So that’s it then England are through to the Quarter Finals of the World Cup after beating Senegal 3-0, to set up a showdown with defending champions France in 6 days’ time. Except it wasn’t quite that easy for the Three Lions as Senegal came storming out of the traps and were dominant in the match for the first 35 minutes.
There were multiple times during the opening half-hour when Senegal carved the English backline open with distressing ease. Maguire and Stones both seemed a touch overawed by the occasion in these early exchanges, and it was only down to a mix of Senegalese aim being fixed on row Z and a couple of outstanding Pickford saves that parity remained intact.
Having safely weathered the opening storm from the African champions, it was time for the Three Lions to get down to what they do best, scoring goals and destroying teams. The English opener came in the 38th minute when a splendid through ball from Harry Kane set Jude Bellingham free down the left channel. He expertly cut the ball back behind the recovering defenders and into the path of the onrushing Jordan Henderson, for the midfield maestro to sweep past Mendy’s outstretched hand and into the back of the net.
Breaking the deadlock with such a fantastically free-flowing move cut the shackles from English feet and the pride began to roar. For the nine minutes they had between taking the lead and the half-time whistle blowing they poured forward and peppered the goal with a barrage of chances.
It was no surprise to see England double their lead before the break and their second came from another tremendous team move. Bellingham latched onto a ball that broke free on the edge of the England box and drove to halfway with the ball stuck to his boots. On reaching halfway and with the majority of the Senegal team still camped in the England half he sprayed the ball left to Foden whose first-time flick wrong-footed the only Senegal player within 30 yards and fell to the feet of England’s number nine.
Kane was bearing down on goal with only Mendy to beat and, with the freedom of the Savanna’s to pick his spot, he stroked the ball over the keeper’s prostrate body to double England’s lead. From the personal perspective Kane will be happy to open his account for the tournament, becoming the eighth England player to do so.
Senegal’s players were thankful for the respite offered by half-time but their manager, Aliou Cisse, was not thankful for their performance and made a triple substitution during the break in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding and provide his team with a way back into the contest. It didn’t work out as he hoped though as England came roaring out of the traps after the restart.
England dominated the play in the early parts of the second half and all that was in doubt in the match at this point was how long it would be till they added to their lead. It took them a full dozen minutes from the second kick-off for the boys to find their third goal.
The ball broke to Foden on the right, after Kane’s progress was cut short by a well-timed tackle, and he powered forward before curving the ball exquisitely across the box to Saka. The finish applied was equally beautiful, just a deft flick of the ball to get it off the ground and over the advancing keeper’s flailing arms.
Shortly after this both Saka and Foden were removed from the action to save their legs for the upcoming quarter-final against France, the defending champions, that their brilliant interplay had made secure. They were replaced by Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish – if ever there was a display of the strength of our bench this was it.
Bellingham and Henderson, who had combined for the opener, were also taken off soon after as Southgate’s attention turns to the next round, and the heartening thing was that England’s performance level barely dropped.
That consistency and the fact that our 12 goals in this tournament have been supplied by 8 separate individuals leaves me believing that we should be capable of getting the result we want against France on Saturday. Yes they have their weapons, and our defence hasn’t looked impregnable, but Iran are the only team to score against us so far in the tournament so what’s to say we can’t turn those weapons into blunt facsimiles of the real thing?
Also, we have only failed to score in the game against the Americans in a game where we looked like we had lost our way, like a rambler in the peak district, but we have got our compass working again now. Having defeated the African champions so comprehensively I’m excited to see what we can do against the defending World Champions.
Bring On France!
A Group Stage Retrospective
As the World Cup group stage draws to a close, I can’t help but look forward to the last-16 and England’s chances of advancing all the way through the knockout stages. First though I want to take a quick look back at the group stage to see how each team performed.
I could go straight to the abysmal showing, for the second World Cup in a row, from the Germans or stop off at the humiliation of the Belgians, but instead I’m just going to go group by group with a couple of sentences to sum up each team’s performance.
Group A
Netherlands – Back at a World Cup again having missed out on qualifying for 2018 they will be pleased to top a group with a couple of possible banana skins. Sure, Qatar were an easy win in their final group match but beating Senegal (AFCON champs) 2-0 is nothing to be scoffed at. Drawing with Ecuador was just a minor hiccough on their way to the knockouts and they will hope that is their awful game out of the way.
Senegal – Done well off the back of their AFCON victory, even without their talisman Sadio Mane. Their best player being out of action due to injury would cripple many teams but, a slow start against the Dutch accepted, it didn’t affect Senegal at all. How they cope without him in the pressure-cooker of knockout football will go a long way to determining how far they progress.
Ecuador – Traditionally the weakest of the South American teams at the tournament but when your competition is Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay (all former winners) that isn’t an awful distinction to have. Would have qualified if they had better back-up for Enner Valencia up front.
Qatar – The worst hosts in history and it was no surprise when they were the first team knocked out of the competition. They will have to improve immensely and quickly to have any hope of qualifying for a future World Cup on merit
Group B
England – Dropped in the group of death on paper, with all the teams in the World’s top 20 of FIFA’s rankings, but made a mockery of that moniker by dominating the majority of the matches they played in. To open with a 6-2 demolition of Iran that included virtuoso performances from 19year-old Jude Bellingham and 21year-old Bukayo Saka was always going to be difficult to follow up and so it proved with a tepid performance against the USA. The Three Lions were back to their roaring best in the second half against Wales though and with the quality of the bench they are well placed to make a deep run into the tournament’s later stages.
USA – Just the 2 goals in 3 group games off the back of abysmal finishing in each of the matches leaves question marks over their ability to progress farther than the round of 16. Further doubts are thrown on their hopes by their inability to finish off Wales having taken the lead in that game. A failure to finish teams off is balanced out by a robust defence that have only conceded once so far.
Iran – Recovered really well from their opening defeat to give themselves an excellent chance of progressing with a 2-0 win over Wales. The character shown by that turn around was admirable but losing to a goal-shy American team shows that they simply don’t have the quality to compete at this level with the players they currently have.
Wales – Their return to the World Cup for the first time since 1958 clearly hasn’t gone the way they may have hoped, but one goal in 3 games was never going to be enough. Failing to build on snatching a draw from their opening match against a team that had just been hit for 6 was the full coffin and its final nail for their chances of progressing. With their golden generation now ageing and the lack of viable replacements coming though they’re likely to suffer another long break between appearances.
Group C
Argentina – It was a huge shock to see one of the favourites to win the whole thing start off their journey by losing to lowly Saudi Arabia, so to see them recover from this earthquake to end off topping the group appears to signify a return to normality. A lot of hope is being set on Lionel Messi propelling his country to the title on his final outing at the World Cup, but no Man wins alone and without his teammates raising their levels they will come unstuck against another top team in the latter stages.
