Keith Andrews will probably have woken up a very happy man on Sunday morning. Brentford still fourth in the Premier League following a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa and are currently the top flight’s longest unbeaten side (eight games).
The Bees are yet to taste defeat in any competition this season, a sequence that stretches back beyond the World Cup and into early May with a reverse at Manchester City. Given the recent news from the Etihad, one could even argue that we should discount that and look to a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford in April. A result that, in retrospect, seems an even more incomprehensible blip – Manchester United winning an actual game of football.
The table doesn’t lie. The Bees sit in the Champions League positions and are set to welcome Liverpool on Saturday. Yet underlying all of this is a stat that is starting to niggle – Keith seems better at drawing than even Tony Hart.
That’s four from six this season. Eleven from sixteen if you factor in the back end of the last campaign. Not losing is the bedrock to any win but, then again, so is scoring more goals than the other team. If ever a game was set up for Brentford both winning and scoring then this was it. Frustratingly, things didn’t quite work out.
We can moan about referee Craig Pawson and, truly, he was horrific. Yet lining up against a Villa side who had only mustered one shot on target in their open three league games, scored a mere four goals prior to this one and started the match with a GD of -5, it would have seemed that the turkeys were all set to wring their own necks. Brentford just had to pick up where they left off against Chelsea and the rest would follow.
Alas, not. That just isn’t how football works. Jannik Schuster almost selling Caoimhín Kelleher up the river early doors to give the hosts some early optimism. It was quickly snuffed out.
Jaidon Anthony’s tenacity on the right to win the ball from Suzuki’s sloppy clearance, finding Thiago on the other side. He played it back across where it was only cleared as far as Yehor Yarmoliuk. The Ukrainian, unmarked on the edge of the box, made no mistake in firing home to give Brentford the lead with just ten minutes gone.
Back of the net!!! 1-0 Brentford and all systems go. Villa, like Spurs in the opening game, defending so deep that the Bees were left little choice but to come onto them. Including the ‘keeper there were eight men between Yarmo and the goal when he struck the ball. Another player level with him. The edge of the box left more exposed than the brickwork in a Hoxton pub.
Presumably Keith had seen this and was going to apply the pressure, but instead of hitting turbo boost, the engine stalled.
Within two minutes Villa had equalised. Nicolas Jackson on the right firing home from close range after Schuster had only managed to deflect the ball his way rather than clear it. 1-1 and the home support, even given the reduced capacity caused by the North Stand renovation, with a colossal roar. Straight back on level terms and Brentford having to go again.
As one North Stand observer opined to me, “You can tell our defence was bad there because Nicolas Jackson has scored a goal”.
With that, the game rather settled. Both teams giving the impression of wanting to ‘not lose’. Jaidon Anthony teeing up a delightful cross for Ajer but the Norwegian unable to make it count. Kevin Schade going down injured and requiring lengthy treatment after a ‘coming together’. Referee Pawson continuing to frustrate everybody.
Then, with half-time beckoning, that man Kelleher did the business yet again. A phenomenal double-save from, first, Jackson and then McGinn at almost point-blank range ensuring the teams went in all square.
There really aren’t the words to truly describe how good this was. You had to see it. The second, especially where Villa fans were already on their feet celebrating what surely should have been a 2-1 lead. Quite, quite magnificent from Caoimhín.
In they went. Out they came. Hickey on in place of Schuster. Schade replaced not long after. His fierce shot from another Thiago assist not quite enough to beat Suzuki and followed by the realisation that his first-half injury wasn’t going to get any better by just running around.
It was a cruel shame for the German, and let’s hope that this was nothing long-term. A lengthy period of treatment in the first half made even his re-emergence for the second somewhat of a surprise. He’s been one of Brentford’s standout players so far this season and with that Liverpool game up next, a fit Kevin would be a huge bonus.
The game ebbed and flowed. Opening up a little bit more as the sides took turns to have periods of pressure. Albeit, no real chances emerging. Buendia’s shot, firmly intercepted by Ajer, as good as it got. Hickey getting in the way of another.
Yet the second ball back in wasn’t be cleared and with a significant deflection off the unfortunate Ajer, John McGinn made it 2-1 Villa from nowhere. The hosts with the lead. Kelleher, no chance. 77 minutes gone and after starting at 100 mph, the Bees looked as though they had broken down on the hard shoulder.
It was nothing but brief disappointment. Unbeaten records don’t come easily. The same two minutes on the clock that greeted Villa’s equaliser were matched by Brentford’s. The Anthony- Ajer combo that almost worked in the first half this time paying dividends.
The wide man’s ball picked up on the ground as Kristoffer waltzed through the Villa back line, turining him into an unstoppable spectre of doom for the hosts. His shot may have taken a deflection on the way through but they all count.
The hard work being done in the build-up. Dango, unmarked on the far side but not needed. The inglorious basterds moaning about it going in-off can do one. What’s good for the goose and all that.
