With a trip to Sunderland next up for Brentford, it would be fair to say that head coach Keith Andrews has very much seen a reversal of fortune since the thing at Nottingham Forest.
Following their defeat at the City Ground in the campaign opener, The Bees have played two games, won two, kept two clean sheets, and progressed to the third round of the Carabao Cup. The reward for a 2-0 cup win at Bournemouth, a chance to inflict more Gtech pain on the Aston Villa side beaten 1-0 in the league last weekend.
The Villa game last Saturday was additionally pleasing in how comfortable the Bees looked, despite having less than 25% possession. Dango Ouattara, with an impressive turn of pace to break clear and grab the only goal of the game just 12 minutes into his Brentford debut. Mikkel Damsgaard then denied a wonder goal for an alleged foul on ‘keeper Emi Martinez by Nathan Collins. Referee Tony Harrington made as baffling a decision as one will ever see, but, thankfully, it was one that ultimately had no bearing on the destination of the points.
The key – albeit obvious – discussion point at this juncture is who Keith names for the game with Régis Le Bris’ team? The starting XI against Villa looked so much more comfortable than what had gone before.
Jordan Henderson, Dango Ouattara, and Kevin Schade are starting. KLP is playing in the correct position. Wissa left to sulk back at home base – the training ground rather than the DIY super store. Michael Kayode and Mikkel Damsgaard (another restored after missing Forest through family reasons) are utterly brilliant. They weren’t alone, either.
All of which leads to the question of just what the heck Keith does for the trip to Sunderland? His line-up for that cup tie in Bournemouth was one of mostly subs and fringe players. Yet they played out of their skins and looked even more comfortable than at the weekend. Rico Henry and Frank Onyeka in particular. Talk about rising to the occasion and giving the manager the nicest of problems.
A challenge further compounded by the arrival of Ouattara, Kayode, Collins, and Tiago on the hour mark. Talk about cranking it up even more. Thiago was on the scoresheet within five minutes, and you could see just what it meant from the celebration. The grin spread across his face after getting on the end of a flowing move and making no mistake.
For what it’s worth, I’m sure Keith will revert to the team that beat Villa. Harsh though that may be on many. It’ll be a starting XI of: Kelleher, KLP, van den Berg, Collins, Kayode, Henderson, Yarmoliuk, Schade, Damsgaard, Ouattara, Thiago.
The subs are champing at the bit to get on and prove a point. Show that they are worthy of ousting their teammates.
Regardless, I’m sure we’ll see the full range of substitutions. The Bees have always made maximum use of the changes permissible, and the line-up that finishes a game is typically way different to that which started.
The only thing we can say for sure is that Wissa will once again be kept in isolation. Keith confirming that he is only looking to his “settled group” – those without “issues ongoing”. With reports now linking Newcastle United with Stuttgart striker Nick Woltemade and the window due to shut on Monday, could he find himself in that most unsavoury position of being persona non grata until January?
Not my problem. Live by the sword, then die by it too. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Brentford have got more pressing things to focus on, top of the agenda being a Sunderland team who romped past West Ham in their last home game to go top of the league. Keith described that performance as “very, very dangerous” in periods.
If anything, they may be disappointed in retrospect to have ‘only’ won 3-0, given the current state of disarray the Hammers find themselves in. Graham Potter’s side is currently going neck and neck with Manchester United in the race to see who is the top-flight’s most shambolic setup. You know what the pressure must be like at Old Trafford when even Bryan Mbeumo does the previously unthinkable and misses a penalty.
We digress. The Stadium of Light is sure to be raucous. A cracking ground with equally passionate support. The Bees’ coach noting that, “I’m really looking forward to the atmosphere and I know our players will feed off that.”
Let’s hope so. Jordan Henderson, especially.
In the middle… well, I can’t see the benefit of getting upset by referees before kick-off anymore. Last week, we had the seemingly innocuous Tony Harrington, and look at the shocker he ended up having. Talk about a man out of his depth.
For the record, this time around, the primary officials are: Ref – Anthony Taylor. Fourth official – Bobby Madley. VAR – Darren England.
What could possibly go wrong?