Poland – The lack of attacking impetus shown in their final group game gives me no faith in their chances of making it past the last 16. If Lewandowski and his teammates can work out how to score and that doing so requires some form of teamwork and a will to move the ball towards their opponent’s goal, they could be fine. That feels a long way off right now though.
Mexico – Only kept out of the last 16 by a last-minute Saudi sucker punch, but none of that would have mattered if they had started with a win against Poland. Didn’t have a chance to watch many of their matches, but as they were my dark horses to reach the latter stages begore a ball was kicked I’m disappointed to see them falling at the first hurdle.
Saudi Arabia – Never seemed to recover from the extasy of springing the shock of the tournament in their opening game. Whatever the reason behind this was, Saudi Arabia ended up consigned to their expected place at the bottom of the group. They will always be able to look back on their win over Argentina as one of the best days in the history of Saudi football.
Group D
France – As the reigning champions they will be ecstatic to have avoided the fate they suffered in the same position 20 years ago. Obviously, the loss to Tunisia is a blot on their copybook, but as this happened to what was essentially their back-up 11 I don’t see it affecting them too much. The prospect of facing them in the Quarter finals concerns me greatly.
Australia – A brilliant set of performances from the Socceroos secured their place in the knockout stages, but a couple of 1-0 wins and the capitulation after taking the lead against France won’t worry many opponents going forward. The levels of their performances have yet to secure the larger wins they deserved.
Tunisia – A statement victory over France on the final day couldn’t compensate for being the only team to drop points to the Danes and a crucial loss against the Antipodeans took their fate out of their hands going into the final match. Such a shame that a famous victory for the North Africans counts for so little in the grand scheme of things.
Denmark – Came into the tournament with such big expectations on their shoulders after their excellent run to the Semi Finals of Euro 2020 and some creditable performances at the last World Cup. Unfortunately, they were awful this time round and to go from reaching the Semis of one tournament to finishing bottom of their group at the next one a year later should ring some serious alarm bells within the upper echelons of the Danish FA.
Group E
Japan – Conquers of Europe, with comeback wins against both Germany and Spain seeing them top the group. That ability to come from behind and never just accept that you’ve lost will serve them well as the tournament progresses and another European team to face in the last-16 will hold no fear for them at all. The less said about their loss to Costa-Rica the better.
Spain – Their World Cup started off in incredible fashion as they tore through a pedestrian Costa Rica. To follow up that 7-0 drubbing with a draw against a German team on their way to back-to-back group stage exits left me worried about their chances of progression. The goal difference they had in their back pocket saved them after they threw away a lead against Japan in their final group game, but that may provide a boost for their chances of reaching the latter stages as they now avoid a date with Brazil in the Quarter Finals.
Germany – Known for so long as a team built for tournament football, they have now achieved the unwanted record of back-to-back group stage exits. I am loving seeing Germany take England’s place as the joke team from Europe as England take on the German’s traditional role.
Costa Rica – Being the only team to get anything off the Japanese is a feather in their cap and gives them something to draw on going forward. However, as with so many teams that have achieved a shock result at this tournament, they have failed to back-up this performance in their other matches. Any team that concedes 11 goals over 2 matches is always going to struggle to advance.
Group F
Morocco – To win a group ahead of 2 of the Semi Finalists from the last World Cup shows that they are not a team to be taken lightly. Their ability to fight and grind out a result should serve as a warning to the teams they will face in the knockout stages, don’t expect an easy game against these Moroccans.
Croatia- Taking Canada to the cleaners is their only creditable result so far as the form that took them to the final in 2018 has deserted them. Expect Japan to waltz past them in the Last-16
Belgium – The last hurrah of their ‘golden generation’ has ended in disaster. From being on the ropes for the whole of the Canada game, scoring insanely against the run of play, to failing to threaten in either of their other matches. It is no surprise that Martinez has left the manager’s job after overseeing such an abysmal set of performances that deserved to see them finish bottom of the group with no points.
Canada – Failing to win against the shockingly awful Belgians was a sign of things to come for Canada. They qualified by playing in the coldest conditions they could manufacture for their home games, but they wilted in the heat of Qatar. They join the hosts as the only other team to exit the competition without a point to their name, but they deserved more from their opener. If they get a host’s place at the 2026 World Cup, and bring a decent striker with them, I wouldn’t be shocked to see them make a deep run.
Group G
Brazil – As long as their first team stays fit they should make it far, but when they need to dip into their squad depth, they may find the wallet of reserves to be unexpected shallow. The loss to Cameroon in their final group game, when they put out a whole handful of those reserves, shows that they may not have the strength in depth necessary to make good on their favourites tag.
Switzerland – They stayed true to the Swiss brand in their first 2 matches, hard to beat and not free-scoring either. Then they threw that all away to secure their spot in the last-16 with a thrilling 3-2 win over Serbia. A bit more of that final game ethic would make them far more enjoyable to watch in the knockouts, but they have the brand for a reason and sticking to it will get them further than they will if they try ripping it up too much.
Cameroon – Another team to deliver a shock result yet fail to advance to the knockouts. Their best performance came in the 3-3 draw with Serbia, but by failing to turn the comeback into a win their fate was in other team’s hands on the final day. Never a place you want to be and they fail to advance despite being awesome to watch.
Serbia – If they knew how to defend, they’d be advancing to the last-16 at a counter because goodness knows they can score. To bag 3 goals against Cameroon and 2 against the naturally stingy Swiss is a credit to their strikers, but they also conceded 3 goals in both those games and were the only team to let Brazil chalk up more than a single goal against them.
Group H
Portugal – Topped the group as expected, but a less than convincing performance against Ghana, the lowest ranked team in the tournament, and a last second loss against South Korea expose vulnerabilities they would rather keep hidden.
South Korea – The manner of their qualification might boost their confidence of springing a last-16 surprise. Their team has yet to really gel and with no rest days between the groups and knockouts it will require a herculean effort for them to make it any further
Uruguay – Despite beating Ghana on the final day they failed to progress on goals scored. The 2-0 win, with Suarez laying on an assist for the 2nd goal, was enough to see them sneak through till South Korea crushed their dreams with a final minute winner of their own. They failed to score in either of their other matches, so even if they had advanced to the knockouts they wouldn’t have got past the last-16
Ghana – Missing a penalty against Uruguay once again proved their undoing in a tournament where their performances had belied expectations. They even had their fate in their own hands going into the final day but chose the worst timing imaginable to turn in their worst performance of the tournament. Being the lowest ranked team in the tournament they were always expected to fail to advance, but they were far from the worst performers.
The Second String’s Second Half
England qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup, by beating Wales comprehensively tonight despite putting out a distinctly second-string team.
Southgate decided to wring the changes for this final group game with Trippier, Mount, Sterling and Saka all given a rest. Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson were the replacements behind the front line and replacing the two S’s up front were Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford.
