The Football tourist

This weekend was the big night in the FA Cup, the third round. This is the round where the big boys join the competition and those teams who have come through at least 2 rounds already have the chance to gain the scalp of a team that no-one would ever expect them to beat. The game I attended was one such opportunity.

The team with the opportunity for the scalp were Port Vale of League Two, who play their home games in the village of Burslem on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, and the team they were attempting to defeat were Brentford of the Premier League. The two team’s last meeting was in 2014 at Griffin Park, when the hosts won 2-0 as they sealed their promotion into the 2nd tier of English Football. Port Vale finished that season in a creditable 9th place to secure their second season in the league. They finished that season a mere 7 places apart in the league system but now, 8 years later, that gap has increased massively to 62 places at kick-off.

The gap between the teams was even more pronounced when considering the area they play in. Brentford have a modern, state of the art stadium in central London, whilst Port Vale play in a tiny stadium in a run-down village on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent. I had to head down to the village the evening before the match and if I thought Crewe was in a poor state before, it looks like Buckingham Palace levels of rich compared to Burslem.
The 25 minute walk to my hotel from the tiny station of Longport, least used station in Staffordshire, was up and over sludge covered roads as the snow of previous days melted away and it was the most miserable walk I have ever done. I knew very little about Port Vale before going to this match and now I know more about the area they are situated in than anyone could ever reasonably wish to know.

On the day of the match I completed the morning tasks that had forced me to travel down the day before, after all it’s difficult to be on a zoom call on a 2 and a half hour train journey which you also have to change trains during, and headed down to the stadium.

My hotel was a short 10 minute walk from the stadium and with so little else to do in the village, I arrived at the stadium with a long time to go before kick-off. I filled this time, first by heading into the club shop to buy a keyring for the team to add to my collection and when I saw they had programmes for sale in there too I bought one of those as well. Then I decided to take a lap of the stadium to see if any of it was nice to look at from the outside or if there were any interesting things to see around it. What I found was a statue to the Sproson family, whose contribution to Port Vale is legendary in that area. The named members of the family were Phil, Roy and Jess; they were two brothers and Jess’s son Phil who all spent the majority of their careers at Vale. Phil even went on to manage the team at the end of his playing days.

This statue was the only notable thing I saw on my lap and as it was outside the away players entrance I decided to see if I could catch the arrival of the last of the Bees’ coaches. EPL regulations currently require 3 coaches for the journey to away matches and whilst I had missed the arrival of the first 2 I caught the 3rd coach, which had been delayed by a police escort. That escort took the coach via a diversion and then sped off leaving the coach to fight through the traffic and arrive at the ground 15 minutes later than the others.

The players and Bees’ manager Thomas Frank had no problem getting into the stadium once they arrived though, but I was not so lucky. A problem with the ticket scanners at the turnstiles meant that it took me ages to get inside, so it was lucky I had the time. When I finally did get inside I headed to the food kiosk to the far right end of the stand and grabbed a pie and a drink before making my way into the stands to find an empty seat. The tickets had no reserved seats on them for away fans so it was simply first come, first served.

I settled into a seat directly behind the goal, but just far enough back that I was behind the only screen in the stadium and thus couldn’t see anything on it at all. There were seats further out, but they were behind pillars which blocked the view of the pitch so this was the best position available. It did make taking down the starting 11’s for each team difficult though and even more so as the tannoy was having serious sound issues, it would start off loud and then tail away to nothing just as the important information was being read out.
I was just about able to note down the two teams from seeing them in their huddles before kick off though. Through this method I realised that Brentford had given a first start to their January signing Lossl in goal, who had previously played for Huddersfield but joins the Bees from time playing in Germany. He may have been in the starting 11, but he was not on the programme so I wrote him in. I didn’t write in the Vale substitutes though as I thought only to worry about them if they came on, they did not.

The other major changes in the Bees’ squad were the return of record summer signing Ajer to the back line after a long injury layoff, with captain Pontus Jansson dropping to the bench. Toney was also on the bench to start this match as Mbuemo was also named on the bench on his return from injury. All these changes meant that it would be the untested partnership of Wissa and Forss leading the line for the Londoners.
The Port Vale starting 11 were all well rested as, due to postponements, they had not played a match since losing to fellow league 2 high fliers Newport on December 11th. They had not played a match at home since beating Hartlepool 2-0 on the 27th November so I was expecting a huge crowd for this one, but half of the seats in the stand away to my right were empty. It seems not even the chance of seeing their team beat an EPL team was worth the risk of the variants to many home fans.

The lack of a visible clock may not have been a reason for home fans to stay away but it did make the timings of any match events easy to work out, so all minutes will be extremely approximate throughout the match report. Before that though I just want to give a shout out to the person controlling the pre-match music as they played both Park Life and Hey Jude multiple times before kick-off. Park Life is just a great tune, but Hey Jude is the basis for a normal Bees’ pre-match chant and whilst that chant doesn’t use the whole song it was still lovely to have this familiarity to enjoy at an away game. It certainly helped me settle into the match.

Port Vale seemed settled in from the kick-off as they secured a freekick inside the Bees’ half in the first minute having gone straight on the attack. The freekick flew harmlessly over the bar, but going on the attack so early was certainly a signal of intent from the home team as they were not about to be overawed by their visitors. They had been opponents in League 1 just 9 seasons ago after all.

Vale went on the attack again in the 6th minute as they found space to get in on the right. The ball across field landed at the striker’s feet, who then lets it run across him and chases it to the by-line. He gets there in time to slot in back across the box, but this time Pinnock is there to clear it for the visitors. Bees then break up field and the ball is worked to Forss on the left, but he over-runs it before any chance can be created.

It took until the 10th minute for Brentford to create a chance of their own. They got in down the left but the cross lacked a little precision and meant that Dominic Thompson had to try for the spectacular at the far post to have any hope of getting it on target. Unfortunately for the visitors he is a full-back and his attempt at the spectacular failed impressively.

This chance and the gap between the teams in the league seemed to give the Bees confidence as they decided to play tika-taka in defence and it almost cost them in the 11th minute. The Port Vale players put the pressure on the Bees and this almost deflected the ball into the goal when Lossl finally decided to clear the ball upfield. Luckily for the visitors though the deflection was off the side of a Vale player and deflecting to a Bees’ midfielder.

The visitors then managed to hold onto possession without creating anything for the next few minutes. Vale broke out and upfield in the 15h minute. They launched the ball up the left and the race was on between the hosts David Amoo and Mads Bech for the visitors. Mads Bech won and cleared the ball away from danger for the Bees. It was another great attack for the visitors though and another reminder for their illustrious visitors that they would not simply be rolling over and letting them win.

The visitors responded to this by managing their first shot on target in the 20th minute. A cross from deep on the Bees right pinged around the area and from player to player on both teams, before it made its way to Wissa. His shot was on target from within the 6 yard box, but with the ball bouncing around so much to make it to him there was hardly any power on the shot and it simply dribbled to Stone in the Vale goal.

Vale were on the attack again in the 22nd minute when Mads Bech gave them a freekick 20 yards out on the right-side of the pitch. This was whipped in to the far post but unfortunately for the hosts Pinnock was there to head it away from just in front of their waiting striker.

This was the last chance Port Vale had with the scores as their Premier League visitors took the lead in the 26th minute. Their opener came through an attack down the centre of the pitch. Mads Bidstrup had a chance to shoot on goal, but as he is a midfielder he instead decided to lay the ball off to the onrushing Forss on his right. Forss stroked the ball across the keeper and in to the net. Cure wild celebrations all around me in the away end. Without the announcements I was too busy trying to work out who had scored and note it down to truly enjoy the joy of the moment. I thought this goal would open the floodgates for the visitors to walk to the win, but Vale were not going down without a fight.

In the 30th minute the Bees were almost gifted a 2nd goal when a cross from their right was knocked away from his own keeper by one of the home defenders under no pressure from anyone. This mistake almost let the ball make its way to the onrushing Bees strikers, but the defender was able to clear it just in time to keep the score at 1-0. They almost made it 2-0 themselves in the 34th minute as Janelt fired over from just inside the box.

The visitors were almost made to regret letting that gilt-edged chance go as Vale came extremely close to equalising in the 37th minute. Thompson slipped at left-back and the resulting Vale cross came inches away from flying straight in at the back post. If the hosts had someone running in at the back post it would have been a tap-in to equalise, but unfortunately they had no such player and Brentford were able to shepherd it behind for a goal-kick.

Another chance for a hosts equaliser came and went in the 42nd minute when a pass across his own 6 yard box by Lossl came millimetres from being turned home by Vale’s James Wilson. This kind of messing around at the back had now nearly cost the Bees on 2 separate occasions and it was frustrating to watch them seem to try to throw away their lead. I hope they don’t play like that going forward in the league or further rounds of the cup as better teams than Port Vale.

This was the final chance of the half as there was only 1 minute added on, or at least it only seemed like a minute. I have no idea how long it actually was as I missed the board and the tannoy once again died at the most important moment of the announcement. I have no idea why the tannoy was in such awful shape, but whatever the reason the first half ended 1-0 to the Premier League visitors. The host from League 2 were still in the match though and if they could just get a little more luck with their finishes they might yet win in the second half. One things for sure though, they weren’t making it easy for the visitors.

I went to grab a drink in half-time, but with the queues and with no announcements or screens in the concourse of the Hamill Stand (the away fans end for the match) I lost track of time a little and had missed the start of the second half by the time I returned to my seat. I don’t believe that I missed more than a couple of minutes and my fellow supporters assured me that I had not missed any goals. Whilst this was a relief to know, the fact still remains that I had missed some of the half and not knowing how much I had missed means that any minute markers I give for the second half should be taken with a heaping helping of salt.

That disclaimer out of the way onto the second half and in the 50th minute Vale won a corner on the right that sent the home fans into raptures as they did all they could to inspire a comeback from their team. The corner itself was massively overhit and then put behind for another corner. At the second time of asking things went no better for the hosts as Lossl was able to come and catch the ball just past the far post, it having flown over the heads of everyone in the 6 yard box.

Then in the 53rd minute the Vale manager Darrell Clarke decided to make his first change, bringing on Danny Amos for James Wilson and giving Vale a few minutes with both Amoo and Amos on the pitch. I say a few minutes because in the 59th minute Clarke was at it again making more changes and these changes saw David Amoo removed from the action along with James Gibbons, to be replaced by Dennis Politic and Mal Benning.
This was my impression whilst at the match at any rate, but further fact-checking whilst writing this blog has shown that Amos was not even in the Port Vale squad for the match and that it was instead Harratt who came on for James Wilson. Harratt was not on the programme and as I do this as a normal fan, without any access to offical team-sheets or other media aides I was unable to catch this mistake at the time.

With those changes out of the way the hosts had two chances in 2 minutes to equalise. First in the 60th minute when the somehow managed to guide the ball just wide from 6 yards out and then a minute late when a cross from the right was cleared off a Vale player’s feet by Pinnock in the Bees’ defensive line.

These chances made Thomas Frank decide that the time was now right for the visitors to make a double substitution of their own. Ajer’s return was bought to an end as Mads Roerslev replaced him in the back line and time was also called on Wissa’s match as he was replaced by the returning Bryan Mbuemo.

It was Mbuemo who would make the greater impression off the bench as he doubled the visitors lead 3 minutes after coming on. The ball was fed to Janelt in space in the centre of the pitch and he drove towards goal. His slide rule pass through the defence was perfectly into the path of Mbuemo, who took it in stride and slipped it to the keeper’s left. That’s 2-0 to Brentford and it felt like there was no way back into it for Port Vale.

3 minutes later Port Vale were back in the match with goal of their own. A cross from the left by the recently introduced Politic found its way to the head of Harratt, one of the Vale substitutes not on the programme and who I had mistaken for Amos when he came on in the 53rd minute. I did not know who had scored at the time and without the announcer working I had no way of finding out till I came to write this blog. It is only on double checking my facts whilst writing that I have found out about this mix-up I made on the day.

After their FA-Cup tie against Manchester United, Villa manager Steven Gerrard said that the fans had no idea what was going on during the VAR reviews and after checking my facts for this blog it’s clear that I had even less clue what was going on infront of me at this match. A screen that all fans can see or a working tannoy is an absolute must for football matches, particularly when the teams involved are not well-known or shown on TV often. Even a football-nut like me can make mistakes without them, so how is a casual fan supposed to cope. The mix-up is totally down to me, but a screen I could see or a working tannoy would have been a huge help.

Nonetheless, it was a goal for Port Vale and with the way they had been playing they were certainly back in the match now. It also gave the home fans something to celebrate and so they did. It was great to see the elation in the home stands and it was almost increased a minute later in the 70th minute as a shot from the right point of the box was only kept out by a last second Lossl dive.

Vale getting one back prompted another change for the visitors as they replaced Vitaly Janelt with Shandon Baptiste in the midfield and a minute later they went close to opening their lead up again with a pile driver from Saman Ghoddos that had to be parried away by Stone in the hosts goal.

