Nick Bruzon reveals the best 5 Bees from their win against Southampton and we see his updated player points tallies after Matchweek 21.
Another day. Another win. Another clean sheet. Brentford now a staggering 7th (seventh) in the Premier League table and sights very much placed firmly on Europe.
This time around, it was Southampton who were despatched with clinical precision.
A 3-0 win saw the Saints put to the sword by a relentless Brentford side who never stopped running. Never stopped trying. Were a yard faster and more involved than anything Nathan Jones side could muster.
On this showing the Saints are marching in… to the Championship.
That’s their problem though. You can only beat the tam in front of you. As Thomas Frank and his side have proven time and again this season, the name and the reputation count for nothing. It’s how you play when the whistle blows that counts. On Saturday afternoon, The Bees were electric.
A team packed full of desire. An evident will to win. Deft touches coming off every time. Pass and move. Pass and move. The visitors run ragged. Aaron Hickey back in the starting XI – you’d almost forgotten just how good he is. Bryan never stopped running. Christian Norgaard breaking down play in the middle time and again.
Josh Dasilva with a contender for pass of the season in the build up to our second goal. Hitting one with the outside of his boot and curling it thirty yards cross-field where it fell perfectly to the onrushing Wissa just outside the box. There aren’t the words to truly describe just how delightful it was. A combination of confidence, audacity and pure, natural talent. Wissa then squaring it to the unmarked Mbeumo who made no mistake. In terms of breakaway speed and precision passing it was up there with the Jensen-Toney-Mbeumo goal at home to Manchester United. A pass that had no right to be even attempted, let alone made.
That doubled the lead for the Bees just prior to half-time. Two minutes earlier Ben Mee had opened the scoring. This time Mbeumo turning provider and dropping it into the heart of the danger zone after creating the space for himself. A speedboat manoeuvring around the oil tankers in the Southampton defence with apparent ease. The ball in to the box still requiring bravery and determination if a true connection was to be made.
Thankfully, Ben Mee has those by the bucketload. The greatest bit of free transfer business since, well, ever. He leapt through two defenders to meet the ball, power it in to the back of the net and then earn a colossal blow to the head for his troubles. Thankfully, all was ok after a moment’s scare. The drive of the man showing no sign of ever receding. Forty minutes of domination for Brentford finally rewarded.
The second half saw much more of the same. The visitors making a whole raft of changes but still all at sea.
New signing Paul Onuachu not given a look in despite standing head and shoulders above even our tallest defenders. A few half chances created but when David Raya couldn’t quite gather, Theo Walcott (a player I’d genuinely forgotten was even still plying his trade, such has his star fallen) was denied by the combination of Mads Roerslev and Ethan Pinnock.
It still felt comfortable and the overall dominance of the afternoon underlined late on by Mathias Jensen. Rico Henry combining with Schade to drop it on to his head for where no mistake was made despite the presence of two defenders. The Great Dane getting ahead of both players to find the back of the net for the second home game in succession. The cross from Rico about as perfectly placed as they come.
With that, the fire drill started in the away end. It was only a chant of ‘It’s all your fault’ short of a full house in Brentford bingo.
The Bees magnificent but, whilst the moment was absolutely enjoyed, knowing it is now done, dusted and put to bed. Complacency and arrogance are the mother of all mess-ups. We travel to league leaders Arsenal next and anything but our very best will see all the hard work of recent months undone.
Then again, get it right and it won’t just be talk about Europe. Could a title charge be on? 17 points behind with 17 games to go. If that is a bridge too far (and never say never with this team), a Champions League spot – something priced at 80/1 when the campaign began – could perhaps be an equally bold aspiration. Yes, we need to keep our feet on the ground but if you can’t dream then what’s the point of even turning up?
Regardless, outside of those with the dumper trucks full of used bank notes – and even including a few with them (hello down there, Liverpool and Chelsea) – Brentford and perhaps Brighton are very much the best of the rest in the Premier League at present.
Don’t @me.
The table, the results and the form guide don’t lie. Continuing this won’t be easy but given the Bees remain undefeated in the top flight since the debacle at Villa Park in late October, the run of form is quite evident for all to see. Long may it continue.
All of which is quite wonderful but now to the real crux of the matter. Namely, the season long quest to find our overall top performer aswell as the game by game top five. This time around, we have a few contenders and a couple are desperately unlucky to miss out (Hickey and Norgaard in particular – sorry chaps) but our star player from the Southampton game is…
Brentford Player Ratings from Matchweek 21 (vs Southampton)
1st (Star Player: 5 points) – Mathias Jensen
This one was close, really close.
However, I just have to give the award to Mathias. I thought he was absolutely wonderful on Saturday afternoon. The centre of the park his absolute playground, with another notch on the nutmeg tally early doors setting out the stall for both him and the team.
