Saturday 23 April 2022: Brentford Community Stadium: EPL: Brentford vs Tottenham Hotspur
So for St. George’s day weekend and with no luck in getting a ticket to the Merseyside Derby, I went back to London instead and returned to church. I went back to Brentford and wow was it nice to be back watching my team in their home stadium. There is just something indescribably awesome about seeing the team you support play at home. It’s a feeling that every football supporter has felt, but to explain it to someone who has never felt it would take a linguist of Keats, Tennyson or Austen. I am not them, so all I can say is that just remembering that feeling is making me punch the air days later.
The main reason I was able to justify the travel and expense of a day trip to London was the knowledge that what I was going to see was the first time Christian Eriksen was up against Tottenham Hotspur since leaving for Inter Milan. He would also be facing his Inter manager Antonio Conte. With all this emotional weight hanging over the match for Eriksen I was nervous to see how he and his new team, the Bees would hold up for the match.
There was less emotional weight hanging over Eriksen’s first match against his ex-employers than there could have been though. Brentford visited White Hart Lane on 2nd December, just over a month before signing Eriksen, so at least he would not have his memories of playing at that ground hanging over him as well. The Bees lost that match 2-0 to a Canos own goal and a Son Heung-Min finish, so I was hoping that the addition of Eriksen would cause a change in the outcome this time round.
He has certainly had a galvanising effect on Brentford’s form since he came in. They were having a dreadful time and had only won a single league game across December and January, a 2-1 comeback win against Steven Gerrard’s Villa at home. At that point they were looking tentatively over their shoulder at the rapidly advancing relegation zone, but since Eriksen has started playing full games for the team they have turned things around.
The Bees started the day in an incredible 12th place with a feasible chance of ending the season with a top half finish. They are also in some seriously impressive form having won 5 of their last 6 matches since the start of March, including that jaw-dropping demolition of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. If you had told Bees fans at the beginning of the season that they would have a yawning chasm of 11 points separating them from the drop zone with 5 games to go they would have bitten your arm off. So for that to actually be where they find themselves, almost guaranteed another season in the top and with just a 2 point gap to 9th place, is insane.
Spurs, their opponents for today’s match, find themselves clawing for results to get them over the line in the fight for 4th. That’s the place they started the day in but a win at home for their North London rivals in the early kick off, 3-1 against Man U, saw them drop into 5th by the time this match got underway. They were only in 5th on goal difference though, so a big win here or even a draw would see them back in the top 4 by the end of the day.
The biggest problem holding Spurs back from already having 4th under lock and key is an alarming lack of consistency in both performances and results. To call their league results since the start of March a mixed bag would be kind in the extreme as it includes both huge 5-0, 5-1 and 4-0 wins, against Everton (H), Newcastle (H) and Aston Villa (A) respectively, as well as Brighton beating them 1-0 at the Amex and a 3-2 loss to Man U (A) that saw them equalise twice before losing to a Ronaldo hat-trick completed in the 81st minute. The result of this match rests on the question of which Spurs team turns up today.
Fans of Spurs could really do with it being the huge wins kind as their next 3 fixtures see them hosting Leicester City, before heading to Anfield then finishing off with the North London derby on home turf. With those matches all looking difficult to take maximum points from Antonio Conte will be looking at this match against a newly promoted team as an easy 3 points to shore up their tilt at the top 4. Sure they have Burnley (A) and Norwich (H) as their final 2 matches but without a result today they may well be out of the top 4 picture before they get to those.
Before travelling to this match I did a quick check on the injuries effecting each team and found that those lists are long for everyone here. The hosts are without: Ethan Pinnock, Zanka, Sergi Canos, Frank Onyeka, Kristoffer Ajer and Christian Norgaard for this match through injury. Whilst the list for the visitors isn’t as long it did include Matt Docherty, Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga. Slightly better news for the visitors was to come though as both Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura were fit enough for the bench for this one as they continue their personal returns from injury.
Travelling to the match proved to be far easier said than done however .Having taken an early train to London I decided to take the time to visit Westminster Abbey before heading to the stadium for the 5:30pm kick off. Even so I gave myself 2 and a half hours to travel from St. James’ Park down to South Ealing and get the bus from there to the ground. This turned out to be an excellent call as I nearly required all of it to make kick off.