It was almost level in the match in both the 75th and 77th minutes. in the 75th minute The hosts have the away defence all over the place, but their cross from the right evaded everyone and was knocked behind by Lossl. Then in the 77th minute Lossl was beaten by a chip as he rushed out to the edge of his box to beat the Vale striker to the ball. He was unsuccessful in this endeavour and it looked like the hosts may be drawing level. Unfortunately for them though the visitors defenders were back on the line to head it away from danger and save their keeper’s blushes. Vale came straight back again though and headed over from 12 yards out.

As the match entered the final 10 minutes the match was finely balanced, but a minute later the visitors had wrapped it up. The third Brentford goal came through Mbuemo once more, as he made his mark on his return to action after injury. His second came through a free running attack down the centre at speed. He looked for a pass but when there was none on and with the fans behind the goal urging him to shoot he let rip. He wrapped it round the defender and in off the post. Aidan Stone in the Port Vale goal stood no chance, it was a finish worthy of winning any game and it put took the game away from the hosts.

This third Brentford goal lead to changes for both sides. I have no idea who went on or off for the hosts, but the visitors took off Ghoddos and bought on Ivan Toney. The second Bees sub bought on Myles Peart-Harris for his first appearance in a while. Brentford bringing on their main striker just after they had confirmed their lead was a huge blow to the hosts and their hopes of getting back level in the time remaining.

Brentford should even have had a 4th goal in the 86th minute as Marcus Forss let rip from 15 yards. It was straight down the keeper’s throat, but the power on the shot meant he could only parry it to the feet of Peart-Harris yards from goal. His shot should have nestled in the back of the net, but instead it went straight into the keeper’s legs and away from danger. That should have been 4 for Brentford but Vale kept the deficit to just 2 for now.

A minute later Brentford had their 4th and the game was truly done. There were fouls on both Peart-Harris and Toney in the box, but it was the Toney one that the referee gave the penalty for. Normally Toney is the penalty taker for Brentford, but with Mbuemo on his hat-trick it was him who took the penalty. Mbuemo’s penalty was straight down the middle and that completes his hat-trick. The joy he took from scoring 3 on his return to action was written all over his face and I hope he can take the joy from this and turn it into excellent form in the league.

Brentford almost got a spectacular 5th in the penultimate minute of the match as Toney let fly from halfway. It looked for a minute as though it was going to beat the keeper, but at the last second Stone got back to prevent it crossing the line.

That was the last action of the half as Brentford made it through to the next round of the cup. Port Vale did better than the final score-line suggests, but an away win is still the right result all things considered. The reward for the Bees winning this match is an away draw at Benitez’s stuttering Everton. A game that I really hope to be able to get a ticket for,

There will be a little break in this blog though as I was unable to get a ticket for Brentford’s visit to Liverpool this weekend to play the red side of the city. Their game in London was a cracker that ended 3-3 and I’m sure their game this weekend will be just as brilliant. Being unable to get a ticket though I have made other plans for the weekend, so my next blog will be in at least a week’s time as I return to London next week for the rescheduled match between Brentford and Manchester United.

As we enter the new year I am jumping straight into the action at the first chance I have. The second day of the year and I’m already back at the football and this time it was a game that I knew I had a good chance of enjoying. The results from the first day of the year were not encouraging though as they had all been won by the away teams. When you add to that the results that Brentford had been getting in December, they hadn’t scored since the 10th of that month when they came back to win against Watford. That is only 3 games though in all competitions with the cancelled game against Man United in that time period.

Brentford were going to have their work cut out for them though as they were up against an Aston Villa team who have been on a true resurgence since Steven Gerrard took over. Villa have only lost to the top 3 teams in the league since Gerrard came in and it looked like a tall order for Brentford to become their fourth conquerors. Villa have looked a class team since Gerrard came in and he has brought his impressive revival skills to another huge British club. I always thought he would after the insane turn-around he achieved at Rangers and it’s lovely to be proved right. I was hoping that this game would provide a speed-bump for his revitalisation of Villa though.

This whole game was weird for me though as I was hoping to see Brentford win and turn their form around, but this meant rooting against the team managed by my boyhood hero. I was struggling the whole match with this dilemma all match and it was made even worse than it could have been due to the return of Mr. Gerrard to the side-lines after time isolating with the C word. To see my hero in the opposition dugout was such a strange sight and it took me most of the first half to get used to it.

The match was also an important one for both sides as they are only separated by 2 points in the table, with a win for the Bees taking them above Villa and a Villa win taking them into the top half of the table. To add to this it was also set up to be the return of Ollie Watkins to face his old team at their home stadium, not the Griffin Park Stadium he used to play for them in though as they moved to their new stadium in the season after he made the move to Villa Park. All these factors combined made this match the most surreal experience of my life in football stadiums.

One of the surreal factors was taken out of the equation early on though as Watkins was not included in the Villa squad for the match and I don’t know why this is, but whatever the reason for his omission was it removed some of the drama from the match and robbed Watkins of the heroes return he would have been given by the Bees fans. It was not only Watkins missing for the visitors though as they were also without Tyrone Mings, Axel Tuanzebe and Marvelous Nakamba.

Villa were not alone in missing normal starters though as the Bees were without Mbuemo and Rico Henry in their squad. It was Villa however that stuck to the new tradition of away teams naming players in their squad who aren’t mentioned on the programme, just the two this time though and they were substitutes Iroegbunam (number 47) and Feeney (59). Neither of them entered the fray at any point though so perhaps taking the time to jot their names down on the programme was wasted, particularly as it took 3 tries to ensure I spelt Iroegbunam’s name correctly. With those matters all taken care and the traditional pre-match rituals taken care of the teams were ready to get the match underway.

The first 5 minutes of the match were not all that exciting on the pitch as both teams felt their way into it, so the Villa fans took the opportunity to educate the home fans on a few facts about their club and its’ players. Well actually only one of their players as they revealed in their chant supporting their right back Matty Cash that he is Polish. This is certainly something I was unaware of and as there are no longer flags next to the player’s names on the programme, like there used to be in seasons past. The second memorable Villa chant highlighted their European Cup Final win over Bayern Munich in 1982, their only European Cup success but still one more than Arsenal, Spurs and Everton have combined. Though in fairness to the north London rivals they have both at reached the final at least.

Anyway, the first on pitch action of the match occurred in the 9th minute of the match when the host’s Mathias Jensen mis-timed his jump as the ball flies across the area and land at the feet of a Villa player on the edge of the box, who skies his effort well over the bar and behind for a goal kick. The first chance of the match for the visitors and no more than their early play deserved as Brentford’s form from the end of 2021 continued.

Villa had another gilt-edged chance to take the lead present itself to them in the 12th minute as Ivan Toney lost the ball in midfield and gifted possession to the visitors who fed the ball through to Danny Ings on the left side of the box and with just the keeper to beat, he fired his shot into the side netting as he tried to win the battle at the near post. He made up for that miss just 3 minutes later though when he was once again fed the ball on the left side of the hosts box. This time he drilled his shot across the keeper and into the net near the far post to open the scoring for Villa.

The goal was a team play of sheer beauty and nothing more than their play so far in the match deserved. They had been in control of the match from kick-off, managing to keep possession from the start and they had been probing to find ways through the deep defensive set-up of the hosts long before they found the way through to Ings for their goal. The Villa fans celebrated taking the lead by letting off a flare in their end and at that time in the match it looked like they were celebrating the first of many as they were truly on top in all the important battles in the match. The hosts badly needed to improve if they were to have any chance of taking anything from the match.

The hosts had their first chance of the game in the 19th minute as they finally got a small bout of possession and broke up the pitch on through Canos on the left, but just as they got into space for the first time the ref whistled time on their attack. The ref made this whistle up due to a Villa player being flat on the pitch. I didn’t see the incident that put the Villa player in that position and whilst it certainly seemed like the right call by the ref, to stop the game, it was also awful timing in the middle of the Bees first attack of the match.

It was also the Bees last attack for a while as Villa regained the control they had been enjoying all half. Villa even came one block away from doubling their lead just 4 minutes later. Their corner to the back post was headed towards goal from 10 yards out only to bounce of the back of another Villa player and away from danger. This was a comical screw-up from my perspective, but from the Villa perspective it was a wasted chance that they would come to regret later in the match.

Later in the match almost meant just 2 minutes later as Kortney Hause in the Villa defence came inches away from scoring the own goal of the season. He lets a chip fly from the far left side of the box which the keeper has no chance of getting too and which landed in the side netting, to the relief of both the Villa players and their fans. It would have been a brilliant piece of skill if it had ended in the back of the net and an equaliser that the hosts would not have deserved.

In the 28th minute Villa got in behind again as a 30 yard pass over the top, on the right, for their winger to run onto had Jansson beaten completely. Luckily for the hosts Pinnock was sprinting over from the left side of the pitch and got their in time to prevent the cross from coming in. Villa regrouped though and worked the ball back to McGinn on the edge of the box. Unfortunately he ballooned his shot over the bar, but the ease with which Villa were opening up the home defence every time they attacked was worrying and it looked like only a matter of time before the floodgates opened for an easy Villa win. Brentford had been utterly awful so far and would need to seriously improve to have any hope in this match.

They had their first meaningful chance a minute later though as they finally woke up and realised they were in a football match here. Wissa wrestled the ball free on the left and got running. He worked the ball to Jensen on the left side of the box who got the first shot on the board for the hosts. He volleyed the ball just over the top and sparked the hosts to life. A real end to end football game emerged from the previous one-way Villa traffic and the first act of this new game was for the teams to trade yellow cards for cutting out each others attacks.

The hosts then won a freekick just inside their half, in the 32nd minute, that they attempted to take quickly and catch the Villa players napping. They managed this and it look like Toney had fed the ball through to a free running Wissa in the box, only for the ref to pull them back to retake the freekick. In their haste the hosts had taken the freekick from yards forward of the spot of the original foul, which meant the ball was in the wrong half of the pitch and made it easy for the ref to spot. Not the best mistake for the hosts to make, but it at least showed the new energy and will to play that they had discovered minutes earlier.

Wissa then ballooned a shot over the bar from 6 yards out in the 34th minute before Villa went on the attack again. This time though it was Villa’s turn to have an attack whistled off when they were in a promising position. They had the ball running free through the centre to Ings when the ref blew them up and gave a freekick to Brentford for a foul that he had seen in the way that Villa had got the ball. Even as a Bees fan it looked soft, but on the football pitch the ref’s word is law and so it was now 1-1 in whistled off attacks for between the teams.

In the 39th minute the football took a back seat as a set to developed in the Villa box between Toney and Hause. They threw each other to the turf, but it looked to be nothing more than handbags and it also looked like one of those incidents that is 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. A yellow a-piece and a drop ball seemed the way forward to me, but the ref instead gave a freekick to Villa and no cards at all. This made no sense to me but as I have said before, the ref’s word is law.

After those two moments of parity between the two teams the hat-trick of parity was reached as the Bees achieved parity on the scoresheet too. Their equaliser came in the 42nd minute through the excellent Yoanne Wissa. The ball was well worked on the Bees’ left as Roerslev and Wissa played a 1-2 to bypass the Villa midfield and then Roerslev fed the ball to Wissa again. He advanced to the edge of the box before unleashing a driven shot into the bottom left corner of the goal. Martinez in the Villa goal stood no chance of stopping it as the Bees got themselves back into the match. It was the hosts first goal in more than 3 weeks and a team move of sheer beauty that got them back into this match.

The hosts almost had a second with the final attack of the half as Canos and Toney exchanged passes on the Bees left flank, before Canos unleashed a quality cross to the penalty spit. He was expecting Toney to be there and he would have been if he had continued his run, but instead Toney hadn’t moved since his last pass to Canos and Villa were able to clear the ball away. The first half ended with the scored at 1-1 and whilst the hosts were happy with that, the visitors will have gone in at half time knowing that they should have been ahead after their dominance of the first half hour.

That early Villa dominance and the later resurgence of the Bees must’ve left both managers feeling happy with their team’s performance as neither made any changes at half-time.

Sometimes the half-time break halts the momentum of the team on top before the whistle, but not this time as within a minute Roerslev was able to volley the ball goalwards from the edge of the box. His volley lacked power however and Martinez had more than enough time to get across and catch it. Roerslev was at the forefront of the Bees play again in the 52nd minute as his header away from a Villa cross set the Bees clear on the break down the right hand side. This promising break fell victim to ref’s whistle and put the hosts 2-1 up on this score. This time however the ref’s decision to stop play was vindicated as it became clear that Canos was in some severe discomfort on the right side of the Villa box. The treatment given to him by the medics was clearly unable to fix whatever the problem was as he had to be substituted 2 minutes later.

The bad luck for the Bees continued in the 60th minute as Mathias Jensen went down right in front of me clutching his leg. It appeared at first to be a groin issue, but when he hobbled off the pitch minutes later it became clear that it was more likely to be a hamstring problem. Canos was replaced by Saman Ghoddos and Jensen by Shandon Baptiste, but if these two are out for the long term then the Bees squad which is already stretched by injuries to David Raya, Rico Henry and Bryan Mbuemo will begin to look wafer thin and some reinforcements in this current transfer window appear a must for the depleted hosts.

