This is an incredible time to be a Brentford fan – and sometimes it seems like you have to pinch yourself in order to check that you’re not dreaming and that we are not simply imagining what is going on in front of us.
Let’s look back and reflect through a series of bullet points on where we are just over halfway through the season, at a time when the Premier League gives precedence to the FA Cup as January gradually draws to a freezing halt.
- The Bees sit proudly in eighth place in the Premier League within reach of the European qualifying places and – perhaps, just as pertinently – a healthy 13 points clear of the bottom three teams.
- We already have 30 points after 20 games, a points total we did not reach until our 29th game last season on 12th March 2022 against Burnley.
- We are possibly and hopefully on our way to our highest league placing since we finished fifth in the First Division way back in 1936 and then sixth in both of the following two seasons.
- Our last Premier League defeat came at the hands of Aston Villa a whopping eight games and over three months ago, way back in the depths of October.
- Since then, we have won four and drawn four of our last eight Premier League games, beating the likes of Manchester City, West Ham, Liverpool and Bournemouth and drawing with Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Spurs and Leeds.
- Only league leaders Arsenal have won more than our three out of the last five EPL matches.
- The Bees have still not lost a game where they have taken the lead since promotion to the EPL and have won 20 out of the 27 games in which they scored first.
- With two wins and a draw in January could Thomas Frank be in the running for the January Manager of the Month Award?
- Given how hard it is to win any Premier League game, our recent run of three consecutive victories against West Ham, Liverpool and Bournemouth is particularly meritorious.
- Whilst in truth, it was a fairly unremarkable performance on the day, I was particularly pleased with the comfortable home victory against relegation candidates Bournemouth, as this proved we can also win when we are expected to do so rather than winning against the odds, as has often been the case recently.
- Our long-awaited first two away wins came at the Etihad and London Stadiums respectively – certainly not too shabby!
- Brentford have now defeated all of the so-called top teams in the Premier League with the exception of Spurs and Newcastle, and the former must surely have breathed a sigh of relief after barely escaping with a 2-2 draw on Boxing Day.
- The defence has demonstrated a new found solidity with only 7 goals conceded during our current undefeated run with only one in the last four games, with the impeccable David Raya keeping three clean sheets.
- One wonders if the new assistant head coach, Claus Norgaard, has already brought his influence to bear on our defensive organisation as we have not conceded from a set piece since his appointment.
- Our attack has also been potent with fourteen goals scored in the last eight games – contributing to a healthy +4 positive goal difference.
- Only six teams have scored more than Brentford’s current tally of 32 goals in 20 games and we look likely to beat last season’s final total of 48 goals in 38 matches.
- Ivan Toney goes from strength to strength. Rapidly recovering from what looked at the time to be a potentially serious knee injury suffered at West Ham, he has now scored 13 times in 18 Premier League games as well as a further goal in the Carabao Cup. Interestingly enough, he has apparently slightly underperformed on his overall xG figure of 14 goals – but I’m sure we would all settle for how things are!
- With 13 goals and a further three assists, he has been involved in half of the goals scored so far this season by Brentford in the EPL and has already overtaken his total for last season.
- Only Harry Kane, Mo Saleh and Son Heung-Min have scored more than Ivan’s 25 Premier League goals since the start of last season.
- Illan Meslier, Nick Pope, Robert Sanchez and Neto are the four goalkeepers to learn the hard way this season just how good is Toney’s penalty taking technique. Perfection personified!
- We are all obviously deeply concerned at the potential outcome of his outstanding case with the FA over his alleged historical betting activity, however there is some consolation in that the Bees scored five times in the two games against Nottingham Forest and Liverpool in which we were forced to play without him through suspension and injury.
- Wissa, for once playing down the middle, scored in both matches and also had two further efforts disallowed in the memorable win over Liverpool
- My other concern is that Toney continues to pick up cheap yellow cards and is now on 7 bookings – only three away from a further two match ban. That being said the hapless referee on Sunday could not wait to book him for a non-existent offence apparent only to himself.
- I have just described Peter Bankes, who refereed us at Leeds as “hapless” yet I was full of praise for how he handled our recent game against Manchester City where he was absolutely fair and even handed and was not influenced by the crowd or the names on the back of the opposition shirts. Go Figure!
- What is more encouraging is that we almost have a clean bill of health – something that is rare and long overdue. Aaron Hickey and Kristoffer Ajer are now fully recovered with Shandon Baptiste getting some game time with the B Team. The only absentees are Pontus Jansson and Frank Onyeka, both nursing hamstring injuries. The injury came at a bad time for Frank The Tank who was just re-establishing himself in the first team.
- The substitutes’ bench at Leeds was perhaps the strongest in the club’s history, containing six full internationals in Strakosha, Hickey, Zanka, Damsgaard, Wissa and Ghoddos along with three Under 21 internationals in Janelt, Lewis-Potter and Schade.
