Brentford vs Arsenal: Wednesday 27th September 2023: League Cup: Gtech Community Stadium
So in the middle of a dreadful week for the Bees I finally made my return to the stands, but watching my injury ravaged heroes gift the high flying gunners one of the softest goals imaginable was not quite how I’d pictured the match going.
Particularly as Arsenal were also dealing with an injury list as long as a giraffe’s neck. There situation was so bad that they turned to a 19-year old debutant, Sagoe Jr. , to lead the line for this league cup showdown. Or Arteta knew how easy his team would have it in the first half.
Brentford barely laid a glove on their assailants as the Gunners swarmed all over their hosts, barely giving them a kick all half. The main surprises of such a one-sided 45 minutes were that it took Arsenal 8 full minutes to open their account and that they failed to increase their lead before the break.
The visitor’s failure to lead more than 1-0 at half-time was made even more surprising given quite how their opener came about.
The Bees were dithering on the ball in midfield and a weak pass back to Pinnock was pounced on by Eddie Nketiah who was able to advance unimpeded to the edge of the box. From there he laid it off to Reiss Nelson to stroke home from 15 yards out.
None of the home players were able to read what was happening or get across to cover, giving Nelson all the time in the world to pick his spot.
When I checked the stats at half-time it was exceedingly disheartening to see that the hosts had failed to register a shot on target. Their whole half was succinctly summed up in the 37th minute when a Flekken goal kick, aimed for an unmarked Yoane Wissa, soars over it’s target and out for an Arsenal throw-in.
In fairness to my beloved Bees they came out swinging for the second half and forced the visitors onto the back foot. The contrast with the utterly insipid first-half performance was as stark as the difference between a midsummer Saharan day and an everlasting polar night.
Arsenal were being so overrun in midfield that Arteta was forced to drag the big guns off the bench. Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard were all introduced in the second half as the visitors struggled to stem the tide of chances raining down on them as the free-flowing hosts threw the entire kitchen into dragging themselves level.
In spite of this herculean effort the hosts were unable to smuggle the ball past Aaron Ramsdale, though Wissa came close, and they slumped out of the cup thanks to their own mistakes.
The amount of chances Brentford produced in the second half was truly brilliant, but their finishing far less so. Wissa showed the most promise of the team’s current strikers, with Mbuemo not even managing his traditional woodwork bonanza to keep the home fans on the edge of our seats.
Whilst the despicable defending of the first half shows just how much the Bees are struggling to replace the departed duo of David Raya and Pontus Jansson, whilst also compensating for the loss of the talismanic Rico Henry to injury, it was the gaping hole left in their attacking line by the banned Ivan Toney that was on full display in the second half.
Unless the return of the prodigal Neil Maupay, who came on for the final fifteen of the draw against 10-man Nottingham Forest, hoovers up a ton of goals between now and Christmas, my beloved Bees could be deep in a hole that even Ivan Toney can’t pull us out of once he returns in January.
Whatever happens over the rest of the season it has been a dreadful start to the season for Brentford, the only bright moment of which has been the derby victory at Craven Cottage.
It’s comforting to know that no matter how bad our form and abysmal our performances may be, we can still defeat the Cottagers in their own home.
The Football tourist 