Brentford are back on the road this weekend with a trip to relegation threatened Burnley. Nick Bruzon previews.
With The Bees slipping up at home to Brighton last time out, a surprisingly off-key performance following the high-octane football of recent weeks, one might think that spirits in the camp would be low. Anything but, with the announcement made yesterday that Keith Andrews and the club have agreed a contract extension that will run through until 2032.
Under Matthew Benham, the club has always been forward-thinking. Has always planned long-term. And has never been afraid to be different in their approach. This, however, is beyond an endorsement of Keith’s start to life as Brentford head coach. A period that has seen the club rise to seventh in the Premier League table.
It is a statement of intent that well and truly says Keithball is how we are going to be doing things for the foreseeable. Anybody wanting a slice of that pie is going to have to pay handsomely to unlock the golden handcuffs that now shackle the Bees and the Chief together.
What a far cry from the start of the season six months ago. Keith’s first game ending with his Bees shambolic in a 3-1 reverse at Nottingham Forest. Thomas Frank’s departure looking like the stuff of nightmares as his own new club, Spurs, went joint top of the Premier League after an opening day 3-0 defeat of, err, Burnley. How things have changed since then.
Thomas and his coaching staff have undergone another exodus – albeit this time an enforced one after the never-patient Tottenham ‘support’ hounded him out. The board left no choice after their ongoing flirtation with the Championship and unrest on the stands from fans who seem to think they have some divine right to ‘be any good’ because they won the league 65 years ago.
The Bees, by contrast, embracing Keith with open arms. The team finding their feet to get to a place where, had the result gone the way form suggested against Brighton, we’d be sixth in the table.
The only real constant after that opening game being the result at Tottenham saw Burnley end the day in the bottom three. It is a position they still occupy today, with only Wolves behind them. The Clarets are eight points off safety, effectively nine by the time one factors in goal difference. With just eleven games left to play, it feels as though a miracle will be needed to save them from making an immediate return to football’s second tier.
The only glimmer of hope comes in recent form. Nobody could deny their balls-to-the-wall performance that saw 2-0 down at Crystal Palace just prior to half-time turn into a 3-2 lead when they went in at the interval. The three points were retained and then followed up by that last-gasp equaliser at Chelsea the following week. Indeed, they might even have gone on to win it.
Whatever their league position, Burnley are in fighting mood. James Ward-Prowse has spoken of “A real freedom and a togetherness” whilst Scott Parker used Thursday’s press conference to make an impassioned appeal, urging supporters to “Come with optimism and understanding of what this group has been through and how they’ve come out of that. I’d like to hope, well demand actually, the fans come and get behind this team.”
DEMAND??? Wow! That is a strong expectation from fans who have had to endure the inevitable car crash this season, but with the team in ‘now or never’ territory, one can understand his motivation. Besides, unlike Tottenham, there are no illusions and a lot more loyalty in their boys.
Turf Moor is a horrible place to go when the team are on form, and the Bees have never really found life easy up there. Who could forget the unicorn-inspired display of anti-football in the Marinus era or the red card for Sergio Reguilón just nine minutes into a 2-1 reverse the last time the clubs met here in the Prem?
Surely it is too late for Burnley. They and Wolves are doomed. Must be doomed? West Ham probably joining them, but with Forest and Spurs conspiring to shoot themselves in the foot at every available opportunity, who knows what comedy (for the observers, at least) may play out there?
For me, that battle is nothing but a sideshow. Once to be reviewed once the results have played out. The focus has to be on Brentford getting the three points that would keep the European, potentially even Champions League, dream alive.
If Keith has any injury concerns, then right back would appear to be the place. The post-match prognosis on Michael Kayode, who missed the Brighton game, suggested it may be longer-term than simply that one game, whilst his replacement, Aaron Hickey, limped off after forty minutes. KLP or Kris Ajer, with Nathan Collins returning to the middle, would be the switch there.
Both teams are desperate to take three points for very different reasons. Burnley, acute desperation. the Bees, a nothing-to-lose crack at dreamland, which should see them with the freedom to play the way the want, if they want it.
For me, the key will be in starting on the front foot. In taking the wind out of Scott Parker’s sails and silencing the crowd. I am sure the Burnley man is telling his own team exactly the same thing, and so this has the potential to explode out of the blocks.
This could end up being an absolute cracker. Albeit for very different reasons, depending on who you support. Sam Barrot is our man in the middle, and Paul Tierney is on VAR. They’ll need to be on their game, so let’s hope they remember how football works.
Other than that, here’s to 3pm on Saturday – I can’t wait for this one.