What I thought would be a simple District train to Hammersmith, where I would change for the Piccadilly to South Ealing, turned into a nightmare when it was announced that the District line was delayed in my direction. I lost track of the trains that went the other way before the Danish bees fans I had been talking too decided to rage quit the tube and grab a taxi to the ground. They offered me a seat in the taxi and I really should have taken it.
Instead I grabbed a District line train towards Westminster, where it was announced that the District line going the direction I originally needed had been suspended due to a faulty train. I hope they got that announcement at St. James’ Park too. From Westminster I took the Jubilee line one stop north to Green Park before joining the Pic from there and surfing it all the way to South Ealing. Thankfully the bus from that station was running with maximum efficiency and I got to the ground with 15 minutes still to go before kick off.
Whilst on the bus ride I couldn’t resist checking the team sheets for the match on my phone and saw to my delight that there had been no last minute problems for Eriksen and he would indeed be lining up for the Bees against his ex-employers. The rest of the home team was as follows: David Raya; Rico Henry, Pontus Jansson (c), Mads Bech, Mads Roerslev; Mathias Jensen, Vitaly Janelt; Saman Ghoddos, Bryan Mbeumo, Ivan Toney.
Lining up against them for Spurs were: Hugo Lloris (c), Ben Davies, Rodrigo Bentancur, Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Emerson Royal, Ryan Sessegnon, Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane.
This was all easy to note down on my programme, bought on my was from bus to turnstile, due to the awesome design of it’s back cover. Each players name has boxes next to it for: Starting, Substitute, Yellow Card, Red Card and Goal. This is insanely useful for my purposes and for anyone else looking to create a tangible memento of their experience, I only wish other teams did such a great job on their programmes.
The only problem I had was that the tradition of players that aren’t on the programme being included in the matchday squad returned. This time it was 2 of the Spurs substitutes who had been omitted from the list and for fans of Cluedo they share their surnames with two of the playable female characters in that game, White and Scarlett. Neither Harvey White (20, midfielder) nor Dane Scarlett (18, forward) had made their debut for Spurs yet so I’m sure both would be hoping to get off the bench today. Only time would tell if they managed to or not though.
By the evidence of their teammates warm-up Dane Scarlett in particular had a strong case that his talents may be needed. I don’t recall any of the Spurs strikers managed to score during their shooting practice at the end of the warm-up with them either missing the target by miles of seeing their shots catapult back towards them off the posts. Perhaps this was just their way of getting all the bad luck out before kick off though.
As the teams were announced on the stadium tannoy with 5 minutes to go before the match got underway it was an awesome touch of class to hear a deafening round of applause from all corners of the ground as Eriksen’s name was announced. He may be playing against them today but Spurs’ fans clearly still have a lot of respect for him and really want him to re-join their club for next season. As a Bees fan though all I can say is that there is not one Bees supporter who wants to see you leave Mr. Eriksen, so please don’t.
I finished my hot dog before kick off, bought from a kiosk other than ‘The Griffin’ as Brentford finally sort out their food options, and settled in for the match. One that was started under clouds of tense silence in the home stands and a party of the away fans singing chants for Eriksen that they had perfected during his time with their club. I just hoped that the action on the pitch would force a switch in the stand dynamics as the hosts got thing underway.
The view of the ground from my seat, you can just make out the Spurs’ fans away to my left
With the vocal backing of the away contingent in the stands it was perhaps unsurprising that Spurs were on the attack from kick-off. Son Heung-Min was fed a ball down the right channel in just the second minute, but Rico Henry was paying attention to the threat and managed to get across to block Son’s route to goal. It looked like the first battle of the day was only seconds away, till the linesman’s flag intervened and robbed us of this tantalising spectacle.
This was just the first attack in an opening half that was played at 1,000mph. Whilst this was a joy for the purist inside me to witness it did cause some issues with making notes of everything I was seeing, as every time I looked down to make notes I risked missing some insane action on the pitch. A minor complaint about a match that was a joy to watch, exhibition football for the purist, a lovely personal reward after the awful spectacles I have sat through at other recent matches.
The Bees took that Son chance as motivation to grab the match by the scruff of the neck and push forward. First Jansson nabbed the ball high in the midfield and plays a slide rule through the Spurs defence intended for Mbeumo to turn home. Unfortunately the ball ran to the right side of Mbeumo where a Spurs defender was able to reach it and clear. If the ball had been to Mbeumo’s left he would have been clean through on goal, but alas this was not to be. Just a minute later the ball was back at Mbeumo’s feet on the edge of the box, having fallen to him when a teammate was fouled whilst cutting in from the right touchline, he let fly and missed the right hand post by miles and so the first 5 minutes of the match came to an end.