These changes didn’t seem to give the Welsh any belief in their ability to win this one though as they simply shut up shop throughout the entire first 45. You’ve heard of parking the bus; well, this was parking the whole fleet of busses and in fairness to them it worked.
The English back-up brigade huffed and puffed but failed to come close to threatening to blow down the red wall that faced them. At times the Welsh had 9 players inside their own box as their backs to the wall defending sucked the life out of the match till the ref put us out of our misery by blowing for half-time.
Going into the break it looked like we were in for another USA performance. So whatever Southgate said to his back-up boys at half-time clearly worked though as within 6 minutes of the restart they had rediscovered their Iran form and scored a quick-fire double to put the game beyond Wales.
The first of this double came from the right boot of Marcus Rashford. His free kick from 25 yards out flew like it was shot out of a cannon, past the despairing dive of Danny Ward, on its way to sending a tidal wave through the net. It was a thing of beauty that sparked scenes of pure insanity at the fan park in Manchester that I was watching the match from.
The atmosphere had barely levelled out by the time England doubled their lead less than 120 seconds later. This goal was more of a team effort instigated by Rashford’s excellent closing work to get the ball back high up the pitch. It was finished by the other front-line replacement and fellow local lad, Phil Foden.
From Rashford’s efforts the ball bounced through to Harry Kane driving down the right channel, he bought it under control expertly before hitting a tempting ball across the 6-yard line. Steaming in from 30 yards away was Phil Foden, who inexplicably timed his run gorgeously to meet the ball and stroke it home to set the fan park wild again.
That double strike crushed the hopes out of the Welsh, whose tepid play to this point became even more disjointed and more defensive in temperament. As such it took 17 minutes and the return to action of one Kalvin Phillips from injury for England to get their third and final goal.
Phillips pinged the ball from the defence right up the other end of the pitch for Rashford to latch onto down the right wing. Having controlled the ball, he twisted and turned his way past the defender marking him before slotting the ball through the legs of both the defender blocking his path to goal and the keeper to complete his brace.
A double nutmeg to double his tally for the match, not bad for a player I would have left out of the squad if I were in Southgate’s position.
With Rashford’s double and Foden’s finish England were propelled to the top of the group and now have a showdown against the Lions of Teranga, Champions of Africa, to look forward too at 19:00 on Sunday.
Wales for their part exit their first World Cup since 1958 after finishing bottom of the group with just a single point (and a single goal) to their name.
Sunday 4th December 2022 is the date set for the battle of the Lions, will it be The Three Lions or the Lions of Teranga that emerge victorious? On Sunday evening we will have our answer.
My pride says it will be the Three Lions that come out on top, but Senegal are no fools and they didn’t conquer an entire continent of football teams by being easy opponents.
It’s The Promised Land For Wrexham
26th November: FA Cup 2nd Round: The Racecourse Ground: Wrexham AFC vs Farnborough FC
Today I took my blog to its first foreign country to find out who would win the non-league showdown at the Racecourse ground (The Cae Ras) and collect the prize of a place in the FA Cup 3rd round draw on Monday. One of the teams playing today was just 90 minutes from that draw, but which will make it there.
The teams fighting for this glorious prize were: In the red corner, Wrexham AFC who are top of the National League and looking destined for promotion: In the blue corner, Farnborough FC, lying 15th in the National League South in their first season after promotion to the division. Apart from that, I knew nothing about either team before kick-off except that Ryan Reynolds is one of the owners of Wrexham.
Being owned by Deadpool does raise a little expectation though so I was hoping for a home win as I settled into my seat, just 3 rows back from the pitch. Finding my seat wasn’t difficult but compared to finding the stadium it was a nightmare. The stadium sticks out like a sore thumb against the landscape as long as you turn right after ascending the steps out of the station. If you turn right and still can’t see the stadium, then may I suggest an eye test.
The Welsh are known for their sonorous nature and the songs that echoed round the ground before kick-off were truly spine-tingling. Once the match got underway the home players went about trying to match that atmosphere with the football they produced. It took a few minutes of ariel ping-pong for the game to settle down but as soon as the hosts got the ball on the deck, they set about dominating the match.
Despite their dominance of the game over the first 20 minutes the hosts from the land of song were unable to convert it into the goal their play deserved. Bill Shankly was once quoted as saying ‘If you’re not sure what to do with the ball, pop it in the net and we’ll discuss the options later’, sage advice that and Wrexham could really have done with being reminded of it whenever they entered the final third.
They were determined to over-complicate matters, and it wasn’t until the 21st minute that they sorted things out enough to get a shot on target. It came from a corner on the left that landed at the feet of Paul Mullin, in acres of space 16 yards from goal, but Turner rushed out of the Farnborough goal and was able to pull out a delicious double save to keep the scores level. Turner’s brilliance dug his defenders out of a huge hole there and if they had managed to get anything out of the game, he would have been owed rounds of drinks.
Wrexham kept battering on the door without success for the rest of the half, coming close again through Elliot Lee after a glorious team move of triangles before Lee curled it just over the bar from 20 yards. It looked to be heading for the top corner from my point until the second it shook the bar on its way behind. The effort of destroying their opponents for 35 minutes took its toll on the hosts and for the last 10 of the half it was the visitors who took charge, but they couldn’t keep the ball down and conversions aren’t what is called for in this sport.
There was one final sting in the half for the hosts though as Jordan Davies went down on the edge of his box and had to be stretchered off to rapturous applause. It’s never nice to see a player have to leave the pitch that way and I hope he isn’t out for long. For this match he was replaced by James Jones and Wrexham were provided with some excellent motivation for the 2nd half.
With this motivation in hand, it took just 3 minutes of the second half for the hosts to take the lead that their 1st half dominance deserved. The breakthrough came through local legend Paul Mullin, as a corner from the right was looped over to the back post for Mullin to slam home. His 50th in Wrexham red.
Now they had the lead it just seemed to be a simple matter of just how many the hosts would score. Unfortunately, this was not to be as Farnborough equalised completely against the run of play in the 62nd minute.
A free kick from just outside the area was floated over everyone and Howard’s despairing dive could only result in him palming the ball off the bar and drop it in the net behind him. Having secured a goal they had done nothing to earn, all Farnborough had to do next was hold on for the draw and then take their chances in the replay on home soil.
As the game ticked into its final 15 minutes it looked like they would get it too as Wrexham struggled against a resolute Farnborough defence. Given the defensive efforts of the visitors it seems only fair that it took a worldie of a shot for Wrexham to regain the lead. From a break down the right the ball was cut back to Elliot Lee on the edge of the box, unleashing a first-time volley he sent the ball careening towards the postage stamp area to the keeper’s left. The ball swished through the postage stamp to nestle in the back of the net.