For this game though the hosts changes appeared to give Villa a second wind as they produced two chances in as many minutes. Both of these came from long balls over the top. The first fell to Ezri Konsa in the penalty area but his touch let him down at the crucial moment and the ball dribbled to Fernandez between the sticks for the Bees. The second chance fell to Danny Ings on the edge of the box and his powerful shot had to be deflected wide by the Bees defence.

This Villa momentum was brought to an end in the 69th minute as Gerrard decides to shuffle his pack. He took off Jacob Ramsey and replaced him with Morgan Sanson. Ramsey had been a little anonymous in the second half so it seemed to be a sensible switch, but this switch seemed to give the Bees a little extra momentum for some unknown reason and they created the next presentable chance of the match in the 75th minute.

A sweeping Bees attack fed the ball through to Frank Onyeka on the edge of the Villa box. He cut inside one defender and let fly, his shot sailing inches wide of the post as the hosts came extremely close to taking the lead in a game they had looked like losing comprehensively in the first 30 minutes.

Villa then had an attack of their own in the 77th minute when only a sliding tackle from the covering Ivan Toney prevented them from getting in behind the hosts defence. The ref gave Toney a yellow for the challenge and at this point I was quite relieved the ref had taken a different view of the first half set to than I had or that would have been Toney’s marching orders. As it was though Toney remained on the pitch and the Villa player he had tackled received treatment before play resumed.

The last 10 opened with a substitution from both sides. Villa replaced Bertrand Traore with Trezuguet for his final appearance before he heads off to compete with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. For the hosts Frank Onyeka was removed from the action and replaced by Vitaly Janelt.

It was Villa who had the first chance of the last 10 minutes with a glancing header off a freekick from the left hand side that flew straight into the keeper’s grateful arms. That happened in the 82nd minute and a minute later the hosts had the lead. The second goal for the Bees came from the right hand side as the ball was worked forward to Roerslev. His first shot was blocked, but the ball rebounded straight too him and he made no mistake at the second time of asking. He slid it under the keeper’s diving body and into the back of the net.

That was Roerslev’s first ever goal for Brentford and the first time Brentford had been ahead in a match since beating Watford 2-1 on the 10th of December. They would win again here, but not before Villa put them to the test and forced them to defend that lead with every fibre of their being.

In the 85th minute Villa broke upfield and worked the ball into the Brentford box. Their first shot from 6 yards out was brilliantly kept out by Fernandez and the rebound was hacked to safety by Bees captain Pontus Jansson. Where this fighting spirit had been from the Bees in the first 30 minutes of the match beats me, but I was glad they had it here.

Villa came again though and came close to an equaliser in the 90th minute as the hosts blocked chance after chance. First Villa had a shot blocked from within the box, then one blocked as they let fly from the edge of the D, then a third chance went begging as Targett headed just wide at the back post.

Their were 5 added minutes at the edge of the 90 and my nerves could’ve done without that. Villa had chances to equalise twice within these added minutes. They first had two corners in a row that they almost scored from. Fernandez had to get down low to his left to smuggle a header round the post from the first one and then punched the ball off a Villa striker’s head from the second. Villa refused to be beaten though and produced one final chance. This time a freekick on halfway was fired up field and landed at the feet of Hause on the edge of the box. His attempt to square the ball to a teammate was cut out by the Bees defence who put it behind for another Villa corner. Martinez came up for this one too, but even having the keeper up was not enough to force the ball into the goal and the match ended 2-1 to Brentford.

Villa can feel hard done by not to get at least a point from the match as they absolutely deserved it. The result as it is though catapults Brentford above Villa and into 12th place, which makes them by far and away the best newly promoted team of the season and makes their decision to roll-over their current kit for next season too look far less optimistic than it first appeared. My apologies must go to Mr. Gerrard though as his team deserved a point from the match and to see my boyhood hero leave the game with no points for his team just feels wrong. It’s how things worked out though and on the showing from both teams they will finish the season far away from any worries at the wrong end of the table.

Since the match Villa have bought in Gerrard’s old Liverpool teammate Coutinho in on loan till the end of the season and I hope this works out for both parties far better than his move to Barcelona did.

The next blog will come from the Midlands as Brentford visit Port Vale this weekend in the FA Cup 3rd round and I will be present at the match as the League Two side look to gain a Premier League scalp. Cupset on the cards?

Manchester City are a team known for 2 things.
1. Winning every domestic title going
2. Playing in front of half empty for huge European games

The reasons they are known for these things were both on full display in my last match of 2021.

The match in question was their visit to Brentford and as a home fan I went into this match with extremely no expectations of seeing my team win. City have a team stocked full of expensively bought world class stars who came into the game top of the table by 6 points and in brilliant form. They had scored seven, four and six goals in their last 3 matches coming into this one and given that this one was against a newly promoted team I expected them to score at least five in this one. Brentford are also not in good form going into this one, with 1 win and 4 losses in their last 5. That one win being against newly promoted Watford who are hovering above the relegation zone.

I attempted to arrive at the ground in time for the arrival of the away team coach because the hype around City is so high that even I wanted to see some of their players emerge, but due to delays on the tube I arrived about 15minutes too late for the coach. This was a good sign of how disappointing my whole evening would be.

The second sign was the clear lack of defence and the weakened bench that City had bothered to show up with. They had no Walker or Stones in their squad and both Steffen and Carson, of Euro 2008 qualifying fame, as their goalkeeper on the bench. They even followed Chelsea’s lead from last week by naming a debutant on the bench and not include him on the programme. Just the one this time though and this time he didn’t even play.

On the subject of those who didn’t play, Rico Henry was out of the Bees squad for reasons I’m not aware of, Bryan Mbuemo missed out with injury and Canos was only named on the bench. So both teams were missing some of their main players and this had a clear negative effect on the game.

From kick-off Man City played keep ball camped in the Bees half and did all they could not to do anything with it but pass it to someone else in blue. It was a dreadful game to watch and were it not for the hype surrounding city leading me to hope that the game might spark alive at some point I would’ve walked out at half-time. Once City took the lead with their only piece of skill in the 17th minute they were content to simply hog the ball in their attacking half and pass it between each other for the rest of the match. Brentford rarely threatened to get the ball either and on those rare occasions they did get the ball they did not look like scoring.

City’s goal was the only move of any quality all match and came from a 40 yard pass that picked out De Bruyne on the right side of the penalty box and he dropped a gorgeous ball onto the feet of Phil Foden on the other side of the box to stroke it home. It was an incredible move by the visitors and far more like what I expected to see from Man City all match. It’s a crying shame that this was the only time they showed the class that they undoubtedly have in their team. It was also almost taken away by a VAR check for offside, but this was dismissed by the VAR official relatively quickly.

It also came during the only time in the match when the hosts had actually got hold of the ball and unlike the visitors they had threatened to do things with it, namely to score. They pounced on a defensive mix-up by City to get in behind. A quick 1-2 between Wissa and Onyeka and the former attempted to cross the ball to Ivan Toney waiting on the penalty spot. The cross never made it to Toney though as it was cut out and turned towards his own net by Ruben Dias, luckily for the visitors Ederson was switched on and dived low to his right to keep the scores at 0-0 and within 2 minutes City had taken the lead.

These two breakouts of a football match aside the first half was boring to the point of being a cure for insomnia. I even found myself drifting off at points during the match due to the dross on the pitch. I have never come close to this level of boredom at a football match before.

At half time though it seemed that both managers were satisfied with what they had seen as neither of them made any substitutions and the game got back underway. The lack of changes on either side meant a return to the dross ball that had been seen in the first half after the first 5 minutes that is.

City even had the ball in the net a second time in the 50th minute when a cross from the left found Foden in space in the box and he finished it across goal, only for the assistant on the far side to raise his flag and correctly rule the goal out for offside.

That was the last bit of interesting play for 16 minutes though till De Bruyne tried to bring some enjoyment back into the match with a great effort from distance that Fernandez had to get down to his left to palm away. The ball then bounced up and De Bruyne went for the spectacular, which would have really livened up the match, but his bicycle kick could only find the side netting.

This was the final enjoyable part of the match though as City settled into their keep ball and it got to the point where even their own fans started drifting off a bit. I looked towards the City fans and saw a few of them yawning and a couple more with their heads resting on the shoulder of the fan next to them, who I assume they knew. When your ‘football’ has this effect on your own fans you have to know that something has gone wrong.

There were chants of ‘Boring, boring City’ from the home fans and Mexican Waves in the stands throughout the second half and I’m surprised it took that long for them to begin.
The main thing that stands out in my mind from the second half, apart from the lack of skill or effort on display, was the amount of diving from the visitors.

The player in City’s ranks with a reputation for diving is Raheem Sterling, but with him on the bench for this one his teammates took over. First through the number 10 they bought from Villa in the summer of 2021 for a reported £100million. In the second half he took to falling over with no-one near him and the ref kept giving him free-kicks for it so he kept doing it and then having seen how well it worked for his teammate City’s goalscorer decided to get in on the act too. For the last 20minutes the ref was taken in by so many questionable City moves that it became embarrassing.

Those were the most interesting parts of the most boring match it has ever been my misfortune to bear witness too. The fact that there were so few of them made this a real drudge of a blog to write as I had to re-live the horror of the match.

City win domestic matches by doing everything they can to stop their opposition getting the ball and they play in front of empty stadiums in Europe because their fans are only willing to sit through their brand of football if they know they will get the glory of a win. United used to be the team that glory hunting fans would have followed in the past, but they have now crossed the city of Manchester to support the noisy neighbours (from their homes in the south of course).

This match was at least a fitting end to the year though, an awful match to end an awful year both for me personally and for the world. Hopefully 2022 will be better for all of us and the world situation will improve soon too.

I will be back with my first blog of the new and improved year next week, when I’m back up north again and blogging about the last game of my holiday get away in London as Brentford start the new year hosting Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa. No matter what happens in that match one things for sure, it can’t help but be more exciting than this one was.

I have loyalty to two English teams, Liverpool and Brentford. Liverpool were my boyhood team, the team I have supported since I was 5 and one of the reasons I chose the city as the place to rebuild my life when such a place became necessary earlier this year. Brentford on the other hand are my main team these days. I have been going to their games since 2015 when they were in League 1 and have followed their rise to the Premier League going to as many games as possible each season.

I bring this up because when I was 10 Liverpool gave me the greatest football moment of my life with the 6 marvellous minutes in the miracle of Istanbul, the most incredible comeback in sporting history. This match was when Brentford reciprocated by giving me their own version of it, the 5 miserable minutes of north London.

The match that delivered the eponymous 5 minutes was a matter of Deja-vu for me as I have already blogged the league meeting of these two teams at this very stadium mere months ago. The teams involved are Brentford and their fellow Londoners, visitors once more, Chelsea and the stadium is the Brentford Community Stadium. The league game with those parameters was extremely hard fought and narrowly won by Chelsea by just a single goal. Will this game, in the League Cup Quarter finals, follow the same script or will here be a joker in the pack?

Well the first joker was one I expected, lots of changes from Chelsea. They are dealing with lots of injuries at the minute and when you add the challenges of Covid too that it was the smart move for them to ring the changes for this match and rest their main players for their league title tilt. To this end Lukaku, Thiago Silva, Werner, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi and Edouard Mendy were all omitted from the matchday squad. This meant a rare start for Kepa between the sticks for Chelsea and 5 debutants in the matchday squad.

Three of those debutants made the staring 11, but they didn’t make the programme. I was scrabbling to write them down as they were announced. What was that name? Xavier Simons. At least that’s not too hard to write, but what was his number? No idea, come back to it. Wait who was that? Harvey Vale. Great another one not on the programme, but simple to write out. Again no idea of the number, come back to it. A third debutant? What was the name? Jude, easy to write. Wait a sec, Jude Soonsup-Bell. Small and quick write it down, thank goodness he’s the last one to write can come back to his number later. The debut substitutes, just get surnames and worry about the rest later.

I was able to get the numbers as the teams were displayed on the screen minutes before kick-off. It was 54 for Xavier Simons, 68 for Harvey Vale and 64 or 84 for Jude Soonsup-Bell, I was writing too quickly to be able to actually read what I’ve written. What I did understand about the debutants in the starting 11 though is that there was one for each area of the field. Simons was Right-back in the defence, Vale was in the midfield and on his debut appearance for the Blues Soonsup-Bell was given the task of standing in for Lukaku and leading the line, talk about in at the deep end. The debutants on the bench were Webster 71 and Hall 75, neither came on though so I have no idea where they play.

Brentford for their part were at almost full strength with the only notable exception to this being Toney only being named on the bench as he continues his return from a bout of Covid and Raya who is out for months to come with a long-term injury. Instead of changes Brentford went for atmosphere. They created the atmosphere pre-match with an impressive lights show.

I got to the stadium with about 10 minutes to go to kick-off and when I walked up the stairs into the stands I was walking out into a pitch black stadium. With all the postponements that were happening elsewhere in the leagues I wondered, was some huge practical joke being played on me?

I had my answer seconds later as the screen on the far side of the stadium lit up with the face of Thomas Frank who said a single word ‘Action’. This started off an incredible light show that sparked the atmosphere in the stands and had the useful side effect of helping me find my seat. Once I was settled in the seat and the light show came to an end the match was ready to go.