This was not the end of the Bees early pressure on their visitors goal though as they secured back to back corners in the 6th minute. Both of these were taken by the man of the moment, Eriksen, and the applause that went up from the away end as he took the corners from directly beneath their stand nearly crushed my ear drums. As for the corners themselves, they were both easily cleared upfield by Spurs, though the second clearance came after the ball appeared to strike a defender’s hand. The ref waved away all protests for a penalty though and in truth it would’ve been a harsh one to give as the ball was volleyed towards him at pace from just a yard away, giving him no chance to get his hands out of the way.
In the 8th minute Janelt sprayed a beautiful 40 yard crossfield ball up to Rico on the Bees right, but Rico lost the ball as he attempted to advance into the box. Having lost the ball the Bees right-back then raced back to cut out a ball through to Kane in the right hand channel. This incredible defensive effort from Rico was to typify the defences of both teams for the rest of the match.
The first chance for Spurs to show this mentality came in the 10th minute when Hugo Lloris managed an Ederson, losing control of the ball yards from his own goal he recovered just in time to slice the ball clear and away from a charging Mbeumo. This near miss for Spurs put me in mind of Zack Steffen’s mistake that gifted Liverpool a goal in the FA Cup semi-final and I’m certain that Lloris is glad not to add his name to the list of goalkeeping howlers through the years.
Spurs threatened again in the 12th minute when they end up earning a corner on the right, but Son sends it high over the heads of everyone in the box where it was poked out for a throw to Spurs on the left. This throw was worked into a crossing position only for the resultant cross to be blocked behind by Mads Bech for a corner to the visitors from the other side. In an attempt to correct for the high corner from the other side a few minutes earlier Spurs tried a driven corner low into the box, but it fails to beat the first man and is easily cleared upfield.
It took until the 16th minute for the Bees to get their first corner of the match and it came through a mistake from the visitor’s Romero. He failed to keep a goalkick in play on the right and from the throw Ghoddos was able to whip in the cross that was headed behind for the corner. From this corner Toney powers a header towards goal from the penalty spot that looks to be breaking the deadlock until Lloris springs from nowhere to get his hand to it and push it out from under the bar. No doubting that it was an incredible save from Lloris, but he hurt himself in the process of making it and there was a short break in play whilst he was tended too by the physios before he was able to continue.
Brentford secured another corner in the 19th minute and for this one they broke out a training ground routine. This meant taking the corner short though and made it easy for Spurs to set themselves up for the eventual cross and clear the ball without breaking a sweat. As such the Bees tried upping the tempo when they attacked again in the 21st minute. A quick throw by Toney unleashed Rico into space on the left but, unable to whip a cross into the box, his return ball to Toney was cut out and turned behind for another Bees corner.
For this one Bees reverted to type and chucked a ball straight into the mixer. It found Toney unmarked at the back post but his volley across the 6 yard box was unable to find the tap home that it required and Spurs were able to shepard the ball behind for another corner for the hosts. This one was floated to the edge of the box, but without the normal pace on it Dier was able to get to it and connect decisively to send the ball sailing away to half way.
The 25th minute arrived and this was the cue Eriksen needed to create his first incredible skill of the match. He fired a ball through the Spurs lines on the right to set Toney running free but his slide back to Mbuemo was cut out by the Spurs defence and chalk up another corner for Brentford. This one was punched off the top of Mbuemo’s head by Lloris and set the visitors on the attack.
This was an attack that resulted in the first free-kick of the match when Kulusevki lost his footing 20 yards from goal. The ref reckoned he saw a push by Jensen and since his call is the only one that counts everyone else just had to go with it. Justice was served when the free kick was set ballooning over the bar and the gap was one you can fit the shard into, but at least it was a nugget of success for the visitors and gave their fans something to hold onto during an extended period of Bees pressure.
At the half-hour mark the hosts had another chance to break the deadlock when Rico ripped the ball free in midfield. He fed Eriksen whose brilliant ball over the top landed to Mbeumo’s right when, once again, his left hand side was where the opportunity to guide it home was.
