It is barely November and far, far too soon to start talking about “must win games” and “six pointers,” but after a worrying and depressing winless run of eight Championship matches stretching back to 15th September a Brentford victory is long overdue and much needed if only to restore some flagging confidence, put smiles back on grim faces and provide new Head Coach Thomas Frank with his first win since replacing Dean Smith.
The Lions are also coming back to form after consecutive home wins and will be relishing the opportunity to extend our woes. There is an obvious clash of styles between the two teams. Millwall are strong and relentless, excellent at set pieces, employ a set pattern of play, are not an easy team to play against and will do their utmost to harry us, put us under pressure and force us to go long rather than play our normal short passing game.
Most games in the Championship are close run things and settled by either a piece of genius, an error of judgement, outrageous good or bad fortune or the lottery of a referee’s decision. Mark Warburton and Dean Smith would both correctly talk about the narrow margins between success and failure and last season’s games between Brentford and Millwall perfectly illustrate this point. Both ended in narrow and closely fought 1-0 home victories but the away fans left both matches bemused and bemoaning their fate and ill fortune. Brentford were clinging onto the lead given to them by Romaine Sawyers when the referee awarded Millwall an extremely soft penalty late on. Bees players and fans felt that it was neither a foul by Dalsgaard nor was the tackle made inside the penalty area, but an instant after Lee Probert put whistle to his lips, Lee Gregory put the loose ball into the net. Now both sides were upset at the referee, but it was the Lions who went home muttering when Daniel Bentley saved the resulting spot kick from Gregory. Millwall scored in the first minute of the return game but from then on Brentford dominated proceedings and did everything but score. A Barbet effort was contentiously disallowed for offside and Canos and Egan both hit the frame of the goal before Meredith made a last ditch clearance off the goal line to preserve the home victory.
Given how tight the Championship table is at the moment, with a mere nine points separating Nottingham Forest in seventh place from Rotherham currently languishing in twenty-first position, I thought that I would look at Brentford’s opening fifteen games openly and objectively and highlight the specific incidents that turned or decided each game and from there highlight how many more or less points we could reasonably have won at this point of the season.
ROTHERHAM (H) 5-1
A comfortable win with Brentford’s victory never in any real doubt – it was more a question of how many they scored – however with Brentford in total control, Daniel Bentley made a stupendous save just before halftime to stop Joe Newell from equalising. Who knows what might have happened had he scored.
STOKE (A) 1-1
Another match dominated by Brentford who gave up a terrible goal after a mix up between Bentley and Chris Mepham and were then chasing the game. Watkins equalised but Brentford were unable to force the winner. Two points thrown away.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (H) 2-0
Brentford dominated from start to finish and should have more than doubled their goal tally but they needed a penalty kick awarded after a stupid off the ball challenge by Sam Hutchinson to take the lead.
ASTON VILLA (A) 2-2
An end to end tussle that either team could have won. Villa dominated the first half but Brentford defended desperately and went into the break level. The second half was more even and Brentford eventually got on top, scored a second goal late on and then carelessly missed two massive chances to score a match clinching third. Villa huffed and puffed before referee Moss awarded a terribly harsh free kick against Mepham that was poorly defended and led to a 95th minute equaliser. Brentford also benefited from the officials missing an obvious off the ball stamp by two-goal Neil Maupay that should have seen him dismissed and indeed led to a three match retrospective ban.
BLACKBURN ROVERS (A) 0-1
Brentford’s lack of incision on a poor pitch led to their first defeat. Despite having 61% possession and 11 shots, the Bees could only hit the woodwork twice and lost to a well organised team that scored with its only shot on target which came after the referee missed a blatant foul in the build up.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (H) 2-1
Forest niggled and wasted time from the outset and were the main culprits in a game that saw Brentford also lose control, resulting in 12 yellow cards. Bentley’s appalling fumble gifted Matty Cash an equaliser but Brentford responded well with a late Ollie Watkins winner.
WIGAN (H) 2-0
The Bees missed chance after chance to at least double their goal tally. Wigan were hampered by the red card to Sam Morsy for an aerial challenge on Yoann Barbet which was later rescinded on appeal.