Despite all the Chelsea changes they were the team who started the match on top. They hogged the ball for the first 9 minutes, just wouldn’t let their hosts near it. It was just a shame for the visiting fans that Chelsea hadn’t put their shooting boots on yet. Chelsea got into so many excellent positions with intricate build-up play but then they ran out of ideas when it came to creating the chance they needed to turn dominance into goals. Their debutant striker taking time to build his way into the game.

Their fans were doing all they could to inspire them though with an impressive array of chants, from ‘one man and his dog’ to a rip-off of Liverpool’s ‘Bring on your…’ chant from their European games across the last few seasons. These chants inspired Chelsea to put the Brentford goal under siege, but they couldn’t inspire Chelsea to actually put the ball in the net because Chelsea didn’t take the shots that may have helped the ball end up there.

Brentford finally broke out of the siege in the 9th minute and it was a simple hoofed clearance that did it. That ball found Mbuemo in behind the Chelsea defence with just the keeper to beat, but instead of beating Kepa he decided to be unselfish and pass the ball to the onrushing Wissa for what would have been an easy tap-in to give the Bees the lead against the run of play. Unfortunately for the expectant home fans the pass was lacking in quality and went sailing behind Wissa. A huge waste of a simple chance for the hosts.

They would waste another simple chance just 3 minutes later. This time their breakout came down the left as Rico Henry got in behind the visiting defence. His first cross was blocked, but it bounced straight back to him so he had another go. The second cross was much more successful and landed at the feet of Mbuemo on the edge of the box and his attempt to pick out Wissa was successful as well this time. Wissa was the unsuccessful one as his header from point-blank range was kept out by a Kepa save off the line. Chelsea then tried to get an attack going on the break which was cut out by Vitaly Janelt, who went into the ref’s book for his troubles.

Then it was back to the Chelsea siege and they’d finally found their shooting boots and started creating chances that threatened the hosts goal. The first time they threatened was in the 17th minute when a pullback to the edge of the box was volleyed on the turn which sailed within a couple of feet of the post. The closest Chelsea had come so far in the game.
Then 2 minutes later they came even closer to opening their account. The cross from the Chelsea right evades all the home defenders and tempted the keeper out of position too to reach a visiting player at the back post. He decided that a looping header back across goal was the right call at that point and this gave the keeper time to recover and catch the ball on the line.

Chelsea almost gifted their hosts a goal they hadn’t earnt in the 22nd minute though when a clearance from Kepa in space in his box bounced off Mbuemo’s back and skimmed inches wide of the right-hand post. It would have been the most hilarious goal I’d ever seen at a football match, but it was not to be and Chelsea settled right back into their siege of the hosts goal.

The next Chelsea chance came in the 25th minute as they got in down the left and then the cross almost went straight into the net. Luckily for the home fans though Fernandez spotted it and got in position to stop it crossing the line. The ball bounced to the feet of a Chelsea player 10 yards from goal who could only volley it over the top.

3 minutes later Chelsea had 3 guilt edged chances blocked in a single minute as they broke upfield from a Brentford corner. The first of them was a cross that was on target and the second and third were shots from within the box that hit home players in the midriff. The Chelsea fans at the other end of the ground shouted for handball on each of these blocks, but the midriff is not the hand and the ref didn’t even consider it.

Brentford finally managed a prolonged break out in the 30’s though as Rico Henry burned past Simons at right back for Chelsea and crossed into the area which was met by Jensen at the back post and was saved at point blank range by Kepa once again. Chelsea were on top for most of the half, but spent these 10 minutes trading blows with their hosts, it was such an engrossing end to end period of the match that I even stopped making notes on it. I never do that so I’m sorry you’re missing out on the most incredible part of the match.

I got back to my notes 5 minutes before the end of the first half as a 40yard pass from Jensen picked out Rico Henry on the Bees left, the only part of the pitch that the hosts had any joy in during this half. Instead of crossing, as he usually does, Rico waltzed into the box without a visiting player laying a finger on him. It would have been a brilliant individual goal if his shot had not been straight at Kepa in the Chelsea goal who was able to palm it behind for a corner that the hosts completely wasted.

Chelsea took back control for the final few minutes of the first half and created two opportunities in the final two minutes of it. The fist of which was a deep cross from the left that evaded almost everyone in the 6 yard box and was then headed towards goal at the back post from point blank range. This time though it was the host’s keepers turn for some goal line heroics as he positioned himself perfectly to catch the ball on the line. His clearance up field however was less heroic as it went straight to a man in blue and Chelsea went right back onto the attack.

This attack was cut out on the edge of the area by a Sergi Canos foul and Chelsea had the perfect chance to end the half with the goal their dominance deserved. They put the free kick straight into the wall. It was the Chelsea players this time that shouted for a handball the ref was never giving them, whilst Mbuemo took the chance to break upfield. Marcus Alonso cleared out Mbuemo on halfway to stop this break in it’s tracks in the last act of the half and earnt himself a card in the process.

Despite Chelsea’s dominance of possession they went in at the break level with their hosts and this spurred Tuchel into action. He made a double substitution at half time and had clearly identified end product as Chelsea’s main problem ad he called time on Soonsup-Bell’s debut up front and replaced him with Pulisic. He also made a tactical change in midfield by replacing Kovacic with the much more defensively minded Jorginho in an attempt to minimise the danger caused by Brentford’s breakouts.

I also believe that Tuchel must have really laid into his players at half time because they came out for the second half with a new desire to attack with purpose. They got in behind in the first minute of the half and unleased a shot that was blocked yards from goal. Brentford used this block to go straight on the attack themselves and make an attempt to chip the keeper, but Kepa was equal too it.

It took till the 53rd minute for Chelsea to threaten again. This time they got in down the right and then Brentford almost shot themselves in the foot. The cross from the Chelsea right evaded most of the defenders and Pulisic by inches only to ricochet off Henry at the far post and towards the goal, but there again was Fernandez to scramble it behind. That’s twice off the line from each keeper, if only Fernandez could’ve made it three. That moment comes later.

First though Chelsea threaten again in the 56th minute as this time a through ball evades everyone by mere inches and sails through to Fernandez. Then Chelsea took the time to almost shoot themselves in the foot 2 minutes later when a Brentford corner was punched clear by Kepa to land at Mbuemo’s feet on the edge of the box only for a Chelsea player to skittle him and give away a tasty freekick to the hosts. They wasted this golden chance and Chelsea settled back into their siege for another 10 minutes, but without the impetus of the half time changes and team talk behind them this siege failed to truly threaten.

Perhaps this is what motivated double changes by both teams in the 66th minute. Tuchel removed the remaining debutants from action and sent on Mount and James to push his team forward and add some badly needed cutting edge to their attacks. Frank for his part decided now was the moment to go on the attack after surviving so many Chelsea sieges and thus he introduced the talismanic Toney to the fray as he continues his return from a bout with Covid last month. Frank also bought on Norgaard and removed Janelt and Wissa from action.

These changes didn’t change much in the overall patterns of the game though as it was Chelsea back on the attack again in the 68th minute. Winning a freekick on the right that was curled beautifully on target, but once again Fernandez was equal too it and punched it out. The punch lacked power though and the ball fell to a man in blue in the centre of the box, but luckily for the keeper his defenders were on hand to deflect the resulting shot wide of the posts and Chelsea wasted the corner.

This was enough to convince Frank that his previous subs weren’t enough and that more changes were needed if his team were going to have any chance of grabbing a goal and snatching victory from this game that they had simply been surviving up till now. The changes he decided on though made absolutely no sense to me. He bought on Ghoddos and Onyeka, both attacking players who may be able to sneak a goal out of nothing, but he took off Rico Henry at this point. Rico had been the only Brentford player getting any joy on the attack so far this game so to remove him from play when you’re desperately looking to create chances against a team that has been cutting off all other options to you seemed foolish to me. This change also meant that a new formation was needed as neither player entering the fray could take on the defensive duties that Rico had at right back.

This change was then followed 2 minutes later by the arrival of rain clouds over the stadium and there is no escape from the rain in the front two rows where I just happened to be sitting. This felt like a bad omen to me at the time and unfortunately I was to be proven right within minutes. Brentford had survived the Chelsea onslaught for 78 minutes and their visitors still didn’t look any closer to scoring under their own steam. The Bees just had to survive 11 more minutes and they would make it to penalties and the chance to make it to the League Cup semi-finals for the second season running. I had even managed to begin hoping that this could happen, so it was at this point that things took an extreme turn for the worse. Cue the 5 miserable minutes.

This 5 miserable minutes lasted from the 79th to 84th minute of the match and this is when Brentford took it upon themselves to destroy any chance they had of winning the match and instead hand the win to Chelsea on a silver platter. There had been many Chelsea crosses that evaded everyone in the box and Rico Henry had almost turned one of them into his own net earlier in the match only for Fernandez to bail him out. This time Brentford captain Pontus Jansson decided to show Rico how it should be done. He met a Chelsea cross the back post and shanked his clearance into his own net, 1-0 to Chelsea and they hadn’t even had to score it themselves. Crushed is too soft a word for how I felt in that moment and there was worse to come.

Exactly 5 minutes later Chelsea had a second goal and once again it was gifted to them by a Brentford mistake. This time the goal came from the penalty spot. It was a driven pass from deep on the right that caught Brentford flat footed and Chelsea had Mount running onto it unmarked as he had already left Jansson for dead as the Brentford captain failed to track his runner. Mount was easily beaten to the ball by Fernandez, but the bees keeper cleared out Mount as he went to clear the ball. It was a clear penalty and 2 mistakes from Bees’ players that lead to it. The penalty was stroked home by Jorginho to put the game to bed for the visitors and conclude the 5 miserable minutes for me.

Brentford had survived so many Chelsea attacks without looking like conceding and were minutes away from making it to penalties only to then surrender the match in 5 miserable minutes and 3 unforced errors.

They should’ve had a penalty of their own in the 87th minute when Marcus Forss, who had come on during the 5 miserable minutes, was charging into the box and got taken out by Kepa, the Chelsea keeper, with the ball having already passed him by. It was a clear penalty that the ref didn’t even look at giving. It would’ve only been a consolation for the hosts, as they didn’t threaten again before the final whistle but it was still a penalty and should have been given. The topic of refereeing consistency has been a hot topic in the Premier League in recent weeks, but it should also be talked about in regards to other competitions too.

The only thing not in doubt though is that however it came about Chelsea deserved to win the match and they could have added a goal all of their own making in the 3 added minutes at the end of the 90. Mount had worked his way into space on the left side of the box and only had the keeper to beat, but instead of shooting he passed the ball across the box to a teammate that wasn’t there.

Chelsea fans won’t mind about all that though as they won the match 2-0 at the final whistle and made it through to the Semi-finals where they will face Tottenham Hotspur. If Brentford had won this match then the Semi-final would’ve been the same one that they lost last season and a chance for revenge. As it is though Chelsea have a golden chance to make it through to the final as, on current form, they go into that Semi-final as the favourites. Good luck to them.

My next blog will also probably be another Brentford loss as they host Manchester City in their final game of the calendar year. I just hope Man City have to earn the win through some exceptional skill by one of their multitude of world class players and not from an unforced Bees error. Find out if my hope is realised in the new year as I am too busy in the next few days to write it up then.

Happy New Year to you all and may 2022 be a vast improvement on 2021.

With all the cancellations of matches that we have been seeing this last week (see last blog for details) I was unsure if I would be able to find a game to go to this weekend. I thought I had found one in Brighton’s WSL visit to non-league Borehamwood FC to play Arsenal, till that game fell to the second wave of the apocalypse. For that game to be ripped out from under me was a huge personal disappointment because I used to go to a lot of Arsenal Women’s games before the pandemic and they were also the only team I was able to go to a match for between the lockdowns last year.

Arsenal are my WSL team and I was looking forward to seeing them beat Brighton and increase their unbeaten record this season, but with that game off the table I was forced to look elsewhere. Luckily the message about the cancellation of the match had been sent to me the evening before the match so I had time to find another match. The match I found was at another non-league Men’s ground, this time Barnet FC which also serves as the home ground for Spurs Women’s team.

That’s right, having originally planned to go to an Arsenal game I crossed the North London divide and went to a Spurs one instead. It would not have been my first choice of game to go to either as even in the Men’s game I prefer Arsenal to Spurs, despite my ex-boss being an Arsenal fan, but with so many others games falling foul of the apocalypse and needing my football fix I decided to head to this one. It was made slightly easier to swallow when I realised that they were playing Everton Women who’s Walton Hall Park ground I had already visited once and having not blogged about that match against another team I dislike (Man U) here was a chance to blog a game of theirs. I couldn’t pass up that opportunity when it had fallen into my lap.

If the Arsenal game had gone ahead as planned I would’ve been watching the league leaders take on 4th place but with that mouth watering encounter now postponed my back up game was 3rd vs 9th. A bit of a step down for sure but I was still determined to enjoy myself and with the other 2 WSL games being in Leicester and Manchester to get my fix I had no other choice

On the plus side though the Hive is certainly easier for me to get to than Borehamwood FC. To get to the Hive all you need to do once you’re in London is get the tube to Cannon’s Street on the Jubilee Line, just one stop from it’s terminus at Stanmore. From that station you simply cross the road turn left and the gate is on your right less than a 2 minute walk away. Go through that gate, you’ll know it when you see it, past the community pitches and a further 2 minutes later you’re at the ground.

