Brentford shared the spoils with Manchester City at a raucous Gtech after one of the most breathtaking displays of football ever seen in the Thomas Frank era.
A 2-2 draw with the champions very much putting Saturday’s FA Cup thing to bed in the most exhilarating style possible. Talk about living up to the cliché of now being able to concentrate on the league.
The Bees were laser focussed from kick off until the final whistle without dropping the energy levels once. The crowd behind them in the noisiest way possible. Each feeding off each other to shatter whatever recent momentum the visitors may have been recovering.
Brentford were immense. City, nervous kittens. Gripped by the icy hands of their fragility returning in some style and unable to do much with the ball despite dominating the possession and pass count. Damsgaard, Norgaard and Mbeumo running riot. Making sure those balls and sorties forward counted when in control. The visitors, meanwhile, playing too many wayward passes directly out of play or into the opposition.
Pep’s team with the first touch of a JCB compared to the almost magnetic attraction between ball and boot shown by the men in red and white.
The Bees pushed. Wissa with the best of the chances in the first, and especially second, period before Mikkel Damsgaard finally found the back of the net just after the hour. Firing past Ortega in nets but most of the crowd seeing an offside so blatant in the build up that it was mere seconds after the almost muted cheer until referee Anthony Taylor chalked it off.
It’s Brentford, innit? With the fans still looking up at the big screen into the next postcode to see the VAR offside graphic, City went down the other end. Perhaps the players were looking too because all of a sudden Phil Foden had scored the opener. It came from nowhere. Well, a Kevin De Bruyne cross actually but the effect was much the same. 1-0 City.
Which somehow became 2-0 on 78 minutes. A rare slip from Mads Roerslev (who had an otherwise excellent game) releasing Savinho. The Brazillian on this occasion choosing not to go down like he’d been shot by a sniper and start thrashing around like a fish out of water but, instead, release Foden for his second of the game.
City ecstatic. Guardiola relieved. Brentford choosing the option marked ‘Never say die’.
On they went. The crowd even louder, sensing something special was in the air. That same desire we’d seen all evening never faltering. Never wavering. Then up popped Wissa to finally get the goal his performance had so richly deserved. Roerslev’s ball in to the danger zone and after what seemed like an eternity of almost getting tangled up in his own feet, our all time leading scorer in the Premier League fired high in to the roof of the net from close range.
1-2 and just shy of 10 minutes to go. The arrival of Rico Henry further lifting the roof off. The sh*thousery laden substitution of Phil Foden, the player choosing to walk half the length of the field on the pitch side, totally ignored by Mr Taylor but only rousing the Brentford passions to new heights.
One terrace wag loudly exhorting them to ‘Push up, Brentford’ in voluminous style. The players doing just that. The passing slick. City being sliced open but somehow holding firm. The clock running down and then the captain providing one of his seminal moments as we entered time added on.
KLP with another ball in and there was Norgaard to power a header past Ortega for 2-2. The crowd off the Richter scale in celebration. The players taking the plaudits before rushing straight back to try and finish the job.
They almost did it, too. Damsgaard releasing Schade to tear down the flank. His ball over met by Bryan Mbeumo who worked the space, cleared his man, fired past Ortega but was denied by a goal line clearance from Nathan Aké.
One last flurry form City might have ruined the party vibe but it was too little, too late. The Bees held firm and then took that more prolonged praise. Hard to beat, indeed.
It was a point that felt like a win. That could well have been one, too. Confidence now through the roof and new standards of excellence set by a quite scintillating performance. If Thomas Frank had asked for a bounce back after the Plymouth game he got it by the absolute bucketload. Saturday’s visit from Liverpool can’t come soon enough.
Until then, time for the top five player ratings. 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 21 (vs Manchester City)
1st (Star Player: 5 points) – Christian Norgaard
This was quite possibly one of his greatest performances in a Brentford shirt.
Brentford were good. So, very good. Let’s be clear that anybody could have made a case for being in the in the top five tonight. Yet the captain was head and shoulders above them all. In my opinion.
Whether he’d scored or not the top place would have been his based on those first 90 minutes alone. He did everything. Three players in one yet it was his working the midfield and taking us forward that really stood out. Those moments of skill where the ball was won or a man beaten from seemingly impossible situations and Brentford swept forward once more.
That it was him who got the equaliser after dominating for so long felt like the sweetest of justice delivered. Rather than the gamesmanship or theatrics of big name opponents, Christian let his football do the talking.
2nd (4 points) – Mikkel Damsgaard
A second successive, err, second for Mikkel following the game at Southampton. He was immense. Christian edged him.
That said, let’s take huge satisfaction about a performance which on just about any other night would have seen him scoop yet another star player award for an already groaning mantelpiece.
If Christian was everywhere, Mikkel was the one picking out the passes. Driving the Bees forward. Getting the ball in to the box. Dictating the game to City so that they had to dance to his tune and adjust their gameplay accordingly.
Had his ‘goal’ counted, Brentford would have won that game for sure. As it was, we still came close.
3rd (3 points) – Bryan Mbeumo
Top five choices already getting tougher.
Bryan didn’t score but he takes third place for what is feeling like a repeated mantra – sheer work-rate and effort. He just never stopped running . The perpetual motion generator that powers his legs working overdrive as he did everything but score.
Linked up superbly with Mads Roerslev on the right. Played all manner of lovely balls through the box with Wissa, in particular, the beneficiary. The right man in the right place but the pair not quite able to combine for the surely inevitable finish.
Bryan might have scored himself this time around couldn’t quite round off an otherwise wonderful performance.
4th (2 points) – Sepp van den Berg
Only two slots left and no space for Nathan Collins, some of whose challenges (especially the ‘air’ tackle that connected with nothing yet still shut down a clear threat) deserved a place in the hall of fame.
Sepp gets the point, albeit he probably bought Nathan a pint (of orange squash) in the player’s bar afterwards. Their partnership looking better and better each game and demonstrated by Thomas’ confidence in keeping two centre backs on the bench at the start.
Aside from any broader interventions on City in his general play, I’m giving it to van den Berg for keeping Erling Haaland quiet.
The Norwegian behemoth left to look more like a lumbering lummox as he didn’t get a look in all game. Sepp keeping him well and truly in pocket. So much so that only one chance was afforded and that headed straight down the throat of Mark Flekken.
Disciplined. Controlled. Confident. Read the game perfectly. Just what you want from the backline.
5th (1 point) – Yoane Wissa
No Roerslev. How? No Collins. How? I’d love do give it to Kevin de Bruyne – simply for the laughs that ensued as he shot so high that the ball hit the roof of the West Stand.
Sometimes, picking the top five is the devil’s own task and this is no exception.
Wissa gets it for one of those performances where he just ran at City like an enthusiastic Labrador. Energy and relentlessness combined in the perfect package. Never giving up. Never stopping. Not dropping his head when denied by great saves, great defence or perhaps not quite getting his own sights on target.
His goal was richly deserved. The timing, just perfect to rouse The Bees for that final ten minute push.
2024/25 Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Overall (after Matchweek 21)
All of which means that with Liverpool next up, the top five edge further ahead of the chasing pack with Christian Norgaard stretching the gap ahead of sixth placed Nathan Collins. There’s a long way to go still and it continues with a visit from the league leaders.
1st – Mikkel Damsgaard (65 points)
2nd – Bryan Mbeumo (46 points)
3rd – Mark Flekken (41 points)
4th – Keane Lewis-Potter (34 points)
5th – Christian Norgaard (32 points)