After the game Thomas would tell reporters that, “I think the first half was an overall performance, maybe the most complete this season, because I think we controlled and dominated”. He’s right and it was so much down to Mathias. Southampton’s will being broken by as complete a performance as they come. Taking it forward with supreme confidence and turning into a Jensen interceptor when the ball was coming at him.
The performance was rounded off by his scoring our third goal. The execution and the timing of the run making the chance seem way simpler than it was. Defenders left rooted to the spot and the net bulging. It was his second goal in successive hime games and very much the proverbial cherry on the icing on the cake.
A certain Dane may have gone to Old Trafford over the summer but one can’t help wonder if it hasn’t worked out the better for all of us. Magnificent, Mathias.
2nd (4 points) – Ben Mee
The stuff of much debate in our house after the game. Mrs Bruzon and Harry both told me Ben and Mathias should be flipped. Perhaps they are right but at the end of the day (Clive), it comes down to personal opinion. Regardless, second place is no bad thing and Ben Mee once again demonstrated just how consistent he has been this season. How strong he is at the back. How much of a calming presence he brings to our defence. Not to mention our front line.
The goal took guts but also a fair amount of precision. Like threading a needle to find the back of the net and he did it despite the subsequent bump on the noggin. Thankfully, was able to continue and might even have grabbed a second for himself late on.
At the other end, his partnership with Ethan shows no signs of being anything but up there with Dec and Ant, Batman and Robin or Bush and Richie in terms of those you’d want alongside each other. It really was another case of ‘none shall pass’.
The free transfer signing of the season with yet another example being given as to why. The switch to a back four one he is just as comfortable in.
3rd (3 points) – Bryan Mbeumo
A goal and an assist in a 3-0 win yet ‘only’ takes third place. To be honest, it shows just how much Saturday was all about the team. See also: no place for Ivan despite his quite delightful passing (oh, Wissa came that close to net rippling heaven).
Yet Bryan was at his brilliant best. The confidence to work the gap for Ben’s opener quite something but you still need the skill to pull it off.
Prior to this, he’d already combined with Hickey and Josh to open them up with apparent ease. Every pass, flick and turn coming off. Every challenge seeing him outmuscle the opposition. His pace and timing played to perfection and a front three system one that certainly suits his game.
The goal was, like Jensen’s, made to look easy but it was as much about having the speed to get up field and in the right position. Josh’s pass started things and caught everybody. Being able to read what was unfolding and charge into the perfect place to meet it doesn’t come by chance. A great finish to a quite incredible move on a top, top afternoon for Bryan
4th (2 points) – Rico Henry
From the opening minutes he was overlapping Wissa down the left. So much so that up in the North stand we wondered if there had been a tactical switch. No, it was just Rico doing his thing. That thing where he plays left back one minute and then left wing the next.
Like Sergi Canos, to whom we bade a sad farewell this week, it’s hard to remember that Rico is only 25. He seems to have been around forever although, in footballing terms, is very much of a long termer having joined in August 2016.
That the Bees have been able to hang on to this talent for so long is as much testament to our own back room staff because this was another game that must have made everyone sit up and take notice. Even Gary Lineker found time to namecheck Rico in the post-match analysis on MOTD.
The cross to Jensen was the moment that casual observers will highlight but it was the game long running and blocking that will live on in the memory. Like Ben Mee, we’re becoming so accustomed to this consistency of performance that it can be tricky to find new ways to describe the same, imperious standards.
Yet for me, it was the simple fact that almost every time Brentford were going forward, it was Bryan, Rico or Mathias with the ball at their feet
5th (1 point) – Ethan Pinnock
In a game where Brentford were dominant from start to finish, perhaps it seems odd to have a third defender in our top five. Perhaps this is why The Bees were so strong. Statistically speaking (and we do love a good stat at the Gtech) Southampton had more possession and more shots on target. Yet they were unable to do anything with it.
The second half in particular I thought Ethan was gargantuan. There was the aforementioned clearance but it was as much his out jumping and outmuscling Onuachu every time the pair got close that was so impressive. Like watching a modern day Keith Millen v Kevin Francis.
He was the obvious target man if Southampton were to have any hope of getting back in to this game at 2-0 down and he didn’t even come close. Well played, Ethan. Well played.
Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Players Overall (after Matchweek 21)
All of which means that as we prepare for the trip to league leaders Arsenal, there is another change at the top with Ivan Toney and Ben Mee once again trading places. Yet it is the chasing pack where things are really getting interesting now. Jensen moves third whilst Rico Henry stays fourth, but clear of David Raya with just two points separating the three players.
1st – Ben Mee (39 points)
2nd – Ivan Toney (36 points)
3rd – Mathias Jensen (33 points)
4th – Rico Henry (32 points)
5th – David Raya (31 points)
This could get very interesting at Arsenal…
Follow Nick on Twitter @NickBruzon
2022-23 Brentford Player Ratings – Matchweek 21 by Nick Bruzon
