we handed an abject Norwich City team their opening Premier League win of the season at the Gtech in a game where Charlie Goode finished it playing up top. How about this season’s loss to Everton? The phrase, “It’s Brentford, innit?” never truer.

Yet at the same time, this one was different. The home crowd vocal in a manner not often heard on our travels. The tourist packed libraries of the top flight nothing like Bramall Lane. Especially not on a wet and windy afternoon where, as one West Stand observer put it to me in post-match discussions, “There were no clouds in Sheffield but it was still raining”.

The conditions were atrocious. The Brentford squad, with Jensen still missing and Mbeumo out indefinitely, now stretched to almost breaking point. The home fans were so, so up for it. As were Sheffield United, sensing blood in the water and with a new manager to impress.

Something was eventually going to give for Thomas Frank and, sadly, this was the game. Exhausted Bees, with few choices available for squad rotation and still recovering from the midweek trip to Brighton, finally hit the wall.

It wasn’t so much that we were poor, although the amount of individual errors did not make great viewing, but more it felt the sort of game where there was nothing left to give. The old analogy of a punch-drunk boxer hanging on to the ropes never truer.

A vaguely bright start from The Bees petering into nothingness as the first half progressed. Frank Onyeka extremely fortunate not to have his booking upgraded to a red by Robert Jones on VAR 35 minutes in after going in hard on Vinícius Souza. It looked a really bad challenge as he caught the players ankle but, fortunately for The Bees, referee Stuart Atwell’s original decision of a yellow was upheld after review. Well played Mr. Atwell (not a typo).

Yet if this had been a reprieve it didn’t last long. In the first minute of three added on, an absolute comedy of errors saw The Bees concede the only goal of the game.

With Brentford pushing up, Wissa failed to control the ball in the United box. Vitaly was mugged off by Archer on the half way line yet as The Blades’ man raced down the flank towards goal there were still six Brentford players between him and the nearest team mate in their box. Ethan’s clearance of the ball cannoned straight in to a team-mate, rather than safety, so instead of reaching half-way it fell to United. James McAtee received it and scored what was, despite watching it back a dozen times on Sunday morning, a goal which I still don’t know was incredible or sloppiness beyond compare.

The shot from the far side of the box lofted quite exquisitely into the top corner opposite. Let’s take nothing away from the precision or technique with which the ball was hit. Mark Flekken – who had a quite wonderful second half and kept us in the game, let’s be abundantly clear – just watched it go past.

He couldn’t have reached it from where he was positioned but the lack of even trying to back-pedal or stretch for it compounded a move that should never, ever have been allowed to develop as it did.

The second half was much of the same. Brentford barely with a sniff until late. The visitors with a trio of chances in the opening quarter, all within quick succession of each other and all helped by The Bees giving the ball away. Flekken doing wonderfully to smother chances fired straight at him.

Wissa’s 79th minute volley, caught on the full from a ball in to the box, was comfortably stopped by Wes Foderingham in nets for the home side. The shot was accurate but lacking full power and about as close as it got for Brentford. A 94th minute shout for a penalty kick after hand ball in the United box eventually turned down by VAR and with that, the game was dead.

Brentford, sadly, empty handed. A game too far for The Bees with too many tired players making too many errors and unable to offer up much against ferocious opposition. That’s life and that’s football. It happens. Sadly.

As we said in Friday’s build up, “Complacency is the mother of all mess-ups. With a passionate crowd behind them, Bramall Lane isn’t an easy place to go. Moreso on the first Saturday afternoon with the new manager in charge and in his second stint. Focus will still need to be absolute key rather than simply assuming this is a case of ‘turn up and win’. There are no easy games at this level, regardless of table position.”

Never has this been truer.

Going forward, Thomas Frank will be desperate to hear that Mathias Jensen is fit for the Aston Villa game. They’re doing ok at the moment, aren’t they?

Likewise, we know that he’ll put this one behind us. Boxing games off after 24 hours and looking forward something he’s always been a huge advocate of. He has to hope something finally goes our way – but so do the fans.

I’m sure they will. Defeat is always hard to take. No moreso than when the cards are stacked against you. Instead, it is how you react to it. The supporters and squad have a week to recover before what promises to be a highly charged atmosphere at the Gtech on Sunday. Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa et al returning with the absolute team of the moment. Here’s to ruining their momentum.

Instead, let’s look at the player ratings. The star performer and top five in our quest to find our overall player of the season with five points being awarded for every ‘star player’ award, four for second place, three for third etc and then the totals counted up over the course of the 38 games.

The simple answer to this one is that there are no points for sympathy. There was not even close to being a stand out in a game riddled with, and ultimately decided by, individual errors. We’ve focussed on those around the goal but they weren’t alone.

We know why they happened so rather than overly ‘name and shame’, let’s draw a veil over this. Let’s say “Well played” to Sheffield United. Let’s acknowledge the situation we are in that saw the injury dam finally burst. Let’s move on and look forward to the visit of Aston Villa.

See you there.

2023-24 Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Players Overall (after Matchweek 16)

For the record, our top five remain as was:

1st – Ethan Pinnock (34 points)
2nd – Bryan Mbeumo (31 points)
3rd – Christian Norgaard (25 points)
4th – Mathias Jensen (21 points)
5th – Nathan Collins (18 points)

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