I headed straight for the ticket office and picked up my £8 ticket for my seat in the legends stand, the only stand they open up for Women’s matches at the Hive, and made my way around to the other side of the stadium to make my way inside. There was a programme seller right outside the turnstile who I was able to buy a programme from. That’s right without food my whole visit could have cost just £10, not that you can actually spend a tenner here as the whole stadium has gone cashless. Make sure you remember your plastic, the only thing you won’t need it for at the ground is the flags they were giving away for free that I respectfully declined. It wouldn’t have felt right waving a flag for a team I don’t actually support.

Once through the turnstiles I saw how empty the stand was and decided to go and grab a burger before taking a seat. There was no queue so I was able to grab my food and go, if only it had been the same experience at half time. That’s to come though as when I got to my seat there was still half an hour to kick off. To fill this time Spurs had done something I’ve never seen at a football match before, they’d put on pre-match entertainment.

This pre-match show consisted of an MC introducing a freestyle footballer and a female beatboxer. The freestyler did all the tricks that they are known for but the beatboxer was really rather impressive, she even did a little ‘break it down’ section to her beat by holding the mic directly onto her throat, it’s just a shame that the tannoy was blaring out Christmas music over the top of this so it was hard to hear. If you’re going to have pre-match entertainment Spurs at least make sure you give people a chance to enjoy it.

There was then a short break in the show as the teams were announced over the tannoy. The away team was announced first, as normal, by announcing the outfield players in shirt-numerical order (Goalkeeper first obviously) and then the announcer went weird by jumping all over the place with the home team. I’m sure this had some connection to the formation that Spurs were going for, with players announced by position but this made it far more difficult than necessary to work out the starting 11. This kind of all over the place approach may work for those familiar with the team but for casual fans like me it complicates one of the simplest things about football, whose on the pitch.

After that break the pre-match show had a cool ending as two young fans were invited down from the stands to show off their keepy uppy skills and were then taught a freestyle football move and all with a rocking beat box backing track. This is the best thing I’ve seen at a football match, apart from the football at some of them ofcourse, and I hope that this sort of fan engagement is seen at more Women’s matches as it should encourage those fans involved to return and they’ll also spread news of their enjoyable experience to their friends which should help grow the game.

Pre-match show over it was time for the real thing and it was great to see the teams emerge on the opposite side of the stadium and start walking towards us, till they stopped coming our direction once they entered the field of play and lined up with their backs to the fans for the pre-match handshakes. This is one more example of bad planning at a Women’s football game, see ‘Surprise, Women’s football still has a long way to go’ for other examples of how not to engage the supporters. The pre-match rituals all complete the 2 teams took to their feet and they were ready to go.

So here it was my two least favourite teams from my old and new cities playing each other and me here to see them go all out to win from kick off. The teams did not go all out from kick off. They both chose to feel their way into the match instead and whilst that’s certainly the smarter tactical choice it’s not nearly as exciting for the fans. There was no lack of effort from either team in the opening 10 minutes and the visitors asserted their dominance of the ball without finding the quality in the final third to threaten the Spurs goal. Spurs for their part were defending admirably but they had no-one to clear too when they tried to get out of their own half so the ball just kept coming back to them.

Spurs were losing the early battles in midfield and they had clearly identified Lucy Graham as the Everton player who was winning those battles against them as they then proceeded to put a lot of hard tackles in on her in the first 20mins of the match, they settled down on this front after this though even though they were still struggling to assert themselves in the match.

The hosts did get out of their own half after 10 minutes though as they found a clearance to Ria Percival just inside the visitors half. Unfortunately for the hosts there was no support for Percival and with no options around her she dithered on the ball long enough for the Everton right back Danielle Turner to race back and ease her off the ball. It was a great bit of defensive play from Turner whilst also serving notice to Everton that they needed to find some quality in the final third because Spurs could threaten their goal if they wanted.

Everton finally managed a threatening shot in the 13th minute as the ball found its way to Grace Clinton on the edge of her box for her to unleash a powerful shot that had to be deflected over the top. Without that deflection we may have had our first goal of the match, but no luck. Everton then threatened again a minute later when an Izzy Christiansen free kick from 25 yards out on the right was headed back across the 6 yard box. There were 3 unmarked Everton players in that area and all one of them had to do was score the easiest tap-in of their career. None of them could manage it and the ball squirmed out for a goal kick. This really should have been 1-0 to Everton and I’m still trying to work out how they failed to take the lead at this point.

Everton were still in charge in midfield though so they were back on the attack in the 21st minute with a ball in behind Neville on the home right. Once again though they couldn’t find the shot that they needed to find to take the lead. The cross was cut back to the edge of the box and the shot from there lacked any power and simply looped up into the keeper’s arms. This lack of cutting edge for the visitors was on show again 5 minutes later when Toni Duggan found herself with the ball on high on the left hand side, she tied Neville in knots and then she was free in the box. This was when the lack of cutting edge showed up again, she went to chip the keeper and Korpela in the Spurs goal wasn’t having it. She got finger tips too it to claw it over the bar.

Spurs finally escaped their own half again on 30 minutes when they managed to clear the ball and get it to Jessica Naz on the edge of the box and she lets loose a shot that sailed straight into the keeper’s arms. The home side were still yet to truly threaten the Everton goal though and if either team were going to score in this half it looked far more likely to be the visitors.

They nearly managed it in the 32nd minute when there was a pinball in the Spurs box that Clinton managed to free the ball from and let rip with a brilliant shot that looked like it was going in off the post. Korpela came to the hosts rescue again though as she pulled off an incredible diving save to tip the shot round the post and keep the scores level. The resultant corner should’ve seen the visitors lead and it would’ve been the keeper at fault for it. The corner was weak and could easily have been caught, but instead she made the call to punch it clear and that punch landed at the feet of an Everton player on the edge of the box. The resultant shot was blocked though and Spurs were able to break out.

This break though also fell apart when the ball reached Rachel Williams with her back to goal and whilst all the fans could see that there was tons of space for her to run into if she just turned around and went for it she decided not to turn around and instead laid the ball off to the onrushing Neville to her left. The shot that Neville then unleashed lacked any power at all and the ball simply dribbled into the visiting keeper’s arms.

At this point there was a lull in the action on the pitch so my mind turned to the manager’s conundrums and what I would do if I was in each of their positions to give my team the best chance of winning the match.

From a Spurs perspective I felt that they needed a midfielder who could collect the ball from a clearance and then be unafraid to go forward with it, to run at the opposition and take people on. They also needed a striker on the pitch who would occupy the Everton centre backs and look to threaten the penalty area. To my mind the perfect players on the Spurs bench for these roles were Angela Addison and Rosella Ayane respectively.

On the Everton side what they desperately needed was a change in formation to get their most capable finisher, Toni Duggan, in better positions to score. I felt that the best way for them to do this would be to take off Anna Anvegard, who had been the only anonymous Everton player so far, and bring on Hanna Benison in her place. Benison was a summer signing who, from every video I’ve seen of her play, is skilled in finding the right ball through the defence to put it on a plate for the striker. Exactly what Everton needed.

I was brought right back to the game in front of me in the 40th minute though as spurs finally credibly threaten to score. The chance came from a free kick 35 yards out on the Spurs left which found Williams 12 yards out and her powerful header back across the box flashes inches wide of the right hand post.

Spurs had failed to make their presence felt in the half before this point, but they took the momentum from this chance and took control of the game for the final 5 of the 1st half. They had a guilt edged chance to take the lead right before half time when a botched clearance by Bjorn in the centre of Everton’s defence fell to Percival 12 yards out. Unfortunately for the hosts she was unable to sort her feet out and the ball slipped away. This was a huge let off for the visitors but indicative of the match so far, lots of great positions but no finishing touch.

The first half was great on quality play until the ball reached the final third when it all fell apart. I needed food badly though so I headed to the only kiosk and the slowest queue ever. I was in that cue for 25 minutes, which meant I missed the opening to the 2nd half and this was awful for many reasons. Normally when the queue is so dreadfully slow I head back to my seat so as not to miss any of the action, but this time I was just too hungry to walk away from food so I stayed in the queue. The man behind me decided that this was the time to drone on about football statistics and many things about the outside world that I go to football to escape from, also he had the most boring monotone voice imaginable. To add to all this I heard the sound that no-one who can’t see the action wants to hear.

There was a huge cheer from the home fans in the stand, the kind of ecstatic ear-splitting cheer that could only mean one thing. I had missed a goal and apparently it was a really good one too. I found out from fans around me once I retook my seat that the goal was scored from the edge of the box by Spurs’ number 7 Jessica Naz. To miss a goal after all the chances I’d seen missed in the first half was heart-wrenching.

I walked back in to the stand just as Everton smashed the post as they went in search of an equaliser and then as Spurs tried to clear the ball there was a moment you never want to see at a football match.

Josie Green in the Spurs defence had been wearing a black ‘Zorro-style’ mask all match and then the clearance from her teammate and captain Shelina Zadorsky hit her slap bang in the face from just a couple of yards away. The clearance had a lot of power on it and the sound of the impact was like a gunshot. Green went down and the medics rushed over to tend to her. After a little time with the medics and the chance to recover from the impact Green was able to continue with the match. The Spurs manager waited 10 minutes before making the substitution that should’ve happened straight away. Green was taken off to be replaced by Chioma Ubogagu in the 70th minute.

Two minutes before that substitution another Spurs player took a ball to the face as Kerys Harris was hit as she blocked an Izzy Christiansen cross from the right. The ball hit her on the cheek this time though and there was no need for treatment. The ball went out for an Everton corner and Turner attempted to score directly from it. This technique had the keeper beaten, but luckily for Spurs they had a player on the post who was able to clear the ball off the line.

The next action on the pitch was another rifled ball against skin moment. This time it was a clearance from Harris that smashed into the legs of Toni Duggan and out for a throw, this one didn’t seem to have any effect on Duggan though as she shrugged it off and just kept going as the game entered the final 10 minutes.

I had seen precious little goal mouth action myself this half and that drought was destined to continue as the next three things of note were substitutions. First Everton took off Pattinson and replaced her with Galli, then Spurs responded by taking off So-Hyun Cho and bringing on Angela Addison. Then Izzy Christiansen was limping at the far end of the pitch. I didn’t see if this was the result of a tackle or if she became injured with no-one around, but either way it was clear she couldn’t continue and so she was replaced by ex-Arsenal right back Leonie Mayer. In this substitution Everton lost their most influential midfielder and replaced her with a defender. It was at this point that it became crystal clear that this was not going to be Everton’s day.

There was no further goalmouth action in the regulation 90, but there were 8 minutes of injury time at the end of the game and it was here that the goalmouth action returned.

The final chance for Everton to rescue a point from the match came to the feet of Lucy Graham who let fly with a drive from 25 yards that was easily dealt with by Korpela in the Spurs goal. This lack of finishing touch is the main thing Everton need to solve to become a seriously difficult team to beat for the rest of the season.

Spurs then had two almost identical chances to score their second of the match. Both times they got the ball up field on their right and all it required was a quality cross into the sprinting and unmarked Addison in the 6 yard box to tap it in. Both times the final cross was awful and went nowhere near Addison and with these dreadful crosses went my only chance to actually witness a goal first hand in this match.

They were also the final action of the match and I have to accept that the only foal of the match was scored in my absence from the stands. The match ended 1-0 to Spurs and I just have to hope that I’m in my seat when the next goal goes flying in at the next game I’m at.

Before I end this blog, and tell you what that next game is, I would just like to take a quick moment to talk about the Spurs Men’s team on becoming the first English team to have been knocked out of the European Cup, Champions League, UEFA Cup, Europa League, Cup Winner’s Cup, Intertoto Cup and Europa Conference League. That is quite the achievement to qualify for all those competitions over the years and they couldn’t win them every time they qualified for them or at all in the case of some of them.

I will not touch on my opinions on the refereeing decisions in the recent Spurs Men’s game against Liverpool as the responsibility for these decisions rests with the referee’s who made them and they have already been spoken about by many pundits with far greater experience of the game than me.

I may manage another blog before Christmas but only if I’m feeling productive enough to blog my experience at the League Cup quarter final between Brentford and Chelsea tonight on Christmas Eve as I’m busy tomorrow.

Just in case that game falls to the apocalypse too or I use Christmas Eve to do other things I’ll say it now. Merry Christmas one and all and please remember that next year can hardly fail to be an improvement on the last 2, right??

Many of us hoped it would never come but here is it. The second apocalypse has arrived, buckle in folks.

The first signs of Apocalypse came on the Sunday the 12th when Tottenham’s game away at Brighton was called off due to an outbreak of it-that-must-not-be-named in the visitor’s squad. This was a bad sign sure, but it was only going to be a one-off right?

Wrong. Very Wrong. We are now 7 days down the line from that and there has only been a single day without a cancelled game in at least one of the top 4 leagues of English football in both the Men’s and Women’s games.