Spurs almost punished their hosts for messing this one up just 3 minutes later, in the 33rd minute, when Son drove through the middle before sliding the ball left for a cross to be fired across the box. That cross evades everyone in the 6 yard box and runs out for a Bees throw on the far side but it served as a reminder to everyone in the stadium that Spurs were determined to make a match of this one.
Further proof of this was provided by Kane in the 39th minute as he tried to chip Raya from the far right corner of the box. The ball sailed harmlessly into Raya’s arms after he scrambled to recover his position in time.
Eriksen was just as determined to turn the game in the Bees favour however and he had two gilt-edged chances to do so in back to back minutes in mid-thirties. In the 35th minute he sprayed a gorgeous ball down the right channel from halfway line that dropped on the open left-side of Mbeumo. This time though Mbeumo was unable to sort his feet out and get the shot away on goal before a defender can hack it clear. Only as clear as a throw half way into their own half though and Eriksen sends the ball straight back into the area. He sprays it down the left channel this time but got a little too much on his pass and a Toney on his heels was unable to make up the ground for a simple tap-in.
The flow of the game had been helped immensely upto this point of the match by the man in the middle letting everything go, but this immense clemency came to an end in the 43rd minute. Rico Henry and Emerson Royal engaged in a 50/50 as Royal charged forward with the ball at his feet. The ref gave Royal the benefit of the doubt and Spurs had the first freekick in a long time. It came to nothing and a minute later Brentford had one of their own when Mbeumo was bought in the centre circle, but this also came to nothing. Even for these offences the ref refused to reach into his pocket.
We were only provided with a single minute of added time at the end of this pulsating half and I headed to the concourse for half-time wishing that there had been even more to enjoy. I spent half-time talking to my uncle and cousins, seated in their normal spot further down the stand and my uncle was not wrong when he told me that “this is the best I’ve seen the Bees play”. Guilt washed over me like a tidal wave though when I realised that he had got me the ticket to watch the Bees rip Chelsea apart and been unable to find one for himself too.
There were no changes at half-time from either team and after a quick discussion with a steward about the book I had with me, Stanley Matthews autobiography, the second half got underway. From kick-off Spurs went straight on the attack as Ryan Sessegnon surged down the right wing before putting his cross on a plate for a teammate rushing into the box. Volleying the ball when approaching at speed proved to be more difficult than expected though and the ball sailed harmlessly wide of the mark.
Dejan Kulusevski looked to clear in the box with just Raya to beat in the 48th minute before a supremely late flag from the linesman pulled things back. This was the start of a hectic 6 minutes where the match cranked up to 2,000mph and I couldn’t dare to look down to take notes. As such most of what I noted down in this period is garbled nonsense that I can’t decipher. What I did make sense of though was that a Spurs freekick from halfway made it’s way to Kane in the box, but his shot was deflected over the bar. The corner was cleared but Spurs came roaring back only for their cross to be cleared at the back post by Mbeumo.
This resulted in a Spurs corner on the right that was played short before being whipped into the box by Royal. It was headed straight back where it came from only for another cross to come whizzing in. This one was headed behind for a Spurs corner that was thumped clear by the Bees defence to finally break the siege for 60 seconds of much needed respite.
That respite expired in the 65th minute as Spurs came again as they looked to break through the resolute Bees defence and force the ball home. Kane, Kulusevki and Rodrigo Bentancur all flashed in volleys in quick succession but they were all blocked and then cleared out for the next man to take his crack at it. The last of these clearances broke instead to Son on the right wing but again his cross was too high, though this time it went out for a goal kick instead of a corner.
Brentford had their first attack in a long time in the 57th minute as Mbeumo collected the ball from a corner and drove into the box. His shot caused pinball in the area but there was no-one in red and white that could turn it home and it was eventually cleared. The hosts were buoyed by this as they attempted a training ground routine from a stonewall freekick as the match reached the hour mark. This came to nought but having the confidence to try such things reflected the confidence now flowing through the hosts as they regained the upper hand in the match.
The ref had still not dipped into his pocket for a card all match and he continued this streak in the 62nd minute as Toney was felled 25 yards from goal. Eriksen and Mbeumo stood over the ball, but it was Eriksen who struck it… straight into the wall and had to watch it bounce downfield to set Spurs on the attack. Sessegnon advanced down the right and then goes to cross the ball only to slap it over the bar
Play then surged the other way as Janelt let rip from 20 yards out only to see his shot deflected inches wide of the left post. The corner landed on the head of Jansson just 10 yards out and he directed the ball goalward, but saw it headed off the line by a well placed Spurs defender. The follow up from point blank range was strong armed round the post by Lloris, who then set the visitors on a break that was stopped by a Jansson foul that earnt him the first card of the match.