There it ended. All square at 2-2. Another draw to add to the many but fourth in the table is still fourth in the table. A quite wonderful start to the season and one that so many teams can only look on at with envious eyes. Bravo, Brentford. Imagine what will happen when Keith gets Igor playing through the middle and finding the net too.
All well, that Liverpool game will be the perfect opportunity. Until then, our regular top-five player ratings from this one. Five points awarded for star player, four for second, three for third etc etc. The overall winner of our player-of-the season then determined after game 38 when the final tallies are confirmed.
Star player (5 points): Kris Ajer
Cracking from Kris.
Nothing he could do about the goal that went in. It was little more than bad luck, so let’s move on to all the other stuff.
First and foremost, the equaliser. For a big man he sure can move. We’ve seen his comfort with the ball at his feet previously when setting off on those lengthy runs from his own box, but here it was down the other end. No panic. No rush. Just calmness and composure. Picking his moment and firing home when the time was right.
It was the sort of game where he was in the Villa area as much as ours. We’ve talked about Jaidon’s cross, and it shows Ajer’s fitness levels to even be in that position. More so given that he didn’t get an actual break over the international break.
Yet when needed down the more traditional end, there he was. Buendia cursing his presence. The dominant partner with whoever was alongside in a defence that had seen further change, with normal left-back KLP pushed into the midfield.
Kris is looking in the form of his life. A second successive top-five entry for him. Long may he continue like this.
Second (4 points): Caoimhín Kelleher
Thank you, Caoimhín.
I was close to making him my star player but felt Kris edged it by having to do more over the course of the 90 minutes. That’s not to deny Caoimhín the praise he so richly deserves.
Alert from the get-go, he needed to be on his toes to bail out Schuster, but bail him out he did. It was a state of mind he retained to the very last minutes of the game, tipping one optimistic effort over and then gobbling up an effort from Buendia that could so easily have been split into the zone of scoreability.
Yet it was that double-save just before half-time that everybody is talking about. World class. Incredible. Banks like.
Say what you want – any positive description is correct. I’ve no idea how he kept it out, but do so he did. With it, he kept the Bees in the game.
Third (3 points): Yehor Yarmoliuk
On goes Yarmo.
The gift that keeps on giving. A mere 1.5 million Euros when he signed as an 18-year-old. Four years later and he’s fast becoming Brentford’s next big thing.
He’s beefed up this season. Body, strength and hair. From boy to man. From box to box. Brilliance all round, and only Vitaly making more passes in this game. The goal scored with a poacher’s instinct. The cunning fox lying in wait, allowing the Villans to retreat to the perceived safety of their six-yard line and then firing it through the whole pack of them anyway.
Keith is fast becoming spoiled for choice for his central three. Vitaly is a shoo-in at present. So, it seems, is Yarmo
Fourth (2 points) Keane Lewis-Potter
There’s an episode of the TV’s The Simpsons where Lisa asks, “Did you know that the Chinese use the same word for ‘crisis’ as they do for opportunity”? To which Homer replies, “Yes! Crisatunity”.
With Mathias Jensen having been out injured and Mikkel Damsgaard crocked on international duty, the rested KLP made full use of his own personal crisatunity. With Diouf starting as left back, Keane was pressed more into the middle than we’ve seen him play before, but I thought he excelled in this new role.
He really is becoming Brentford’s Mr. Versatile. Right-wing. Left-back. Centre-mid. He’ll be in goal next week. Again, the lung-busting energy levels second to none – something on display later that evening to viewers of the BBC1 dancing show (blowing out candles rather than Ajer-style waltzing).
Wasn’t afraid to give out to Mr Pawson, for what it was worth (absolutely nothing) after being chopped through in full-flow. Overall, he was one of my standouts.
Fifth (1 point): Vitaly Janelt.
Tough calls for fifth. Jaidon Anthony perhaps unlucky to miss top five. I’ve seen praise for El Hadji Malick Diouf too, this morning. The defender could perhaps could argue a claim but, for me, Vitaly was essential in a game that was a largely cautious and cagey affair between the two Villa goals.
At times, there were tricks and turns so neat it was like watching peak Damsgaard or Jensen. Then there was his bossing the pass count. His tackling. His no-holding-back approach, getting stuck into everything and everyone.
Even if he has ended up with a third yellow card of the season, let’s never change this relentlessness.
All of which means that heading into Saturday’s game with Liverpool, the positions after matchweek 6 show how consistent Keith’s big performers have been. Something more impressive given the absence of both Thiago and Kayode from our top five, so far…
- 1st Kevin Schade 15 points
- 2nd= Jannik Schuster 13 points
- 2nd= Vitaly Janelt 13 points
- 2nd= Caoimhín Kelleher 13 points
- 5th Keane Lewis-Potter 10 points