IPSWICH (A) 1-1
Brentford could not score the second goal they needed despite creating excellent chances and failed to adapt to Ipswich’s change of tactics after halftime. Barbet’s free kick clanged off the cross bar just before the equaliser which was carelessly conceded.
DERBY COUNTY (A) 1-3
The Bees were given the boost of a Dalsgaard opener after 44 seconds but Benrahma’s pathetically under hit corner kick when he was on a different wavelength to his team mates soon set Derby up for a breakaway equaliser and the Bees were second best and never in the game after that gift.
READING (H) 2-2
Brentford were cruising when Bentley totally misjudged a long range effort from Swift to gift Reading an undeserved equaliser. Referee Eltringham then allowed Reading to stop the game and waste time with impunity, with the nadir a six minute delay before Reading finally allowed the Bees to take a free kick on the edge of the box. Bentley fumbled a 25 yard free kick and Reading were ahead out of nowhere. Brentford lost their heads, incurred six bookings and Benrahma was sent off for two stupid yellow cards before Barbet equalised in injury time. Frustrating is not a strong enough word to describe the goings-on that afternoon.
BIRMINGHAM (H) 1-1
A muted performance from the Bees aided by another rescinded red card for Birmingham’s Kieftenbeld after a clash with the feisty Neil Maupay. Brentford never opened Birmingham up or created enough chances to deserve a win.
LEEDS (A) 1-1
Brentford put on their best and most determined and organised display of the season at promotion favourites Leeds and deserved more than one point. Benrahma lost the ball, tracked back and conceded a late free kick that allowed Leeds to equalise after Mepham was pushed. Leeds felt that Watkins dived before the referee gave Brentford a penalty and Moses Odubajo escaped a blatant second yellow card after tripping an opponent. For their part, Brentford missed too many opportunities and were annoyed at not being given a second penalty after Watkins was dragged back.
BRISTOL CITY (H) 0-1
Thomas Frank lost his first game in charge to a last-gasp goal from the visitors who benefited from the harsh sending off of Chris Mepham for two soft and questionable yellow cards. Brentford were more than decent and Maupay missed a glaring chance early on that would surely have settled nerves. Watkins came within a whisker of giving ten-man Brentford the lead when his rasping shot hit the inside of the post and bounced out rather than in.
PRESTON (A) 3-4
Brentford lacked the suspended Mepham and were forced to play Barbet at centre half as Julian Jeanvier was injured. Poor defending, turning the ball over in dangerous positions, unlucky bounces and deflections and Bentley’s aberration in picking up an obvious back pass gifted Preston a three goal lead within twenty-three minutes and for all their efforts and commitment Brentford were always chasing the game and narrowly fell short.
NORWICH CITY (A) 0-1
Another game of narrow margins with Brentford defending a long straight ball badly to allow Norwich to take the lead. Watkins was penalised harshly for a penalty which Bentley saved right before halftime to keep Brentford in the game. The Bees dominated possession after the break but created little apart from an easy opportunity for Maupay which he blazed onto the crossbar from less than six yards.
Apologies for going into such narrative detail and I suspect I might have lost quite a few of you earlier in this piece but what is crystal clear is how close pretty much every Brentford game has been so far this season, and how many of them might just as easily have gone the other way. Derby are the only team to have outplayed the Bees but even then had Brentford held onto their early lead for longer, rather than take perhaps the most bizarre corner kick that I have ever seen, then who knows what might have happened. Preston too deserved their win because of the unforced errors we made but the defeats against Blackburn Rovers, Bristol City and Norwich City could just have easily brought a return of seven points rather than none. It would also not be unreasonable to suggest that Brentford could and even should have won five of their six drawn games with perhaps Birmingham City the only opposing team who might feel slightly shortchanged by going away with only one point.
By my reckoning then (and I have tried to be as fair and objective as I can) the Bees could and should have gained an additional twelve points over their opening fifteen matches which would now see them sitting proudly at the top of the Championship table rather than languishing in sixteenth place as they currently find themselves. Whilst I am sure most of the other teams in the division might well have similar tales of misfortune to tell, this is hopefully an encouraging thought to keep in mind as we look forward to Saturday’s match.