There was no let-up in the action on the pitch as the match entered it’s final 20 minutes. Son cut inside from the left and whipped a shot straight down the goalkeepers throat, which resulted in a clash of heads between Toney and a Spurs man that left the Bees player down for a while receiving treatment. Both were able to continue after treatment, but whilst they were being treated the fans had our first chance to draw breath in the half. The spectacle of attacking football that both teams were treating us too was awesome and the more games that I see like this the happier a Man I’ll be.
Sessegnon had been rather subdued in recent minutes as he came up against Ghoddos again and again, never managing to gain the upper hand. This was enough to convince Antonio Conte to make his first substitution of the match he sent on Davinson Sanchez in place of Sessegnon to pose a new challenge on the Spurs left and hopefully find a way through the deadlock.
For Brentford there was another such one-sided match up as Jensen was clearly struggling and able to be beaten with alarming regularity by Ben Davies as the match progressed through it’s seventies. Thomas Frank responded to this not just by replacing Jensen with Josh DaSilva, but also took the opportunity to change the Bees formation to 4-2-4 by replacing Ghoddos with with Yoane Wissa. This second substitution was made necessary the minute before it happened and the change in formation that it resulting in led to some very strange things occurring. The strangest of which was that Mbeumo dropped into the right back position when Spurs had the ball. This seemed crazy to me, but with complete faith in Mr. Frank’s reasoning behind this I was looking forward to seeing it work.
These changes from both teams and the late time that had been reached in the match led to an even more open contest breaking out. The 84th minute saw an Eriksen free kick bounce of the back on an oblivious Toney’s head and set Spurs on the break only for it to break down and Brentford to break themselves. What we were missing though, the only thing missing from the match, was the breakthrough goal that would win it for whichever team secured it.
This elusive winner appeared to have arrived in the penultimate minute as Raya set Brentford on the attack, having pouched a Son free kick from the right. Rico was sprinting free on the right and looking to curl in a cross when he was brought down for a free kick to the bees on the edge of the area. Eriksen whipped it in and it was headed down into towards the bottom right corner of the net from 8 yards out. Watching on from the far end I thought it was in, as did everyone around me, but as I looked to the ref to signal the goal and started to celebrate I noticed that Spurs were breaking downfield and my joy turned to ashes in my mouth. I still haven’t the feintest clue who kept it out or how, the only thing I know is that it was not a goal and the match remained at 0-0.
Kane had one final chance to win it for the visitors in the 3 minutes added to the end of the 90, but his scissor volley on the turn flew agonisingly wide of the right hand post, having flashed it’s way across Raya’s body. It would have been a goal worthy of winning a glorious encounter that, in truth, neither team deserved to lose. When the ref blew his whistle for full time I was in shock that such an incredible match had somehow managed to end goalless, but somehow it had.
This match was the most entertaining match I have been too since Stamford bridge and certainly the best match that I have been too which failed to provide either side with a goal. I was so engrossed in what I was witnessing on the pitch that it wasn’t till I was making my way out of the stadium that I noticed that my seat had been furnished with arm rests to either side of it the whole time.
I stayed long enough after the final whistle to watch the Bees player make their lap of honour and receive the rapturous appreciation of the home fans for the effort they had put in across the 90 minutes. The team tends to head round the four sides of the ground as one cohesive group, but today that was not the case. Eriksen was being so adoringly cheered by the away end that he was compelled to head across to them. Whilst over with the Spurs fans Eriksen signed an old replica Spurs shirt with his name on that one of the fans had brought with them to the match.
The Spurs supporters were incredibly gracious in their support of Eriksen at every opportunity they had and it was awesome to see such class acts from them all. Speaking as a Bees fan though, I hope Eriksen remains their ex and with Brentford for many seasons to come. You’re amazing Christian and we want you to stay with Brentford.
As the end of the season approaches in the lower leagues of English football my next 2 blogs will come from matches in Leagues 1 and 2 respectively. League 1 brings it’s season to a close with the 12:30 kick off’s on Saturday and I’m heading to one of the few which carriers significance for the promotion picture. Find out which one it is in my next blog.
The Football tourist 