This broke the last of Farnborough’s resistance as Wrexham’s Mullin completed his hat-trick with a double in the last 8 minutes of a match that died as a contest the second the hosts regained the lead. The first of Mullin’s final 2 goals resulted from a beautiful team move down the left before the ball was rolled onto a plate for him to steer home from 6 yards out in the centre of the 6-yard box. Turner in the Farnborough goal had been expecting a shot from the left leaving him decidedly flat-footed when the ball was squared instead.
Mullin’s hat-trick was completed in the 90th minute as he fired a shot across the keeper from the left and into the net just yards from the right post, after a cross from the right had been recycled out to him.
He should really have had a third and fourth goal wrapped up in quick succession 5 minutes before he finally completed his hat-trick though. Both times he found himself one on one with Turner after being slipped in down the right only to shank his shots high into the stands. For the first one he tried a fancy shot off the outside of his right boot, then followed it up on the second try by curling one into the same spot in the stands off his left instep.
Thankfully for Mullin neither of those misses mattered as the hosts ran out 4-1 winners at full-time, getting their name in the draw for the Third round in the process.
Wrexham are ball 46 in that draw at Anfield on Monday evening and will be hoping to draw the team who plays at that ground (ball 21) or a team of similar size and renown in one of England’s top two divisions. Not only would Klopp’s Liverpool be a glamour tie for the fans, but it would also provide their manager, Phil Parkinson, with the opportunity to once again pit his wits against the best teams in the United Kingdom.
On a personal note, I want them to be drawn away to Liverpool as it would give me the chance to get a ticket for a first team game of my boyhood team and the chance to see Wrexham play more of their silky football just a short bus ride from my flat.
Congratulations to Wrexham on making the FA Cup Third Round and thank you to the lady I met at the game who said, “since it’s your first game here, we have to win now for you”. Her team were as good as her word, and I look forward to seeing just how far they can go in the competition
Abysmal England Held By USA
England were back in action in Qatar tonight and, on the day the hosts were the first team eliminated, they had the opportunity to become the first team to qualify for the knockout rounds.
All they had to do to achieve this glorious feat was defeat a USA team that had only managed to squeeze a draw out of Wales. The same Wales who would go on to doom their own prospects of qualifying from the group with a dismal loss to the Iran team that England destroyed 6-2 in their opening match. Easy right? If only…
Southgate went with an unchanged starting-11, which no-one could argue with after their awesome performance last time out. This time round though they entirely failed to turn-up. From kick-off the Americans were all over England, not just on the front foot but going for the jugular. The simplest passes, meat and drink to England in the last match, were now going awry with depressing regularity.
The USA jumped on every early mistake to build up a head of steam that England could do nought to destroy. Infact, the North Americans were so on top that it was only through a heaping helping of luck, dreadful finishing and a glorious save from Pickford that kept the game goalless going into half-time.
Not only did the States hit the bar with a rasping shot from the edge of the box, when no-one in England white made a move to close them down. They also had multiple chances to break the deadlock from both within and without of the area that would have worked as touchdowns in their national ‘football’ but not what was needed in this match thank goodness.
The most frustrating thing about England as the second half wore on was that nothing seemed to change, either in approach to the game or infuriatingly in personnel. Southgate appeared perfectly content to allow England’s abysmal show continue to its dire conclusion for much of the second half. He only dipped into his reserves after 20 minutes of the 2nd half had elapsed.
The changes he made were mystifying for a team trying desperately to gain a foothold in the match. Taking off Bellingham, star of the Iran victory, to replace him with Henderson, a far more defensive player, appeared wilfully perverse. If the intent was to free the rest of the midfield up to attack, whilst Hendo provided a screen for the defence, it failed miserably.
The attacking play of England lacked any direction or drive for much of the match, though it improved marginally after the introduction of both Grealish and Rashford to the front-line. America achieving 10 shots to England’s 8 over the course of the game tells the story of England’s attacking malaise, particularly given that 3 of those shots arrived after the 86th minute.
Perhaps the pressure of having the chance to qualify for the last-16 was behind this dreadful display or perhaps the lightning-fast turnaround from the Iran game contributed too. Whatever the reason they will need to be better against Wales on Tuesday if they want to top the group.
Having missed a golden opportunity to confirm qualification tonight England head into that game with the possibility of not making it past the group stage still on the table. Wales would have to beat us by 4 clear goals and then a win for either team in the other game on the final day sees them join Wales in the last-16.
Sure, it’s unlikely, but anything is possible if we play that badly again on Tuesday
Between now and that match I’m off to Wales to see how Ryan Reynold’s Wrexham get on against Farnborough in the FA Cup 2nd round. After tonight I’m looking forward to that game far more than I am the world cup showdown in 4 days’ time.
Come on England, fix up!!!
Starting With Six Of The Best
England started their World Cup run today with a 6-goal destruction of Iran (20th in the FIFA world rankings). I watched this glorious opening act from a pub in Manchester from a place of minimal expectations for the team’s performance. The most I thought we could achieve was a last-minute winner given our recent Nations League results and the form of many of the squad heading into the tournament.
Furthermore, Iran have always been a resolute defensive team who are difficult to break down. With the added motivation of providing a light for their countrymen/women to penetrate the darkness that has engulfed their nation, I thought they may even be capable of sneaking a win. Wow was I wrong, just remind me never to go into the predictions business.
England’s 6-2 win did nothing to flatter them at all as they ran Iran ragged from the moment the match restarted after it’s 14 minute first-half hiatus. That break was enforced as Iran’s goalkeeper, Ali Beiranvand, was treated for concussion after a harrowing collision with one of his centre backs in the process of making an excellent fingertip save from a searching cross. He was laid prone for a straight 10 minutes before he even sat up. The fact that he was allowed to retake his position between the sticks for a full 2 minutes after treatment before he collapsed to the turf and had to be stretched off is a disgrace. Particularly in the modern era when player welfare is meant to be held paramount.
Once the match was back underway England took proceedings by the scruff of its neck and never let go. The attacking play was fast and fluid, whilst other than a couple of incidents the defence was well marshalled too. Iran’s first goal came from one of those defensive lapses, but England’s defence takes no blame for the second. It came from one of the softest penalties ever given in the history of football. In the pub around me there was confusion, shock and bemusement when the call to go to VAR went up on the screen, let alone when it was given.
There was nothing to give in anything that was reviewed but still it was given. VAR was bought in to correct clear and obvious mistakes from the referee but using it for non-events like this, where there was nothing to count as questionable even under the highest quality magnifying glass. Use VAR properly or not at all please. See the Harry Maguire incident in the opening exchanges for a glaring example of when it should be used.
England’s brilliance throughout the rest of the match was awesome to watch. Even better news for our hopes of going far comes from the fact that their 6 goals were scored by 5 different players, which didn’t include Harry Kane. He did get two of the assists though as he showed that he’s not just a goal pony. He is truly an all-round player.