The games that have been cancelled this week are:
Monday 13th December – Sheffield United vs QPR (Championship)
Tuesday 14th December – Brentford vs Manchester United (Premier League)
Wednesday 15th December – Burnley vs Watford (Premier League)
Leicester City vs Manchester City (Women’s League Cup)
Thursday 16th December – Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League)
Friday 17th December -NONE

That was the week days and the constant cancellations every day, particularly on Monday when there was only 1 game to look at, was becoming worrying for football fans across the country. It has also become infuriating that some of those games were cancelled at extremely late notice. For that point I’m thinking mostly of the Burnley vs Watford game on Wednesday which was cancelled a mere 2 hours before kick off. Whilst this will absolutely be enough notice for the home fans who will mostly live locally, it certainly was far too short notice for the Watford fans whose journey up to Lancashire from Hertfordshire absolutely takes more than 2 hours and will have been on their way up north when they got the news.

These late cancellations do nothing to prevent the national spread of the global it and all they cancellations 2 hours before the game will do is ruin the days of a thousands of people on their journey to the greatest escape from reality in human history.

If that escape from the trudge of everyday is to be taken away from people the least they deserve is to be told the evening beforehand. That way they can at least find another use for the day and not potentially spread the thing hundreds of miles on their journeys around the country.

Friday may have looked like a break from the apocalypse but it was actually the day it hit in full force. This was the day when the Saturday games for December 18th began to be cancelled in droves and football fans across the nation realised the second apocalypse had truly come. There were originally 40 games scheduled for Saturday 18th December across the top 4 leagues of the Men’s game in England and Friday was the game many of them died.

When the damage of the first wave was inspected only 16 games were able to go ahead as planned, 24 had been cancelled. This was only a 40% success rate for games on Saturday and that is not good for anyone. The amount of fans that had to change their plans due to this is astronomical, but most of us can admit that cancelling the games was absolutely the right option. The last thing most fans want is a full lockdown where no games happen at all, but in the meantime as many games that can go on should.

The second wave of the apocalypse that hit on Sunday did a little better in terms of the percent of games that went ahead at 46.66%, sure there were only 15 games originally scheduled for today but 7 of them went ahead so it’s still slightly ahead of the first wave. The Women’s game was hardest hit in the second wave. Only 25% of the EPL games on this day were cancelled, whilst the WSL saw a 50% cancellation rate and in the Women’s Championship just one of the 6 games survived.

Over the first 2 waves of the second apocalypse only 23 of the originally planned 55 games went ahead, a success rate of just 41.8%. This low success rate over the weekend is disappointing for those of us who enjoy going to games and with some of the clubs who did go ahead requesting their games be cancelled too due to outbreaks in their squads, this rate is only going to decrease over the winter if nothing is done about it.

To this end the clubs of the 20 clubs of the Premier League are meeting at 1pm on Monday to discuss the way forward. Managers and Captains of the clubs are also going to have their own meeting at the same time to run through the options they would be happy with. I know that Thomas Frank of Brentford wanted to see this weekend’s games and the midweek League Cup Quarter Finals all cancelled to give clubs a chance to bring their outbreaks under control. It would mean every game that I had originally planned to go to before Christmas will have been cancelled, but if it’s the best way to ensure that we don’t have a full cancellation of all football later this winter then I say go for it.

No-one wants to see games that they have been wanting to go to for months or years in the case of the top teams, where getting tickets can be near impossible due to demand, and the newly promoted teams whose fans don’t know if they will have the chance to play the teams they’ve always dreamed of playing next season, cancelled. If it helps prevent another wave of deaths from the virus though then I am willing to cope with it.

Despite this second apocalypse though I was still able to make one of the games that did go ahead in the WSL today and the blog for that match experience will be up in the next few days.

There will be a change to today’s blog as a Covid outbreak in the Manchester United camp has led to their visit to Brentford being postponed until the new year. I hope to be able to make the re-arranged game, but in the meantime I thought I’d be left without a blog this week. Having taken away one blog though Manchester United then inadvertently provided me with another with the help of UEFA and the Champions League round of 16 draw.

The teams for the draw are divided into two groups, one with the group stage Winners and one with the Runners up. Teams are then drawn from these groups into their knockout ties, runners up first so that the winners of the group stage have the home advantage in the second legs. This advantage was negated slightly in previous seasons with the away goals rule, but since that has now been removed the advantage should now be a genuine one.

For the round of 16 draw there are 2 very simple rules.
1. A team cannot be drawn against another team from their own national Association
2. A team cannot be drawn against a team from their own group stage group.

The first of these rules was not a problem, but in the original draw there was a major hiccough with the second rule.

The draw was progressing normally until Villarreal were drawn from the pots and it was time to pick out their opponents for this round. The ball that was picked out to face Villarreal was that of their group stage opponents Manchester United. Luckily the officials making the draw realised instantly that this was a forbidden draw and moved swiftly to remove it from the board. They chose to simply redraw the opponents for Villarreal at this point and once again the Spanish side ended up with opposition from Manchester but this time in the form of Manchester City, a much tougher proposition on current form

This mix up should never have happened as once the first team has been chosen UEFA has a system in place to ensure the teams that they cannot play are not in place to be chosen for that round. This system clearly failed for this draw as not only were Manchester United in the draw when they shouldn’t have been, it also transpired that they were not in the draw for Atletico Madrid’s opponents when they should have been in it. Atletico thus had a far greater chance of drawing the remaining teams than they should have done and were drawn against Bayern Munich, who had won every game in the group stage.

The full original and now null and void draw for the Champions League round of 16 was as follows:
RB Salzburg vs Liverpool
Inter Milan vs Ajax
Sporting Lisbon vs Juventus
Benfica vs Real Madrid
Chelsea vs Lille
Villarreal vs Manchester City
Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich
and PSG vs Manchester United

This was an excellent draw for many of the traditional European powerhouses and would have left us with 2 particularly juicy ties in both Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich and PSG vs Manchester United. The latter of these 2 ties was a highly anticipated possibility in the run-up to the draw as it would have seen an on pitch battle between the two men considered by many to be the greatest footballers of all time. It would have been Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo.
This is a truly mouth-watering clash, it was all the pundits could talk about leading up to the draw and now it appeared they had got their wish.

Not so fast however, as the procedural error in the draw was then spotted by UEFA and flagged up to the teams. It appeared UEFA originally wished to take the result of the draw forward as it was, despite the flaws in execution, but it clearly became clear that this was not going to be the case. Villarreal and Atletico Madrid were the teams most effected by the mix-up and both spoke to UEFA to ask for the first draw to be considered null and void and for the draw to be conducted once more, this time with all the correct balls in play at the right times. It is obvious why they did this because, as previously mentioned, neither team had received favourable ties in the original draw.

UEFA decided to agree with the teams in question that due to the fault in the original draw it would be declared null and void and a new draw would take place 2 hours after this decision was made, 14:00 GMT. Technical issues with third party equipment used in the draw process was given as the reason for the mistakes in the original draw.

This decision was absolutely the right call to make and I am impressed with how speedily UEFA came to the decision and was then able to reset everything in time for the rescheduled draw. Sure the original draw had been a mess, but credit must be given to UEFA for owning up to the mistake and taking the correct steps to fix it.

The second draw went off without a hitch, but there were some definite winners and losers from this rescheduled draw. The winners will be very happy that the draw was redone, but I’m sure the losers will be wishing the original draw as allowed to stand.

The results of the second draw and the ties that will actually take place in the new year are as follows:
RB Salzburg vs Bayern Munich
Inter Milan vs Liverpool
Sporting Lisbon vs Manchester City
Benfica vs Ajax
Chelsea vs Lille
Villarreal vs Juventus
Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United
and PSG vs Real Madrid

Winners from the draw include both Villarreal and Atletico Madrid, who called for the re-draw, among others.

Villarreal went from a tie with a Manchester City team who finished above Messi’s PSG in the group stage and who have been on electric form in the Premier League, to a tie with Juventus. Juventus have a track record of choking in the Champions League which dates back to when it was known as the European Cup. They have reached as many finals as both Liverpool and AC Milan, with only Bayern Munich and Real Madrid reaching more, but have only 2 titles to their name. Their ability to reach the final is impressive, but Villarreal will still see them as an easier tie than City. Juventus’ last appearance in the final was in 2017, whilst City were last year’s losing finalists. Furthermore, Juventus’ league form this season has not been spectacular. Their most recent result at time of writing being a 1-1 draw with newly promoted Venezia. I still suspect Juventus to progress against Villarreal, but there is no doubting this re-draw has given Villarreal a far better chance than they would’ve had with their original draw.

Atletico Madrid have perhaps done even better that Villarreal in this re-draw. They have gone from a dreadful draw against an unbeaten Bayern Munich side that is currently 6 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga to a draw against Manchester United, the very team whose ball was not in their pot originally. Manchester United are currently in a transitional phase with their new manager and whilst they will surely be settled into Rangnick’s style of play by the time these ties are played in February Atletico will still fancy their chances of progression, despite their own questionable form of late. The second leg home advantage may just give United the edge, but Simeone is an excellent manager and I wouldn’t put it past him to find a way to win this one. He’ll certainly believe his team has a much better chance of progression against United than they would have had against Bayern.

Speaking of Bayern Munich, they are another huge winner from the re-draw. Going from an awkward tie against Atletico which would have taken great effort to win to an easy tie against Austrian side RB Salzburg which they are virtually guaranteed to win. It is also a shorter journey for their fans to make in the first leg, which can only be a good thing with the Covid situation as it is in Europe. Bayern should make it through to the Quarter finals without breaking sweat.

Those 3 are the major winners from the redraw, now for the losers.

The biggest losers from the redraw would appear to be Real Madrid. They had originally been given an extremely winnable tie against their Iberian neighbours Benfica which they could’ve won at a canter. Instead they will now have to face PSG and Lionel Messi who will undoubtedly cause them far more problems. Whilst PSG do not have the greatest record in knockout Champions League games the presence of Messi in their team and the bad memories that Madrid players and fans have of facing him in his Barcelona days may just tip the scales in PSG’s favour. For myself I still see Real Madrid progressing from this one, but there is no denying that the hurdle in the way of that progression has increased massively as a result of the re-draw.

The other clear loser from the re-draw is Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. They had originally drawn the simplest of ties against RB Salzburg, who would have been easy prey for whichever team Liverpool selected given the attacking prowess they possess. After the re-draw they were instead left with the task of taking on Internationale Milano, a far harder assignment. It will at least give a little more familiarity to this round for the travelling reds fans though as Liverpool have already played at the San Siro in the group stages against Inter’s city rivals AC Milan. Liverpool won both of their group games against the first Milan side and I would back them to progress here too, but it would certainly have been easier for them to do so against Salzburg.

There were a few other things to note about the two draws. Firstly that Chelsea vs Lille was the only tie that remained the same across both draws. The only tie that was destined to happen no matter what perhaps?

Secondly, Sporting Lisbon and Villarreal swapped opponents with each other from the first draw to the second. Villarreal going from facing Manchester City to facing Juventus, with Sporting having the far less fortunate luck of going the other way.

Finally, I just wish to acknowledge that this is the first knockout stage draw of the Champions League since 2004 that Barcelona have not been a part of. I hope they are part of this draw next season as the Champions League round of 16 without Barcelona is like toast without honey, incomplete. For this season though I wish them all the best against Napoli in the new Europa League play offs.

Good luck to all the British teams in European knockout action in the new year.

As I am in London now till for the rest of the year any remaining blogs in that time will focus on games that take place in London. There will be at least one more blog out before Christmas as this weekend I’m off to Borehamwood to sample a little more Women’s football as Arsenal take on Brighton and Hove Albion in the WSL.

This week was my return to Yorkshire for the first time since I visited Huddersfield earlier in the season. This time my journeys with Brentford took me to the largest city in God’s county, Leeds, and I wish I hadn’t gone to this one.

It looked so promising going back to a city I had visited in my teens when I knew Uni students there. I would know my way round and have no problems getting to the ground or so I thought. Turns out the Headingly area of Leeds that my previous visits to the city had been based around is on completely the opposite side of the city from Elland Road. You have to head right out of the station instead of the left turn I had been used too.

Luckily I noticed this on Google Maps before getting the train to the city and having also noticed that it was down as a 45 minute walk from station to stadium I decided to get the 15 minute bus ride on the number 52 to Morley that showed up as dropping you outside the stadium. This was a gargantuan mistake. If you are ever in the position to visit Elland Road for a match get to Leeds early and walk. The bus didn’t arrive for 30 minutes, already giving away the time advantage, then it took a huge detour from it’s advertised route and went down the M621 instead. On the motorway it got stuck in traffic that moved like snails in treacle and a journey that was meant to take 15 minutes ending up taking 50. The bus driver finally made a good call as we got off the motorway as he opened the doors and let the football fans onboard get off and walk the rest of the way to the stadium.

