As Friday nights out in the rain go, that was up there with the very best.
Brutal Brentford battering lethargic Leicester City 4-0 in a game where, much as with the drubbing handed out to Southampton in front of their fans last month, it could really have been more. Craig Pawson on VAR somehow deciding that Kevin Schade had not been chopped down in the box by Woyo Coulibaly – a player lucky to still be on the pitch by the time the first half-ended.
Mads Hermansen in nets for the home side also doing his bit to keep Brentford at bay but it was nowhere near enough. Sold up the river by a team for whom tactical awareness, positioning and marking where nothing more than concepts. Ruud Van Nistelrooy has inherited a car crash from Steve Cooper but is seemingly unable to do anything with the wreckage beyond steer it over the cliff.
By full time he looked as forlorn, rain soaked and ineffective as Rishi Sunak in his final days. It’s going to take a miracle to salvage anything out of this but that’s their concern. For now, the focus really has to be on Brentford and – in truth – the away support who made it as cracking an atmosphere as has been heard all season.
The chants of “We’ve got more fans than you” summarising the positivity from the visitors compared to the exodus in the rest of the ground as the game progressed. The torrents from the skies mirrored by the steady trickle of early departures becoming a flood as the third goal went in just after the half-hour mark.
Christian Nørgaard completely unchallenged as he ran through the box to meet Bryan Mbeumo’s free-kick. The skipper left unattended as he connected with the ball and his header flew past Hermansen for 3-0. Any hope of Leicester hauling their way back in to a game they were already so far out of touch in, long gone.
That damage being done by Wissa just after the opening quarter hour and then Mbeumo ten minutes later. The quality of the strikes perhaps different in quality – Wissa deceiving Hermansen with the bounce by firing straight in to the ground and Bryan curling in an absolute pearler – but the effect was much the same. Namely, the ball in the back of the net.
In each case, the architect being Mikkel Damsgaard. A player who had an absolute stormer and – spoiler alert – put in one of his best performances in a Brentford shirt. Give him an inch of space and he takes a mile.
The scooped assist to set up the opening goal was about as delicious as they get. Michelin star quality served up to Wissa on a plate. Well worth a repeat viewing.
Mbeumo’s shot for 2-0 a different sort of quality. Picking it up wide on the right, he cut in to the corner of the box. For those of us who know what Bryan can do, combined with the lack of any actual defending, the goal seemed telegraphed.
“He’s going to curl it. He going to curl it. He’s going to ….” I said to the supporter next to me. Before the sentence had been finished, he’d curled it.
Straight into the far corner and Hermansen left clutching air. 1-0 becoming 2-0 with a quite wonderful finish and with the captain doing his own work shortly after, that was The Foxes dead and buried.
Fábio Carvalho made it 4-0 late on but really the damage had been long done. If anything, the only real concern for The Bees more a question of whether Norgaard’s half time substitution will reveal any longer term damage or was just precautionary.
Leicester City were awful. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Yet you still have to beat the team in front of you. Potato skins can still be slipped up on. Brentford were simply too clever and too good to be suckered in. A 4-0 scoreline and that fourth successive away win the very least The Bees deserved.
Next up, the visit from Everton on Wednesday night. A team who until recently had been in the doldrums themselves but proven that a change of manager can revitalise the most shackled of squads. Sean Dyche nothing more than a distant nightmare already and the Toffees clear from their own relegation worries.
It could be a really interesting clash but that’s to come. For now our post-match look at the top five player ratings. 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 26 (vs Leicester)
1st (Star Player: 5 points) – Mikkel Damsgaard
No surprises for seeing Mikkel back at the business end of our top five. He was simply magnificent on Friday night.
That pair of assists paving the way for our eventual victory, with the opener one that still has supporters drooling even now.
It was as sublime a touch as they come and the mark of player at the absolute very top of his game. He topped just about every stat chart going in this one, almost reaching double figures for crosses and revelling in the space afforded him by the home side.
Mikkel has now got ten assists for the season. The most recorded by any Brentford player in the Premier League whilst Thomas praised him at full-time noting, “I think I would go as far as saying we have a front four and Damsgaard really gets them going.”
Mikkel was unstoppable on Friday night. Give him the room and he runs amok. Safe to say he enjoyed this one. As did we.
2nd (4 points) – Bryan Mbeumo
Everybody talks about the bromance between Mbeumo and Wissa yet for me one of the stand out aspects of the season has been those balls out from centre mid to right wing. That connection between Damsgaard and Mbeumo almost psychic.
We saw it again on Friday. The moment that ball was played out it had 2-0 all over it. Of course, Bryan still needed to do his thing and what a way to accomplish that. An exquisite finish that no goalkeeper would have stopped.
Bryan then setting up Christian for the third and Carvalho for the fourth. A goal which had the twin benefits of adding the requisite level of gloss to the scoreline whilst keeping ‘dad’ happy, too.
Might have had an additional ‘assist’, but for Hermansen’s point-blank denial of Yarmoliuk’s goalbound effort. Mbeumo the deliverer but, for once, The Bees denied.
No complaints though. Bryan was brilliant.
3rd (3 points) – Keane Lewis-Potter
He’s having a season, eh?
With The Bees freed from defensive duties (so much so that even Nathan Collins was able to gallop up-field with abandon) KLP ran riot. He was electric on the left. Winning the ball from lost causes. Tackling back to regain possession when lost. Overlapping his man with ease as he stepped through the gears.
Pinging the ball over for fun and even scoring a goal, finally 😉 Except, of course, a rogue handball was adjudged to have got in the way.
It was probably the right call but don’t let that take any shine off another top, top performance from a youngster who is just getting better and better with every passing minute played.
4th (2 points) – Yoane Wissa
He started it all off with Brentford’s first goal. Whether intentional or otherwise, hitting it in to the ground certainly proved effective.
With it, Wissa kickstarting another statistical curio. It was the sixth time both he and Bryan have found the net in the same Premier League game this season. Only Liverpool have done similar with Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo likewise achieving the same feat.
Forget the league title. It’ll be as interesting to see who’s got the best pair up top? With Wissa on the sort of form and positioning he showed last night, it could well end up being Brentford.
5th (1 point) – Kevin Schade
Kevin was my Star Player last week and whilst not everybody may have agreed, it’s a decision that on reflection remains well merited.
As does his inclusion again this time around. He may not have scored for the first time in four away games although he did everything but. As part of the aforementioned, and now firmly established, front four he caused mayhem and chaos running towards Leicester.
Pawson’s decision to deny him a penalty one which, on reflection this morning, seems all the more baffling having watched the replay. Thankfully it made no material difference and if Kevin keeps on running like this, more will follow.
2024/25 Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Overall (after Matchweek 26)
All of which means that heading towards that midweek visit from Everton, our top three on the night mirror the overall season long podium places. Damsgaard very much clear in pole position but anything can still change.
1st – Mikkel Damsgaard (80 points)
2nd – Bryan Mbeumo (51 points)
3rd – Keane Lewis-Potter (47 points)
4th – Mark Flekken (43 points)
5th – Christian Norgaard (41 points)
