Nick Bruzon reckons that the glut of attacking talent at Brentford means that Thomas Frank has the potential to go ‘full Keegan’ in Sunday’s season-opener against Crystal Palace.
This, right now, is the single most exciting point in the season.
The table is locked in with 20 teams all set to go. The big kick-off approaches at a rate of knots with everybody having an opinion on how their team, and others, will fare.
For Brentford, it is business as usual with most observers declaring them doomed to mediocrity, at best. Certainly this feels like the take-away from just about every opinion piece heading into a visit from Crystal Palace that will start the club’s fourth, successive top-flight campaign.
Let them write off The Bees before a ball has even been kicked. It’s nothing new, It’s also one of the laziest possible views to take. One undertaken with a complete lack of any serious analysis that boils down to nothing more than a ‘clubs like…’ mindset. A former League Two side who don’t have the financial clout to push spending rules to the very edge of their limit (or beyond) so, by consequence, will be unable to compete.
Utter nonsense. Then again, we all know that in TW8.
Copy/paste Brentford being underestimated, only for the critics to have their opinions served back to them in a bowl with a knife and fork. Words being well and truly eaten, Partridge style. Needless to say, we had the last laugh.
Let this false mindset permeate through the football world. Let the Bees keep on doing what they’ve been doing. With Crystal Palace due on Sunday afternoon, the squad is mostly fit and the much-anticipated departure of Ivan Toney is yet to happen. If anything, it is Wissa who is the one currently under the microscope. There are strong reports coming in that Wolves, flush with cash from the £54m sale of Neto to Chelsea (a club who continue to go wild in the aisles, somehow) are preparing a £25m bid to set Molineux on fire. Metaphorically speaking.
Whether this proves to be true or nothing more than internet clickbait remains to be seen. Certainly, it’s one of the more unexpected stories to emerge but with new boy Igor Thiago suffering that meniscus injury in pre-season and now out until December, one can’t imagine both Toney and Wissa being allowed to go.
Who knows? The week’s big story has, Zanka’s farwell aside, been the signing of Fábio Carvalho from Liverpool. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder making the battle for places in the top third of the field even more congested than ever. Let’s hope Thomas Frank has had him training in full bubble-wrap and steering clear of training ground twigs.
Kevin Schade is fit and KLP scored in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Wolfsburg on Saturday gone. Add Wissa, Toney and Bryan Mbeumo to that mix and Thomas Frank has the potential to go ‘full Keegan’.
Who needs defence when you have this wealth of attacking talent at your disposal? It worked for a while at Newcastle United and at least this time around there’s no Fergie to press the button marked ‘meltdown’.
Perhaps that level of full-force attack would be no bad thing with the obvious question for Brentford fans being the left-back position. We’re currently so deep into the squad that Kris Ajer has been filling in there over pre-season. A player who had a fantastic second half to last season – something even more impressive given the well-documented injury jinx that played havoc with anything Thomas tried to do – but who is obviously more comfortable on the right-hand side.
Could this be the ultimate double-bluff? Has he grown a left foot over the summer? Are Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey closer to returns than has been revealed? Is there one more bit of transfer business still to happen? Even a short-term loan deal akin to that which saw Sergio Reguilón drafted in last season to very much steady the ship? Or will it simply be the case that Brentford do what they normally do – hold tight, rejig to make the best of the available options and don’t panic.
For what it’s worth, the thought process will surely be this final option. The Bees are not known for unexpected purchases. Carvalho and Pontus Jansson being the rare exceptions to this rule in recent seasons. With a whole host of talent due back ‘soon’, I suspect the strategy will simply be one of outscoring our opponents.
No bad thing given how Brentford have struggled against Crystal Palace since hitting the top flight. Five successive draws were followed by December’s 3-1 reverse at Selhurst Park. Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results but having only scored four times in six games, surely the 7th (seventh) attempt will be the time for something to go in Brentford’s favour?
A potentially unsettled defence for the visitors would be a great start. Fulham are coveting centre-back Joachim Anderson with two bids placed whilst his partner Marc Guehi seems to be the current flavour of the month when it comes to transfer speculation? Will Newcastle United find the superstar money demanded by a board who have already turned down a £60million offer?
The squad has also been hit by the sale of Michael Olise to Bayern Munich but the flip side being those who remain. Jean-Philippe Mateta is back in training with an Olympic Silver medal around his neck whilst, of course, alongside Guehi our visitors boast further England squad members from the Euros in the exciting Adam Wharton, Eberechi Eze and goalie Dean Henderson.
The latter giving Palace supporters that most enviable of situations – a genuine battle between two quality ‘keepers. The England man starting the season ahead of Sam Johnstone as Palace’s official ‘number one’.
Off-field, the impact of manager Oliver Glasner cannot be rated highly enough. If Thomas Frank is integral to all Brentford achieve, our opponents are fast entering a similar position. His arrival in February following the departure of Roy Hodgson saw The Eagles end the campaign in tenth place. This, their joint highest finish since football was invented in 1992 when the Premier League was formed.
As such, the obvious expectation will only be to pick up and push on from this. Europe the target. Then again, I’d say the same about Brentford. With nobody giving the Bees a hope, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain. Last season was very much one of holding station whilst those of the squad not in the treatment room kept things ticking over. It wasn’t always easy being so stretched but Thomas and the team got through it. Now, we’re back and ready to go. Again.
Whether this proves to be my own lazy opinion-making for either club remains to be seen. However, we’ll get our first taste on Sunday afternoon as to how the teams may fare as the season progresses. I can’t wait for the opportunity to see things starting to play out.
Bring it on and see you there.