This match saw a plethora of confidence building firsts for this England team too, as Jude Bellingham, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish (introduced off the bench for the final 20 mins) all pocketed their first world cup goals. Sumptuous Saka did them all one better though with a brilliant, beautiful brace that made it impossible for Iran to take anything from the match. Oh, and Marcus Rashford scored with his third touch of the match as he made an immediate impact off the bench.
That impact off the bench that both Grealish and Rashford provided will be crucial to our chances in the knockout stages but in this match, it was Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka who stole centre stage. Everything the 19-year-old Bellingham tried turned to gold. From flicks round the corner to beat his man to searing through balls to set Saka free on the right wing he was everywhere.
The confidence and maturity this sensational teenager showed to pull the strings in midfield and conduct his teammates to where they needed to be was incredible. He was even the one to set England on their way to victory with the opening goal of the match, a gorgeous, looped header that gave the stand-in keeper no chance. In-fact most of England’s goals were exquisite examples of how to behave with the ball in the box. The first of Saka’s brace was the best of the lot though. He found the ball at his feet on the edge of the box, just left of centre before threading it through the gap between defender’s legs and keeper’s hands and into the top right postage stamp.
If we can keep up this level of performance throughout the rest of our matches, we really could go far. How far? on the basis of this match I could see us reaching the final and once we are there anything could happen. England really were that good today as they opened their World Cup account with a silky smooth, dominant performance that will give them immense confidence going forward.
Next up for us are the Americans, who managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory against Wales this evening. Congratulations to Wales on securing a point on their return to the World Cup after 64 years away, but nothing I saw in that match causes me any concern for England’s perfect record in the group stage.
I hope Wales join England in going through, but if they do it will be in 2nd place because, make no mistake, in this form there is no way in hell that England won’t top the group.
Tentatively I say, IT’S COMING HOME!!!!!
Whilst The World Cup Is On
As the World Cup gets underway today in Qatar, I will be cheering England on from home. After back-to-back semi-final appearances in recent tournaments, I live in the hope that Southgate’s England will go all the way this time round. Delivering the first trophy since for the Men’s international team since 1966 would provide me with just the tonic I need in these tough times. It would also cap off a brilliant year for English football and set us up for 3 international trophies in 12 months.
We have the squad to do it, but there are a couple of changes I would make. If I were England manager Ivan Toney would have waltzed his way into the squad in place of Marcus Rashford. I understand completely why off-field issues have kept him out of the squad, but on his form and with his brilliance from the penalty spot he would have made my squad regardless.
My other change would have seen Raheem Sterling dropped from the squad, on basis of his disastrous performances all season, to be replaced by James Ward-Prowse. Prowsey marshals the midfield excellently at Southampton and his dead ball deliveries are second to none in the English game. A well-placed free kick can be crucial to breaking the deadlock against tight defences in knockout football, so not only would he be in the squad I’d have him in my starting 11.
Those are the 2 changes I would make to the England squad. Removing Harry Maguire was also on my list of changes to make, but England’s back-line options are so wafer thin that I could not find a reasonable replacement for him. If I could have found someone else to go then my hat-trick of changes would have been complete.
England will win the group without breaking a sweat and can expect to saunter through to the quarters without issue. From there it will all come down to the luck of the draw, but a run to the final certainly isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.
Whilst England are off in Qatar this blog will be going on a journey of its own, all the way to Wales for the FA Cup Second round next weekend. A 3rd round tie against a Premier League team is the prize that could await the team that wins the non-league showdown in Wrexham. Join me again next week to find out who wins it.
Good Luck England, Bring It Home
Pure Insanity At The Etihad
Saturday 12th November: Premier League: Etihad Stadium: Manchester City vs BRENTFORD!!
There is a certain kind of joy that can make send your soul soaring into euphoric even when the rest of your life brings you to your knees. For me it is found in football when the team I support wins a game that everyone knew they were going to lose badly and does so through a last second winner. It’s even better when their victory is undeniably fully deserved.
Just seven days before this game Brentford had thrown away their first league win on their travels all season with a 96th minute own goal at the City Ground, against bottom of the league Nottingham Forest. Four days ago before it they had struggled to a 1-1 draw against League 2 Gillingham in the League Cup, then succumbed 6-5 on penalties and that was on home turf.
Now they were off to the Etihad stadium to face off against the undisputed kings of English domestic football, who were unbeaten at home since February. They were also playing their 500th game at the stadium. I don’t think there was a single fan making their way to this match that doubted for a second that they would be celebrating their 500th game with a resounding victory.
I certainly had no doubts about it as I made my way across the North-west to the match. In-fact my words to a city fan I met on the way were “just as long as we don’t lose more than 6 or 7-0 I’ll be happy”. With the form we had shown on the road this season, Newcastle putting 5 past us and a managerless Villa 4, I felt that this was not only a realistic result but also one that I would be able to look back and live with.
I thought that Haaland would get a hat-trick and that “it would be stupid to believe that we have any hope of winning this one”. I have never felt more ecstatic to be proven wrong about anything in my life.
The team sheets did little to raise any optimism about the visitor’s chances, we still had Roerslev and Zanka on the right side of our defence and they would be up against Phil Foden. Kevin DeBruyne was also in the City starting 11 and when it was announced that Haaland was also returning to the host’s team my heart sunk.
I need not have worried though as it became clear within seconds of kick-off that this was not the same team that had been blown away by Villa. We were not just here to take the battering City wanted to serve us, we were here to compete. Rico Henry proved this by picking up a Pinnock clearance and going marauding down the left wing, from the edge of his own box to the edge of the City one within the first 5 minutes. With Frank Onyeka dropping back to help Roerslev and Zanka with defensive duties we even managed to stifle Foden and DeBruyne’s crosses at source.
The visitors taking such a combative, positive approach to a match at the Etihad had City rattled, but even so it was a surprise of truly biblical proportions when Brentford actually took the lead just after the quarter hour. From a free-kick just inches from halfway David Raya floated the ball into the box, where Ben Mee leapt highest to nod the ball on for the waiting Toney to loop a header over the helpless Ederson and give the visitors the lead.
With that Brentford took the lead at the Etihad and I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I actually had to ask the guy to my right whether I was dreaming. When he confirmed that “no, this is real”, insanity struck me. I was jumping around like a madman and joining in with the spontaneous chants of euphoria around me. From “how shit must you be? we’re winning away” to “Ivan Toney should be on the plane” through “Southgate, Southgate you’re a c***” we went through all the chants we knew and many we didn’t, the wave of euphoria was infectious, and my fears melted away in a sea of happiness.
Of course, despite a gargantuan effort from our whole team to bond together and complete a defensive, backs to the wall job City would equalise before half-time. City’s equaliser would not come easily too them though as the majority of their attacks saw them being forced all the way back to Ederson.