This walk was 10 minutes in itself, but luckily I had given myself a lot of leeway in my timings so this ridiculously long journey didn’t make me late for the kick-off. However, I was running to get inside the ground to ensure I didn’t miss it which meant I wasn’t able to head to the club shop and pick up my traditional keyring. I was however able to pick up a programme as there was a seller right by the away turnstiles, just before you go through security. The walk from security to the actual turnstiles is a 5 minute straight walk under a covered concrete walkway, the most welcoming part of the away end.

As you get inside the away end you realise how badly conceived it was. There is only one food kiosk for all the away fans and 90% of the away fans have to go through one tiny stairway to make it out onto the stand itself. How this was signed off from a health and safety standpoint I do not know as there is no way for fans to safely pass each other if they are going opposite ways. The stewards and signs on the concourse did not help the situation as there is actually a second stairway to the seats on the other side of the food kiosk that only serves the lowest number tickets for each row, but it is marked as for the highest number tickets and the stewards confirmed what the signs said as true.

Well the stewards confirmed it in as far as they pointed me that way when I showed them my high numbered ticket and asked which way to go. Pointed is the literal explanation of how they directed me to the stairway as none of the stewards inside the concourse said a word to any of the fans asking them questions, or at least none that I heard anyway. The steward I asked to point me towards the loos before kick-off seemed confused by what I was asking. I tried asking for the toilets, the loos and the bogs but none of these were understood and I had to resort to saying ‘I need pee pee’ before the steward stopped pointing me towards the seats and pointed me to the loos instead. This is the worst experience I have ever had with stewards at a football stadium.

Having been pointed up the wrong stairs by the stewards I had to squish past other fans to get to my seats at the other end of the row, which was not comfortable for anyone involved. At least once I had found my seats and settled in the game promised to be competitive and enjoyable.

Leeds went into this one a point behind their visitors having drawn a lot of their games this season. The teams could hardly be separated on goals scored and conceded either, with Brentford 1 ahead on scored and Leeds 1 ahead on conceded, so this one promised to be a hard contested match. Leeds did have the slight edge on form though, with 2 wins and just 1 loss in their last 5 matches. Brentford had lost 3 of their last five and only managed the 1 win in that time, that one being against Everton in the last game I attended.

Given how close the teams were and how important this one was for both teams I was shocked to see that Ivan Toney was not only not in the Bees starting 11, but was not on the bench either. Had Thomas Frank really dropped his main striker?

It turns out Toney had not been dropped, he had instead fallen victim to same thing that has put the whole world on the back foot since March 2020. That’s right Toney has tested positive for Covid and was self-isolating for this one and will be doing the same as Brentford host Watford this Friday evening, a game that I will not be at. The Bees will hope that he is cleared to play again for the visit of Ragnick’s Manchester United on the 14th though as he will be a huge miss for them, both for his goal scoring exploits and for his general work ethic. For today’s game though Brentford were without Toney and in even worse news for the travelling fans Leeds were boosted by the return from injury of their talisman Patrick Bamford. He was only fit enough for the bench, but it was still a boost for Leeds to have him involved at all and he wouldn’t be on the bench for the full 90 either.

Despite the awful journey to the stadium and my unsatisfactory experience with the stewards there is no denying the passion of the Leeds fans and the incredible atmosphere it creates in the ground. The wall of noise that hit me as the teams walked out of the tunnel in front of me was incredible. Perhaps the noise is amplified by the cramped nature of Elland Road that won’t let any of the sound escape, but the only time I have been more impressed by the home fans passion was at Millwall in the dying days of 2019. These 2 sets of home fans have created the most intimidating atmospheres I have ever experienced as an away fan and I have nothing but respect for the home fans who achieved this effect.

This spine-tingling atmosphere in the stands transferred to the players and led to the most physical end-to-end opening to a match that I have seen for ages. The tackles from both sides were tough but just on the right side of fair and the ref did a great service to the spectacle of the game by letting a lot go and fighting the urge to interrupt the game for every small infringement. Unfortunately though this did not lead to many goals, because whilst both teams build up play was exceptional it appeared neither team had the will to shoot. The amount of time each team got into great positions in the attacking third in the first 20 minutes without putting in a cross or taking a crack at goal was infuriating.

The only shot of note in this time was a strike by Mbuemo from just inside the box that went fizzing over the bar. Leeds barely threatened in the opening 20 minutes with any attacks being snuffed out by the Bees defence before they could threaten the goal. A prime example of this being a break from a Bees corner where it looked for all the world as though Dan James was in behind the visiting defence with a free run on goal, only for the insane sprinting prowess of Rico Henry allowing him to get back and beat James to the free ball 20 yards from goal.

Much more worthy of note than any of the play in those opening 20 was the unanimous standing ovation in memory of Birmingham City fan 6 year old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. It was observed in the 6th minute of the match and to see that show of absolute unity from the football community was awesome, rivalries put aside to remember a young boy taken from the world too soon.

Back to the match and in the 12th minute the atmosphere went up a notch or 10 as Patrick Bamford took his first warm-up run down the touchline. Leeds fans had clearly missed him and he had missed being able to play as he would show later on. For now though the news was not all good for the home fans as their captain Liam Cooper was down getting treatment for a hamstring injury at the same time as this side-line show was going on. Cooper’s injury was deemed too serious for him to continue and so, in the minute one key player signals his return to fitness, Leeds lost another player to injury.

From the 17th minute onwards both teams began to look a little more threatening when they found themselves in good positions and it was clear that sooner or later there would be goals in this one. The first of these glorious goals came in the 27th minute and it went to the home side via a double cross. The first cross from the Leeds left was headed clear by Pontus Jansson and straight back to the original crosser, who spotted that the his clearance had left Jansson out of position and that Tyler Roberts was now free behind him just 9 yards out in the centre of the goal. The second cross found Roberts perfectly and it was an easy header into the back of the net to open the scoring. The incredible roar of the home fans would’ve taken the roof off, if Elland Road had a roof. Roberts may have been a little too fired up by this though as straight from the restart he went clattering into Mads Roerslev and picked up the first yellow card of the match.

Just 3 minutes later Leeds came close to doubling their lead. They broke from a saved Bees freekick and Roberts got into space on the edge of the box from where he unleashed a powerful shot that Fernandez had to be on his toes to palm over for a corner. This was the start of the pattern for the rest of the half, Leeds kept the ball and laid siege to the Brentford goal without finding another break through. The closest the hosts came to another goal was in the 41st minute when a cannon power cross across the 6 yard box from their left evaded everyone and flew out for a throw-in to the visitors on the opposite touchline.

Brentford were able to get the ball back quite easily from most of the Leeds attacks during this time, but without the out ball normally provided by Ivan Toney they were unable to prevent it coming straight back to them. They badly needed a plan B and will hope Toney is out of isolation as soon as possible so they can get back to playing the way they have been so far this season because what they were doing in this first half simply wasn’t working.

They did survive to the break with the score at only 1-0 to Leeds though which gave them something to fight for in the second half. What they didn’t get to half time with though was a clean disciplinary record as in the 3 added minutes at the end of the half Leeds were breaking down the right and Charlie Goode rushed across to cut out the attack before it could get any further. Goode cleared out the ball cleanly with a full throttle tackle, but he must’ve caught the Leeds attacker after the ball was gone as the ref gave both a freekick to Leeds and a yellow card to Goode for this turn of events. From where I was with the other away fans it looked like a perfectly clean tackle, but I’m sure the ref saw something in it to give the yellow and as the ref’s word is final the away fans had to accept it whether they agreed with it or not.

The lack of facilities in the away end came fully into focus at halftime as the food queue managed to move forward all of 6 inches in 10minutes before I decided to give up on it and return to my seat, so as not to miss the start of the second half. Elland Road is a very impressive stadium from the outside, but on the inside the facilities for the away fans are shocking.

When the game got underway again I was surprised to see that neither team had made any substitutions during the break, both teams badly needed someone to finish off the chances they were creating. The team talk from Thomas Frank seemed to have done the trick for the visitors though as, having survived a scare when Fernandez made an incredible one-handed save to stop a header from 8 yards in the 49th minute, they finally remembered how to shoot and equalised in the 54th minute.

The visitors equaliser came from a clearance that found Henry on the right, his cross landed to Shandon Baptiste in the box and he managed to turn it home and silence Elland Road. Except for the away fans of course. This equaliser took the wind out of Leeds sails and put it firmly behind the Bees who now took their turn to lay siege to the opposition’s goal.

This siege almost bore fruit right on the hour mark as another cross from the right, this time via Roerslev, found Sergi Canos with a free header mere yards out that he inexplicably managed to direct over the bar. He made up for it a minute later though as he got himself into a great position on the left-hand side of the box and when the ball found him he stroked in home to give the visitors the lead and complete a 7 minute brace for the boys from Hounslow to bring them from 1-0 down to a 2-1 lead.

The loss of their lead woke up a sleepy second half Leeds performance as they once again go on the attack and set their second siege of the visitors goal. Once again though this siege was characterised by lots of great build-up play and getting into lots of promising positions without any end product. The clearest example of this came in the 68th minute when a promising cross from the Leeds right looked to be reaching Roberts only for Fernandez in the Bees goal to punch the ball clean off the top of Roberts’ head.

This failed chance was the final straw for Bielsa, who decided that now was the time for Leeds to truly go for it if they were to get anything out of this match. To this end Bielsa removed Junior Flipo from the fray and sent on Patrick Bamford to make his triumphant return to action. The Leeds fans were suitably impressed by the return of their talisman and the ear-splitting roar they sent up was quite amazing to experience, if I thought the atmosphere was spine-tingling before this was now on a level that is quite indescribable.

In response to this move by Bielsa, Frank made 2 changes of his own. He replaced the 2 goal scorers with Onyeka and Wissa in an attempt to inject some much needed fresh legs in midfield. These changes from the visitors however did nothing to dent the momentum that Leeds look from the return of Bamford.

Leeds played like a team possessed now that their talisman was back on the pitch. They were determined that the return of the prodigal would not be a loss. The first of their chances of the possessed came in the 75th minute when a shot from 20 yards out looked like it was going to nestle in the top corner only for Fernandez to scramble across and make the save. This changed Leeds tactics as they went from chances and shot to tackles and physicality.

In the 78th minute Mateusz Klich’s frustration got the better of him as he comes flying in on Mbuemo near the halfway line and takes all of the man and none of the ball. Then a minute later there was a fair bit of barging and shoulder to shoulder contact in the same area of the pitch in which the visitors Henry knocks down one of the Leeds players. The ref gave both Klich and Henry yellow cards for their indiscretions as the game became increasingly physical as it entered the final 10 minutes.

There were still chances though. As the game entered the final 5 of the regulation 90 Brentford broke at speed with Mbuemo, Onyeka and Wissa involved for the visitors up against three covering Leeds players. It looked like Brentford were about to put the seal on their victory only for both Wissa and then Onyeka to be cleared out by the defenders. The ref gave Brentford a freekick for the first challenge on Wissa, but this was fine by Leeds as they’d stopped the threat in its tracks. The epitome of a tactical foul and a great example of when it’s the right call to take one for the team. Brentford wasted the freekick.

In the penultimate minute of the 90 Raphina went for the spectacular from 30 yards out and put so much into it that he lost his footing and ended up on his back. In fact he may have been better dialling the power back just a bit as his effort sailed over the bar. This was not the end for the host though as the fourth official signalled that there were to be 5 added minutes at the end of the game and Leeds would absolutely make the most of them.

In the first of these added minutes it looked like the hosts had wasted their final chance of the match when a teasing cross across the 6 yard box evaded everyone. This though was only the precursor to the ultimate punch in the gut for the visiting fans.

In the dying seconds of the game Leeds put in a cross from their left that looked like it would be easily collected by Fernandez and if he collects it he can simply launch it downfield and the ref will likely then blow for half-time and a 2-1 win to the Bees. Fernandez does not collect the ball and instead, under pressure from Leeds players, he spills it and it goes out for a corner. That corner was swung in from the right and onto the waiting head of the returning hero Bamford who headed it in off the bar from 8 yards out to equalise for the hosts. The home fans celebrated this last second equaliser by their hero as though they’d just won the league and there certainly was no better end to Bamford’s homecoming than this, but it was a real sucker punch for Brentford. They had come back from 1-0 down to lead only to drop 2 points in the final seconds, as a Bees fans it was a true punch in the gut and my worst moment at a football game in a long time.

It was a truly incredible end to a match that had been short on quality for the most part though and I’ll remember this match for a long time to come, not as long as the Leeds fans will though I’d wager. Their hero returns to action and scores a last minute equaliser to save a point in a match where it looked like they’d thrown away an early lead and would be leaving with nothing. Doesn’t get much more memorable than that.

I wish Leeds all the best for the rest of the season and when they visit Brentford in May I hope it’s just as memorable. I do feel for the Bees fans who had to return to London after that match though as that is a long way to travel after that ending to the match. For me though it was a case of following the crowds back into town to the station and catching the direct 90 minute train home. My whole journey home took 2 hours, but it was the most miserable I have been on a journey in a long time.

This is the last of my blogs from the North of England for 2021 as I head back to London for the holidays this weekend and will be going to games in that region for the rest of the year. I will be back up North in the 2022, but for now I will be following Brentford’s exploits over the busy month of December. The next of these blogs will be examining how Manchester United are adapting to life under their new manager Ralf Rangnick when they visit the Bus Stop in Hounslow on Tuesday 14th December.