- This represents incredible and cost-effective recruitment by the club given that they possess what Thomas Frank describes as the second smallest budget in the division. However, given Bournemouth’s recent takeover it is likely that their spending and salaries will soon overtake ours, putting us at the bottom of the pile again.
- A recent survey based on salary showed that Brentford obtain the best value for money in the entire Premier League with an apparent cost per point of £58,392 compared with a massive £261,274 for Chelsea.
- There is still the conundrum over the optimum formation to utilise. Our recent success has been gained almost exclusively using the 3-5-2 formation which seems to suit us so well. As long as the wing backs, Roerslev and Henry continue to drive forward then we still present a potent attacking force.
- Only in the Bournemouth match did we start with a 4-3-3 formation but we changed to 3-5-2 in order to protect the lead, as we had done previously against Brighton in October.
- Interestingly enough we have never had more than 50% possession in every game that we have won this season. We are better without the ball, catching teams on the break and in transition and sometimes struggle, as we did against Gillingham when we dominate possession.
- A loud shout-out in passing to Mads Roerslev, who has taken time to find his feet, but since regaining his place from Hickey and Ajer has developed a new found confidence in himself, performed impeccably recently and represents perhaps the best bargain in our history since we obtained a starting Premier League quality full back for chump change – perhaps as little as around £25,000.
- I firmly believe that Thomas Frank planned for us to play predominantly in a 4-3-3 formation throughout this season except against the strongest teams where we would revert to 3-5-2, however things have not worked out as planned and we often looked defensively vulnerable playing 4-3-3, with 3-5-2 looking far more effective.
- The knock-on effect of playing 3-5-2 has meant less opportunities for the likes of Keane Lewis-Potter, Mikkel Damsgaard, Josh Dasilva and Saman Ghoddos.
- Dasilva has recently looked far sharper, fitter and more confident and is gradually recapturing the form he displayed before his horrific long-term injury.
- Talking of recruitment, mention has to be made of Ben Mee who has taken our defending to a different level given his years of Premier League experience. What a fantastic free agent signing he has turned out to be! The fans love him, with a constant roar of “Meeeeee!” whenever he comes to our rescue as he did recently with an incredible goal line clearance early on in the victory against Liverpool. Pontus Jansson – so consistent last season has barely been missed as Mee and Pinnock alongside either Ajer or Zanka have developed an excellent central defensive partnership.
- Mathias Jensen has also become the fulcrum of the midfield adding relentless pressing and harrying to his undoubted skill on the ball. He is our playmaker and, hard though it is to say, his quality has meant that Christian Eriksen is hardly missed. He has also just extended his contract which is wonderful news.
- The future is also bright with Ryan Trevitt and Yehor Yarmoliuk already blooded in the first team with others such as Crama, Cox and the exciting Olakigbe bubbling under.
- As I speak, we are approaching the end of the January Transfer Window. We did our business early, signing the much-admired Kevin Schade (an Ollie Watkins clone in that he is a speedy winger who we will surely turn into a central striker) initially on loan from SC Freiburg perhaps for fitness issues, for what will ultimately be a club record fee of well over £20 million. All soundings lead me to believe that we are unlikely to sign anyone else this month unless a real bargain presents itself – which seems highly unlikely in January.
- Charlie Goode, Tarique Fosu, Ellery Balcombe, Mads Bech and Paris Maghoma have gone out on loan with Myles Peart-Harris and Lachlan Brook remaining with their current temporary clubs. It seems unlikely that we will be selling anyone.
- As for David Raya, he has made it clear that as things stand, he is unlikely to re-sign for the club which means that given he only has one more year remaining on his contract he will probably be sold, ideally at the end of the season and hopefully we can enjoy the benefits of an auction between the likes of Spurs, Manchester United or Chelsea.
- Only time will tell if Thomas Strakosha is the man to replace him next season. His last audition in the FA Cup recently against West Ham did not go too well as he was at fault for Said Benrahma’s Exocet of a winning goal, but he is a player of proven class and experience who should come good.
- I have glossed over the disappointing 1-0 defeat by West Ham in the Third Round of the FA Cup, a tournament which Thomas Frank wanted to progress in. A weakened team rarely looked like scoring – although, to be fair, neither did our visitors.
- There is an increasing feeling that the time has perhaps come for Sergi Canos to leave the club and return to Spain. It will be a sad day when he does so given how much he exemplifies the spirit and ethos of the club, but having regained his fitness he understandably wants to play regularly.
- And finally, just to further demonstrate that nothing can be taken at face value and that the world is bonkers and has truly turned on its axis, I have just switched on the television and seen the ineffably appalling Philipp Hofmann score twice in the Bundesliga for VfL Bochum against Hertha Berlin!