Their equaliser wouldn’t even come from open play as they run out of ideas surprisingly fast when faced with Brentford’s wall of bodies, instead it came from a corner in added time at the end of the 45. The equaliser came from the first defensive lapse all half for the visitors, a DeBruyne outswinging corner from the right was missed by 3 defenders in the centre and bobbled out to Foden. When it reached him it sat up at a gorgeous height for him to rifle home rising over Raya and into the roof of the net.
The emotional hit of going in a 1-1 after leading for so much of the half was negated fully by the fact that we had led in a game where I thought we would be 3-0 behind in the first 20 minutes. Another plus that I took from their late equaliser was that it wouldn’t allow the team to think the job was already done and just rest on their laurels in the second 45. They knew there was still a battle to be won and they would have to come out and win it.
That battle turned into an intense effort not to be ground into the dust in the first 15 minutes of the second half as City came at us like a runaway train. They were determined to punish us for daring to take the game to them at their fortress, but we wouldn’t let them break through our lines. Every time they came forward our stalwart defending forced them back to halfway. Sometimes they would punt a speculative ball forward trying to find Haaland, but unfortunately for the hosts the only place they would find him all game was in Ethan Pinnock’s back pocket. Their efforts to score from outside the box would have fitted perfectly in any of the Rugby League world cup games taking place across the country, but you get nothing for conversions in football.
The second third of the second half was a period when introductions off the Bee’s bench allowed them to re-establish a foothold in the match, turning it from a siege on our goal back into the end-to-end contest for the purists that had been served up in the first half. Christian Norgaard and Yoanne Wissa were those introduced for the visitors and the extra energy was just what was needed to boost the visitors back to their best, with Vitaly Janelt and Bryan Mbuemo sacrificed for the greater good.
Make no mistake, Brentford spent most of the second half hanging on by their fingernails as City threw everything they had at winning this match, but as the match approached it’s final 10 the visitor’s mindset changed from just hold on to let’s win this. I even spoke into my notes that “I’d rather lose going for all 3 points than draw hanging on for 1”.
This mindset even seemed to have made its way to the Bee’s bench with 5 minutes of the regulation 90 left as Thomas Frank reached for the most attacking option left to him and threw Josh DaSilva into the fray in place of Frank Onyeka. Throughout the second half City onslaught I’d been thinking that “if we make it to the final few minutes level let’s throw on DaSilva and see what we can do”, now we were about to find out exactly what that was.
Within the bounds of the regulation 5 it turned out the answer was, not much at all but then the added time board went up. It read 10 minutes. That’s right we now had a further 10 minutes with the fresh legs of both Wissa and DaSilva at our disposal to go for the win. It took till the 8 of those 10 minutes had elapsed before, with everyone in the stadium on tenterhooks, the visitors would get that win.
The moment I will never forget came from a City corner on the left that fell to Wissa on the edge of the Bees box. He set off with the ball at his feet and didn’t stop for anything till he hit a blind alley 20 yards from goal. So he flipped the ball across the pitch to DaSilva who pondered momentarily before dropping his shoulder, beating his marker and advancing into the area. The slide rule ball he produced took the remaining City players out of the equation and laid the ball on a plate for the onrushing Ivan Toney to caress home into the open goal.
Cue pandemonium in the away end as the pent-up hopes and dreams of thousands of travelling fans were unleashed in a single moment. There were those who rushed down to the barrier to celebrate with the match-winner, those who jumped around like madmen possessed and those, such as myself, who were pinned to the spot in pure shock at what they had just witnessed.
Brentford had just scored a last-minute winner to secure their first away win of the season against a team that many considered invincible. It couldn’t be real, but it was…
Once the initial shock wore off, I joined those madmen possessed. I couldn’t tell you what I said or did in the minutes afterwards other than knowing that at one point I was standing on the seat with a foot resting on the safe-standing bar in-front of me. It was like being in a trance, a trance of euphoria for the soul. Time melted away at that point and the ref blew his final whistle but no-one in the away end moved. There was a party to be had and we were going to savour every moment.
I will never know that feeling again, but I will always remember it. On that afternoon football provided me with something I have never felt before in my life, a soul-pumping euphoria that meant I could achieve anything. Fly to the moon without a spacesuit or craft, no problem. Prevent a nuclear warhead from exploding as it hit the ground, easy. That’s where I was at in that moment.
Ivan Toney will deservedly get so much credit for his goals that delivered this historic victory, but his all-round performance was just insane. He was too good for words to describe, and his example inspired his teammates to a result they had no right to achieve. I share the view of many football fans across the country, and every Brentford fan living, that he should be going to the World Cup.
I will expand on my thoughts on the full England World Cup squad in my next blog, but one point that I hope will cause no controversy is that “Ivan Toney should be on the plane”.
As Bad As It Gets
Sunday 23rd October 2022: Premier League: Villa Park: Aston Villa vs Brentford
Right, for this blog I’m going to skip over my long (3 trains) journey to Villa Park other than to implore you to get off at Witton station instead of staying on till Aston. Not only is it a stop earlier on the way out of Birmingham New Street but the walk also takes half as long, which will help if you’re running late for kick-off. I wouldn’t want to be running late for kick off though as that would have robbed me of the only part of the day I truly enjoyed, seeing the outside of the stadium.
As you have seen above, Villa Park is a gorgeous stadium from the outside with the stunning red brick Victorian facade that dropped my jaw to the floor when I saw it for the first time. There are also plans to expand the ground which the club is currently consulting with the home fans on. As an away fan can I ask that included in this stadium expansion is a vast improvement in the facilities provided for away fans.
Having bought and eaten a dish called ‘Poutine’ I headed inside and this was where my day went from glorious to disgusting. Whilst the ground looks incredible from the outside this clearly comes at expense of the facilities inside, not only were the turnstiles set up for people no wider than a single human hair but when you reached the upper tier, there was only one refreshments counter.
The options when you eventually reached this counter were miniscule at best as you could either have iced up cold drinks or tea, with alcoholic drinks only available in the ‘family’ away section below. To say this upset many of my fellow away fans would be to distinctly understate the magnitude of the anger that permeated the stand around me. Though it would not take long before me and my fellow away fans would have far bigger problems to be pissed off about.
Villa were starting their life in the post-Gerrard era, having sacked their former manager mere days earlier after a 3-0 loss to Fulham on the preceding Thursday evening. They would also finish that game with only 10 men on the pitch, but Douglas Luiz’s red card had been rescinded since that match, so he started for Villa in this one.
The post-Gerrard era for the hosts got off to the best possible start as they waltzed through some seriously inept Bee’s defending to take the lead within 65 seconds of kicking off. Leon Bailey burst down the left wing, with Mads Roerslev trailing in his wake flipped in a cross that was blocked behind for a corner at the very last second. The corner was taken short and, with no-one from the visiting defence coming out to close them down the ball was simply whipped out to the feet of Leon Bailey on the penalty, where he was given the freedom of Villa Park to sweep the ball home past the statuesque David Raya.
