The London Connection

I was back in London again this weekend and after the incredible game served up by Brentford the last time I visited, for Liverpool’s visit, I couldn’t resist heading back there to see how the Bees dealt with the visit of another title favourite. On a weekend of derbies across the football pyramid with Swansea vs Cardiff and West Brom vs Birmingham it was only fitting that my return to Brentford was for their London derby against Chelsea. As derbies tend to be cagier games with both teams setting out not to lose to their rivals I wasn’t expecting an attacking game at all. My expectations were subverted. Given the position of the teams heading into the weekend I should’ve known it would be a good attacking game. Brentford were 7th with Chelsea leading the way.

Having been to the stadium before and thus knowing what to expect I was a lot calmer than I have been pre-match for a long time. The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric once again though, bees fans are intent on enjoying seeing their team in the EPL for as long as they can. This party atmosphere amongst the bees fans may also have had something to do with the fact that this game signified Thomas Frank’s 3rd anniversary as bees manager.

The amount that Mr Frank has achieved at Brentford since taking over from Dean Smith is certainly impressive. He has got Brentford promoted back into the big time for the first time since 1947 and he has done this with a club that has a high squad turnover and a tradition of bringing in players from lower divisions and making them better. Ivan Toney being a prime example of this, bought from Peterborough United last summer his goals fired Brentford to promotion and he has continued this form in the EPL.

Mr Frank has also fostered a deep connection between the team and their supporters, his programme notes for this game ended by thanking the fans for their contribution to the incredible comeback against Liverpool. In those notes he also talked about the fan’s passion turning the Brentford Community Stadium into a fortress, I have no doubt that is possible but most fortresses have cooler names. The current name does show Brentford’s ambition to become a true focal point for the local community though and with many other clubs drifting further from there fans this ambition is a refreshing one from a club going places.

One last quick word on the programme . At the back is an editorial by ex-bee Ben Burgess called ‘The Last Word’ that is always worth a read. For this game it focused on the belief you need to achieve things and Brentford certainly aren’t lacking in that belief.

The game set off at the same mad pace as on Liverpool’s visit 3 weeks before, albeit with slightly less skill on show from the visitors. It only took 15 seconds for the first chance of the match when a weak backpass from Trevoh Chalobah almost let Ivan Toney in to put the hosts ahead, but Mendy got across just in time to clear and spoil things for the home supporters.

Chelsea then almost went ahead themselves in the 7th minute as a rare mistake from Raya almost resulted in a own goal and a very embarrassing moment for the in-form bees keeper. Luckily for him he was able to recover in time to clear the ball and save his blushes. He has been in inspired form so far this season and bees fans will hope this was just a one off moment for their beloved keeper.

The rest of the first half continued in similar end-to-end fashion, but unfortunately my enjoyment of this excellent spectacle of footballing talent was spoilt somewhat by the questionable decision being made by the ref throughout. The ref chosen for the game was not a man the Chelsea fans liked at all and they showed this by chanting “you’ll always be a c***” at him every time he gave any decisions against them. Perhaps understandably he didn’t give decisions against them often though, with the first freekick against them not being given till the 18th minute when Kovacic took out Jensen on the touchline to cut out a bees counter attack. He received a yellow card for this which sent the Chelsea fans berserk with rage. The ref’s perceived leniency towards the visitors up till this point had already made the bees fans ask “can we have a referee” 3 minutes earlier. The ref was in a terrible position whatever he did in this game, but his performance lost him any respect he had with either set of fans going into the match.

Both sides had chances to score throughout the half, with Brentford’s Mbuemo hitting the post in the 22nd minute from point blank range. Chelsea went straight up the other end and thought they’d opened the scoring only for it to be ruled out for offside. 5 minutes later the visitors had a freekick deflected onto the roof of the net.

With N’golo Kante almost scored twice in a single minute. First he came inches away from connecting with a brilliant through ball only for Raja to pinch it off his toes, then he skied a chance from just inside the box from the next Chelsea attack.

Chelsea ruined the hosts day when they took the lead they probably just about deserved right before half time. They had a chance cleared off the line by Rico Henry in the 44th minute, but they came right back at Brentford and Ben Chilwell was able to slide the ball in from close range. Thanks go to the stadium announcer for the scorer of the goal as I couldn’t actually see who had scored from the other end of the ground.

This was a body blow to the Bees right before half time and it showed at the start of the second half as they lagged far behind the pace in the early part of the second period.
It took till just before the hour mark for the Bees to begin to regain a foothold in the match.

The only things I made any notes about in this period though were a couple of incidents that the ref seemed to miss. First in the 58th minute when Brentford were on the break and Sergi Canos was cleared out on the wing by a hard tackle and then in the 60th minute when Ivan Toney was pulled back by the neck of his shirt in the penalty area. Nothing was given for either of these incidents. This seemed unbelievable to me at the time, particularly for the foul on Toney.

As the Bees refused to go away in the second half and the tension around the ground increased Mr. Frank made a gutsy decision that could have disastrously backfired, he went for it. He took off Frank Onyeka, a midfielder, for Marcus Forss, a striker, in the 67th minute.
A move like this from a manager is a show of strength and huge belief in his team, not to be happy with a narrow loss to a title favourite shows just how much belief there is at Brentford this season and why teams are having such a hard time so far against them.

Shortly after this is seemed as though the gamble had backfired as Chelsea got through the home defence and Lukaku was left with no defenders near him just 6 yards in the centre of the goal. The relief from the Brentford fans when his shot went sailing over the bar was palpable.

That scare behind them Brentford made another attacking substitution in the 73rd minute as Mr. Frank took off Sergi Canos, who had been playing at RB, and bought on Saman Ghoddos, another striker, in his place. This meant Brentford now had 3 out and out strikers on the pitch despite being 1-0 behind against Chelsea. I doubt many other teams will make the same call in similar situations this season.

Just 2 minutes after these substitutions it looked as though they had paid off with Mbeumo finding himself clean through in the penalty area with just the keeper and the post to beat. He beat the keeper, but not the post.

For the rest of the game Brentford laid siege to the Chelsea goal and it seemed like the equaliser would only be a matter of time. Brentford had shots cleared off the line in both the 84th and 86th minutes, but both times they didn’t let the disappointment of failing to score break them. They simply won the ball back and surged forward again searching for that elusive equaliser.

By this point Chelsea were really hanging on and resorted to the tries and tested game-management trick of time-wasting. Whenever they had the ball they decided not to attack and instead just keep possession in their own half or attempt to draw a foul from Brentford to win a freekick that they could then eat up more time taking. It’s a very effective tactic, but not at all satisfying to watch from a fan’s perspective.

Brentford had one last chance to equalise in the four minutes added on at the end of the 90. From their own cornet the ball broke in the air and Christian Norgaard met it with a delicious bicycle kick that look to be sailing into the top corner of the goal, right on the postage stamp. It was not to be. Edouard Mendy in the Chelsea goal leapt to his left to keep it out with a spectacular fingertip save. It was an incredible display of skill from both players, but ultimately the score remained at 0-1 and the whistle went for the end of the match a minute later.

Chelsea return to the top of the table and from what I saw at the game they have a real shot at the title this season. Their ability to perform under pressure and hold on for the result is something all title-winning teams need to have. Brentford fans can also take heart from the match though. The way their team fought till the end to try and take something from the match against the table toppers shows that they have the character they will need to get results throughout the season.

The next blog will be coming to you from West Yorkshire as I head to a midweek championship game between Huddersfield Town and Birmingham City. I look forward to what Yorkshire has in store for me.