severnside gull
Well-known member
Nicky has turned Brentford into a footballing side in a very short period - their fans must be counting themselves lucky and be looking forward to next season just as we were this time last year.
Brentford were unlucky last night and could have won. We have our keeper to thank. Teams are learning that if they take the game to Brighton then our defence is not as solid as we like to think it is. On the other hand, if a team is going to win their division they sometimes have to grind out results as Brighton did last night. I thought that Sparrow was outstanding but Kish looked slow and a bit past it.
With scouts at every match looking for our flaws, I reflect on our previous match against Carlisle, where Gus expressed very succinctly that he didn't like "how open" we were. To follow that match with another in which Ankergren kept us in it - you have to think that sides are all going to spot how we can be exposed.
Perhaps with Adam el-Abd back in the squad things will be tighter in defense, but are we relying too heavily on one man who ...could get injured or carded to be out again?
I hope he's there for our 'big' games, but Gus also has to work it out so that he's not relied upon too much either.
Some of our midfield has to also cover well when the ball changes possession in the middle of the park, and I recall el-Abd was also decent playing in the middle....perhaps better even, than in defense. So - we could probably do with half a team of el-Abds (not as strikers of course, because he's RUBBISH up front! )
but none of them were down to what you'd call "calamitous" defending - thankfully, those days are LONG gone.
I'd describe the defending at Mk dons as calamitous! But probably the only time I've seen it this season to be fair. We have looked shaky since then though and that was with Adam playing too.
first 15/20 minutes I thought we were going to smash them but after that I agree with him they gave us a bloody good game and probably should have got a point. No idea about the penalty as couldn't see what happened or what happened with the goal.
Nicky has turned Brentford into a footballing side in a very short period - their fans must be counting themselves lucky and be looking forward to next season just as we were this time last year.
On the other hand, Casper made two top notch saves, Brentford were not awarded a stonewall penalty (Calde's handball), and they fired just over with the last kick of the game. If I were them, I'd feel unlucky to lose.
Nicky has turned Brentford into a footballing side in a very short period - their fans must be counting themselves lucky and be looking forward to next season just as we were this time last year.
Regarding the "stonewall" penalty, the ref made a right arse of that. Firstly it wasn't a foul, the bloke was a yard away from Calde and it hit his trailing hand as he flicked it inside him. No way Calde could have got out of the way of it. That said it was a good yard inside the box, so if he is giving it (which he did) then it was a pen.
It's funny how people look at games differently as I thought Kish was outstanding last night, that strong head just in front of the defence, always there to break up their attack, simple ball out of defence and only tired in the last 15 mins. Ok he benefits having Bridcutt next to him with all his energy, but Kish was quality last night.
Thoroughly enjoyed the game last night and though casper made a couple of fine saves I thought Brentford were pretty toothless really, never troubled us that much. Ok took an own goal to bag the 3 points, but you get games like that.