There was no meaningful attempt from anyone in the Brentford side to put any pressure on the ball at any point during the whole of the first 45, with the right side of our ‘defence’ appearing particularly suspect. Roerslev and Zanka hadn’t played a lot of football together coming into this match and the lack of understanding was on full display here, as Villa exploited it ruthlessly.
Having taken the lead so early on and with complete mastery of the field, as they tried to prove their worth to the club after a string of abysmal results under Gerrard, it was only a matter of time before Villa increased their lead. When their inevitable second arrived, the only surprise was that it had taken them a full seven minutes to score it. Once again it came from an attacking foray down the left wing, with Roerslev proving increasingly inept at right-back, before the cross was put on a plate for Danny Ings at the back post to apply the simplest of tap-ins to double Villa’s lead.
Whilst I have been singling Mads Roerslev out for particular criticism so far in this blog, I wish to make it abundantly clear that he was not the only Brentford player who was having a game from hell. In point of fact, throughout the first half, the only Brentford player who was looking like they had heard of the concept of football before was Ivan Toney. He was charging round the pitch trying to close Villa players down, imploring his teammates to put in even a modicum of effort and single-handedly attempting to arrest the momentum of a match where his team were being played off the park. Alas, his work was to no avail however as it took just another 7 minutes for Villa to add to their lead once more.
Less than 15 minutes into their post-Gerrard era Villa were 3-0 up against a team who had been 7 places above them at kick-off. The hosts had been struggling in the weeks before this match and their run of form had left them hovering above the relegation zone on goals scored. If you didn’t know those facts before kick-off though you could easily have assumed that Villa were title-contenders and Brentford were 10 points adrift at the bottom.
Villa’s third goal came from a penalty, given for an incident that looked like nothing at all, I couldn’t even begin to guess at what happened to see the pen given. Once the penalty had been given though it fell to Danny Ings to complete his brace with a piledriver down the centre of the goal. Raya would have saved it if he had stayed rooted to the spot, but in keeping with his teammates’ performances he dived out of the way of the ball instead.
The hosts were now in complete cruise control and were able to do whatever they wanted with the ball as the Bees sting had been completely and utterly neutralised. Villa should have had a third goal before the penalty to be honest as a simple route one hoof upfield by Emiliano Martinez that took the whole visiting team out of the game, except Raya who stood strong as a brick wall to prevent Villa making it 3 goals in 10 minutes. Instead, it took them 15 minutes to get their 3rd goal and every time they came forward it looked certain to provide them with another goal to add to the glut that they had already collected.
The vast majority of Villa’s chances were coming down their left as Roerslev was suffering the worst humiliation by an opponent that I have ever seen one player experience on a football field. Things became so bad for him that in the 25th minute a throw-in from Toney to him, where Ivan spent 30 seconds beforehand explaining to Roerslev step -by-step what he was going to do, ended up falling into acres of space after Roerslev had run as far in the other direction from where the ball was going as possible.
Babysitting Roerslev was costing Toney so much of his time that he was unable to do his own role in the team. It was beginning to look as though Toney had developed an allergy to the penalty box, he was having to come out to the wing to do Roerslev’s job that often. It got to the point that, as the match ticked past the half hour mark, I made a voice note that Thomas Frank should substitute Roerslev now to “save him from himself today”.
To be clear, Roerslev was not the only player I wanted to see substituted at half-time. In my notes I said we should take off “Jensen, Roerslev… I’d take off Onyeka as well” as these were the three worst performing players from a team where competition for that ‘accolade’ was frighteningly fierce. It seems that Thomas Frank was thinking along scarily similar lines to me too, as he broke his habit of a lifetime to make two half time substitutions. Roerslev and Frank Onyeka were the players he decided to save from their humiliation at the break even replacing them with the players I’d suggested in my notes, Sergi Canos and Josh Dasilva respectively. Jensen would last till the 78th minute before being replaced by Shandon Baptiste.
Brentford limped to half-time with the score remaining at 3-0, which flattered them immensely given their abysmal performance so far. There was a 5-minute period after the restart where it looked possible for Brentford to get back into the match before normal service was resumed. Villa went back to pummelling Brentford to a pulp but it would take till just before the hour mark for them to score their 4th goal of the match.
When that 4th goal came for the hosts it was only fitting that the icing on the visitor’s humiliation was applied by an ex-Bees player, Ollie Watkins. This time though the build-up came from a powerful run down the left wing, their free access down the right having been closed down by Canos since he entered the field. The ball was curled deliciously in, past the flailed legs of Zanka and Pinnock, to the feet of Watkins. His first shot from 8 yards out was parried straight back to him by Raya, but he made no mistake with his second cannoning the ball in off the right post to complete Villa’s quartet of goals.
Brentford continued to be abysmal throughout the rest of the match and the only reason Villa failed to add to their glut of goals was that they proceeded to time waste ad infinitum for the final 30 minutes of the match. Seeing that time wasting was such a relief for me as it allowed Bees to crawl our way to full time having conceded only 4 goals, when the scale of the gulf between the performances of the 2 teams should have seen us lose by at least 7-0. We really were that dreadful.
Brentford’s away from so far this season has been indescribably dreadful, with the recent 5-1 humiliation at St. James’ Park the perfect example of this fact, but this was the worst performance of the lot. I hope you understand by now that Brentford should have lost this match by far more than they did and a more clinical team would have made it to double figures with the dominance that Villa had throughout this match. That’s just how bad Brentford were in this match.
Given my next two tickets to Brentford games would see me follow their travels to Nottingham Forest and Manchester City respectively I was devoid of hope for positive results from either match. The train strikes saved me from having to visit the City Ground, but I had no such luck this past weekend so, with no alternative, I traipsed off to the Etihad expecting to see City smash at least 8 goals past the hapless travelling Bees.
Surely you will have seen the result of that game by now, so you know just how wrong I was about that. Join me later this week as I immortalise the greatest experience of my life into blog form. All I will say about that match right now is that I have never been happier to have been proved wrong about anything in my life….
Kepa Steals A Point For Chelsea
Wednesday 19th October 2022: Gtech Community Stadium: Premier League: Brentford vs Chelsea
Welcome back to my blog after a few weeks break whilst I sorted out many other areas of my life. As you will see from the photo above, for this blog I was back in London to watch my beloved Bees. Their opponents for this one were a Chelsea team adjusting to life under their new coach, Graham Potter, whose old team (Brighton) Brentford has beaten 2-0 just 5 days earlier thanks to a brace from Ivan Toney.
Having dealt so handily with his old team, and with the unbridled joy that returning to London sends flowing through my soul, I was confident of a positive result from this one. My excellent mood and overflowing confidence were fed further by the fact that my pre-match playlist, for the unexpected walk down from South Ealing, consisted of many fast-paced ‘loving London’ tunes which culminated in ‘London Calling by the Clash’ as I turned into the road up to the stadium.
After taking my seat; pizza, drink and programme in hand, I decided to peruse the team sheets for the match and it appeared that Potter had just as much faith in his team as I had in mine. He felt confident enough to leave the trio of Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench for the kick-off. Whether this risk would pay off for him, we will find out shortly.
The Bees staring 11 was not without its holes either as Pontus Jansson, the Bee’s captain, was nowhere to be found either in it or in the matchday squad as a whole. This omission mystified me at the time, but further research shows that I missed the news of him picking up a hamstring injury weeks before this match, against Bournemouth. An injury that has seen him also miss many other matches, including away days at both Newcastle and Nottingham Forest that train strikes prevented me from attending. In Jansson’s place Zanka took the free spot in central defence, though he plays so rarely I thought he would be in midfield when I saw his name on the team sheet.
Getting back to the match for this blog and my only worry for the match was how our depleted defence would hold up against the late appearance of Aubameyang into the fray.
That worry dissipated from my mind quickly as the match got underway though and the hosts were immediately on the front foot. Rico Henry exploded down the right wing and skinned his marker with consummate ease. It looked like the hosts would have a quick-fire opener but the cross into the centre was hacked clear by Marc Cucurella and Chelsea kept the score at 0-0.
The warning shot had now been fired and Rico would be a thorn in the visitor’s side all match as he tormented his opposite number, Ruben Loftus-Cheek. His was not to be the ‘Man of the Match’ performance though as that is invariably awarded to the who either wins the match for their team or prevents their team losing it. As Brentford pushed forward through both Rico and Byran Mbuemo on their respective wings, Toney was given ample chances to tuck the ball away, slam it home or bullet a header into the net to open up the host’s account for the match in the first 15 minutes.
He was prevented from taking these chances by the man who would save him team on countless occasions across the 90 minutes, Kepa Arrizabalaga. I don’t know what was inspiring the Chelsea keeper in this one, but throughout the match he showed the leap of a dolphin and the reflexes of a fly to pop up and prevent the ball from nestling in the back of the net on so many occasions I lost count. A fingertip save to knock a point-blank header over the top, from Toney, rushing out of his goal to claim every cross or long ball into the area (whether floated, driven or chipped) and flinging himself every which way to stop the ball in its tracks when it looked destined to nestle in the net; it was a true virtuoso performance from Kepa and not a bad way to impress your new manager either.
He was robbed of an opportunity to further etch his name into Chelsea folklore in the 12th minute however, when Brentford were denied a stonewall penalty after Loftus-Cheek shoved Mathias Jensen to the ground as he burst into the area. Loftus-Cheek needn’t have bothered risking such a blatant foul though as Kepa was in such unbeatable form that he would doubtless have saved whatever shot Bee’s had been able to muster. To say that I was apoplectic that this incident wasn’t even checked by VAR is to understate the strength of my feelings immensely.
Brentford had such command of the ball and were destroying Chelsea so completely in the first 25 minutes that the visitors were forced to resort to professional fouls and cynical time-wasting to gain any respite from the onslaught. They even time-wasted ad infinitum when Conor Gallagher was forced off due to injury in the 16th minute. He went down near the far touchline but was allowed to amble across the whole width of the pitch, including stopping 5 yards from exiting the field of play to tie his shoelaces, before finally being replaced by Mateo Kovacic a full 2 minutes after the board announcing his substitution was displayed.
In the face of such tactics from their opposition it was a huge credit to Bees that they kept the torrent of chances coming. The majority of these chances fell to the feet of Toney, confidence flowing through his veins after his gorgeous backheel against Brighton, but he was decisively losing his duel with Chelsea’s Kepa. So decisively in-fact that, despite being ripped to pieces all over the pitch Chelsea were able to limp to half time level with their hosts, at 0-0.
My hopes for the second half were to see Canos, Dasilva, Wissa and Damsgaard released from the bench to break through Kepa’s brick wall and win all 3 points for Brentford. None of them were introduced at half-time though, as both managers kept their powder dry for the time being. This would prove to be a smarter call by Thomas Frank, than by Potter, as Brentford surged forth once more to lay yet another siege to the Chelsea goal in a futile attempt to find a way past Kepa.
Within the first 5 minutes of the second half Toney should have had a brace, but both times Kepa appeared out of thin air to maintain his miraculous clean sheet. First a ball was chipped up by Roerslev on the right for Toney to meet with a powerful header at the back post, but Kepa got down quickly to smother the ball. Then moments later Ivan was through in the centre, but when he was found by Mbuemo, Kepa leaped like a salmon to once again fingertip it over the bar. Glorious though this goalkeeping display was it was also insanely frustrating to watch my team denied goal after goal. Brentford would have been 5 or 6-0 up by the hour mark against any other keeper, but Kepa was single-handedly keeping the score at 0-0 in this match.
Brentford’s total dominance of this match was illustrated by the fact that by the time Chelsea made their 2nd, 3rd and 4th subs of the match (in minute 62), Brentford had only made one. Just 2 minutes before Chelsea replaced Armando Broja, Mason Mount and Marc Cucurella with Carney Chukwuemeka, Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic, Bees had replaced Frank Onyeka with Shandon Baptiste. It would take till the added 4 minutes at the end of the match for Brentford to complete their 4th substitution, Samman Ghoddos on for Vitaly Yanelt, whilst Chelsea would complete their quota of 5 by sending on Aubameyang for Kai Havertz with 10 minutes of the match still to play.
The amount of Bees shots that should have been transformed into goals by the time Ghoddos came on that Kepa had crushed and rejected was incredible, but all I cared out by that point was that we use the 4 minutes of injury time to grab the full 3 points that our performance deserved. By this point both Josh Dasilva and Yoanne Wissa had been on the pitch for 17 minutes, having been introduced in place of Mbuemo and Mathias Jensen, but even with this added offensive firepower there was just no way past Kepa. The rest of the Chelsea team had long since abandoned their posts, but Kepa stood firm at his and refused to be beaten.
Kepa kept the score at 0-0 all the way through to the ref’s final whistle and helped Chelsea make off with a stolen point the rest of their play had done nothing to deserve. The way Brentford commanded possession and created chance after chance provided some form of silver lining to what was otherwise a frustrating match. For vast swathes of the match their only looked like being one winner, but thanks to Kepa there was none. I walked away infuriated at the Bees lack of sting in the final third but also buzzing about our chances of finding it as we went on the road to a managerless Aston Villa team in a few days’ time.
Join me for my next blog as I journey to Villa Park to see how that game went…
The Football tourist 