Before I get on to Everton’s lacklustre preparation for the Merseyside derby in midweek I first wish to write a couple of paragraphs about my visit to my old local non-league team from when I was living in London.

Wealdstone are the team in question and they are currently enjoying time in the highest league they have ever played in, the National League. They have reached the top division of non-league and forgotten what non-league football is meant to be about. It’s meant to be about going with your family to enjoy seeing your local team fight against the odds. Most of all its about the joy of watching a game in a chilled environment and being a place where people can catch a love of the game.

That used to be present at Wealdstone, from the helpful stewards to the great food and a stadium where you could have fun and always be behind the goal where your team was shooting. This is no more, there are locked gates stopping home fans from getting to the far end of the ground which is where the main burger bar is. This means that the home fans have no access to decent food whilst the away fans can eat delicious burgers to their hearts content. To treat the home fans worse than the away fans is a trick I hope no other clubs ever learn from, you should treat all fans just as well as each other and give the highest possible standard of service possible. This combined with the rudeness of the stewards and the low quality of football on display from both The Stones and their visitors Stockport led to me leaving at halftime. I haven’t done that at a match for a long time, but I’ve always had a reason to stay before. I did miss 4 goals in the second half though so I may stay at games in future, no matter how bad they’ve been so far.

Rant over, now back to Everton’s preparation for the Merseyside derby. They went down to London to take on my team newly promoted Brentford, who stopped the rot by getting a point at St. James’ Park last weekend. Liverpool drew 3-3 on their visit to the Bees, so Everton would have been hoping for at least the same amount of points from their visit. No such luck for the Toffees though, despite the brilliant manager in their dugout.

I only had a ticket to this one thanks to my uncle who is a season ticket holder for the Bees and knowing how much I would want to go to this game he offered me a spare ticket he had. It took me all of 2 minutes consideration before I took him up on the offer and it came with a lift to and from the match too, which certainly beats public transport.

I am now used to the Brentford Community stadium and whilst I’ll never forget the great experiences I had at games at Griffin Park this new stadium is now undeniably Brentford’s home. Unfortunately many other fans are now used to it too which meant that the queue for the decent food at ‘The Griffin’ kiosk was longer than ever before and this combined with a later than my usual arrival at the ground meant that I was trying to take down starting 11’s and substitutes as the teams walked out. Fighting to hear the announcer above the roar of both sets of fans was a challenge, but I managed to get the starting 11’s down just fine. I had to wait till halftime when I could read the screens out on the concourse to sort out each teams subs bench though.

Going into the game only 2 points separated the teams, they had both lost the same amount of games and scored the same amount of goals this season. These facts give a clearer indication that anything else of each teams fan’s state of mind going into this one. Particularly that of the Everton fans who would expect to be far ahead of the newly promoted teams by this time of the season. They would certainly expect to be far ahead of a team that has taken only one point from their past five games, a run of form that left Brentford 4 points above the relegation zone going into this one.

The knee was taken before kick-off, as is now traditional at football, by all the players except Ivan Toney. I do not know why he has chosen not to take the knee but it is his decision to make so I will not judge him for it. The traditions all accounted for the match got underway.

Despite what both teams had to gain from a decent performance and a successful result they both started this one content to let the opposition have the ball in midfield and only start competing for the ball in their own defensive third. This was infuriating for me as a fan who wanted to see his team going for it at home and I’m sure it was just as infuriating for the travelling fans who were looking for a fighting performance to set them up for the derby.

This extremely relaxed opening to the match was brought to an abrupt end in the 20th minute when a Brentford corner the ball bounced up on the edge of the area. Onyeka went to head it down to get it under control, whilst Townsend went to hack it clear and in doing so his boot made contact with Onyeka’s head. Onyeka collapsed to the turf, but the ref saw this and decided to wave play on as Everton went on the break. It was the clearest penalty you will ever see at a football match and even if the ref didn’t think it was there was still the head injury to Onyeka to consider. The fact that the ref didn’t stop the game is one of the most shameful decisions I have ever seen at a football match and the booing of him by the home fans was completely justified at that point. Stopping the match for a head injury is one of the simplest rules of football, so for the ref to not even do that was baffling.

Thankfully at this point VAR intervened and the ref got a word in his ear to go to the screen. On second viewing the ref realised his error and gave the penalty he should’ve given first time. It was strange not to see a read card for Townsend given how high his boot was when he made contact with Onkeya’s head. I understand that it was unintentional, but surely it still counts as dangerous play to make contact with your opponent’s head.

Either way it was certainly a penalty and 4 minutes after the original incident Toney stepped up to send Pickford the wrong way and stroke the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net. The unbridled joy of the home fans to finally be leading at home again was incredible to be part of and I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.

Going ahead seemed to spark Brentford into life as they put the Everton goal under siege for the rest of the half, restricting their visitors to a few half chances in the rest of the half. Everton only kept the score at 1-0 to their hosts thanks to the efforts of Jordan Pickford between the sticks for them. First, in the 26th minute, he smothered a promising cross across the 6 yard box from the Brentford right, then a minute late his save at the feet of a Bees attacker was the only thing stopping a simple tap-in second for the hosts. Pickford continued these heroics in the next minute of the match when he positioned himself just right to save Pinnock’s goal bound header.

Everton did get a couple of breaks before half time as mentioned, though they didn’t look like scoring on any of them. The frustration of being completely shut out seemed to get to the visitors as in the 30th minute there was a flying tackle that came in on Fernandez in the Bees goal as he cleared the ball. No contact was made on this occasion but if there had been it would almost certainly have resulted in an injury to the Bees stopper, it was a real leg breaker of a challenge.

It was around this time in the half that Brentford got so comfortable with their dominance of the match that they took to messing around with the ball at the back. It looked as though they were almost willing themselves to make a mistake that would give Everton a decent opening to fashion a chance. When this failed to happen the hosts went back on the attack.

In the 42nd minute it looked like Brentford would double their lead when the ball found Bryan Mbuemo in acres of space just 15 yards out, but his first-time shot lacked any power at all and the ball trickled harmlessly into Pickford’s arms. This was a glorious chance to get the second goal, but I’m sure Mbuemo will be back to scoring again soon. This was not the last chance of the half for the hosts though as they got in again down the right in the penultimate minute of the first half only for the cross to be punched away from the top of Toney’s head by Jordan Pickford.

Pickford really was Everton’s Man of the half, not that the competition was particularly stiff for this honour though. Their first half was truly summed up by an incident in the 2 minutes of added time at the end of the half. The ball was headed towards goal from the edge of the box by an Everton player from 9 yards only for the ball to head straight into his teammate, the block was exquisite, and away from danger. This was a half where Everton had no ideas on how to create chances at all.

Given this complete lack of cutting edge and ideas respectively I was amazed that neither manager made any changes at half time and so it seemed where the away fans. They were even more amazed when Brentford were the ones straight on the attack from kick off. The hosts had a corner in the first minute of this new half that landed at the feet of Sergi Canos on the edge of the box, but he could only send his shot sailing over the bar. It seemed neither team had managed to find what they needed at half time.

Everton’s frustration levels continued to increase as the match continued and this showed in their play and the conduct of their players. In the 52nd minute Digne went down without any visible contact from where I was, but he stayed down long enough for Brentford to put the ball out of play as a show of sportsmanship to allow Digne to receive treatment. This infuriated the home fans as Brentford had been on the attack at the time. This anger in the home fans was increased ten-fold when Digne was able to continue as if nothing had happened after minimal treatment. One Brentford had put the ball out to allow him to receive treatment he turned to the ref and gestured for a card to be given to the player he thought was responsible for him ending up on the turf. The home fans saw this as cynical gamesmanship from Digne and vented their anger at him by booing his every touch for the rest of the match.

This incident left a disgusting taste in the mouth of every home fan and this was only made worse in the 63rd minute when Rico Henry went down after being hit by the ball in the extra attachment as Ethan Pinnock attempted to launch the ball into the box. Having put the ball out for Digne’s injury the hosts were expecting their visitors to return the favour now one of their players was in distress. Everton decided not to do so and instead members of their team were urging their teammates to take full advantage of their extra man advantage.

When this attack was brought to an end by a splendid covering tackle by Jansson on Digne the Bees’ defender couldn’t resist having a word in Digne’s ear about the difference in each teams approach to an injured opponent. This lit a spark on the tinder box of frustration that had been simmering away all half. The resulting confrontation was little more than handbags, but it was still the most exciting thing to happen all half. The ref gave yellow cards to Jansson and Rondon for their parts in the fracas and then told both teams to get on with the match. This was by far the best call the ref made all match.

Unfortunately this spark failed to ignite the match as the play on the field remained cautious and defensive. Everton were finally seeing the majority of possession, but they were doing so little with it that the game lost any feeling of a contest as it seemed both teams were settling for the result as it was. Brentford were content to sit in, let Everton have the ball and then deal with whatever their visitors could throw at them. This was not much at all as Everton only had two presentable chances all half despite their possession.

The first of these was in the 55th minute when the ball fell to Salomon Rondon on the edge of the box and he rifled in a powerful shot towards goal, only for it to be blocked and bounce clear of danger. Rondon fell to the ground with his head in his hands at this point, the frustration and despair written all over his face. Everton’s second chance came a little closer as Alex Iwobi managed to pinch the ball off a Bees defender in the box and poke the ball through a forest of legs towards goal. His shot was more of a toe poke than anything else though and it lacked any power so it was simple for Fernandez to scoop up.

This was the last real chance that Everton were able to fashion as the game fizzled out in the last half hour with neither side attacking with any pace or intent behind their play. Even the managers seemed to be settling for the 1-0 score line and whilst I understand this from Thomas Frank’s perspective it is far harder to decipher why Benitez would have thought of the game this way. Benitez only made one substitution all game when he bought on Demarai Gray for Andros Townsend. This is pretty much a like for like substitution with no change in the defensive nature of his team’s play. His options from the bench were not incredible though with his best two players, Richarlison and Calver-Lewin, unavailable for this match through suspension and injury respectively.

The match ended 1-0 to Brentford as they won at home for the first time since their 2-0 opening day win against Arsenal. The home fans will hope this signals a turning around of their fortunes as they head into the packed Christmas period. The visiting fans were full of something far less positive than hope as their players approached them after the final whistle. The Everton fans let their anger at what was a dreadful performance loose on the players, they gave them hell and left then in absolutely no doubt of their feelings.

I hope for the players sake that this provokes a response in the derby tonight cause otherwise I have no doubt they will receive more of the same at the final whistle. Everton head into the derby having failed to win in 7 matches and just 5 points above the relegation zone. In contrast their opponents Liverpool go into the derby on the back of some truly impressive form. They have only lost 1 match all season and have averaged 3 goals per match over the same period. The gulf in form between the two teams could not be much wider if they were doing it on purpose, but as all fans know form counts for nothing on derby day.

This derby is also a meeting of 2 legendary Liverpool managers who find themselves in opposite dugouts tonight and looks like it will take a miracle of Istanbul proportions for Everton to get anything out of the game tonight. Luckily for them they have in their dugout the man who delivered that unforgettable night for Liverpool’s fans 16 years ago. Unfortunately for Benitez a failure to deliver a similar miracle for Everton tonight may be the last nail in his coffin at Everton, given the reaction the fans had to the result at Brentford and how little love they had for him before this anyway. All I can say to Benitez on that miracle front is good luck, cause he’s seriously going to need it.

I was unable to get a ticket for the derby so my blog next week will come instead from the biggest city in Yorkshire as I visit Leeds United and their historic stadium of Elland Road.

Back to normal after last week and time to see how one of the new managers gets on with their new club. For this game I took a 7 and a half hour round trip to the furthest northern reaches of the Premier League. I went to Newcastle to see St, James’ Park and to see how one of the most iconic and historic clubs in the country is adjusting to both its new owners and its new manager.

The 3 hour train journey to Newcastle was at least direct, but it was also exceedingly boring with the only interesting part of the journey being the glorious view of Durham Cathedral that you get treated too on your way in and out of Durham station. Unfortunately, having made that journey up to Newcastle I was not able to see Eddie Howe on the bench as he had tested positive and was self-isolating. This was disappointing for me as I would’ve loved to have seen how the Newcastle team got on with their new manager watching on and able to make tactical changes in real-time. Even with Mr. Howe isolating in a local hotel, Newcastle gave a great account of themselves and I still got to see the glorious St. James’ Park. It is a stadium that has been on my bucket list to visit for a long time so to finally be able to tick it off is an incredible feeling.

Finding St. James’ Park from the station is beyond simple. It’s pretty much straight on the whole way and the full journey from station to stadium takes 10 minutes to walk. It is also extremely well signed and the one right turn that you have to make is easy to spot as the stadium dominates your view as you look right at the junction where you need to turn. There is also the option to turn right at the old town wall as this wraps around to spit you out seconds away from the stadium. Whichever route you chose though it is almost impossible to miss the stadium and if you manage it I will be extremely impressed.

The stadium itself is huge and imposing as you turn the corner and see it right there in front of you. It’s an incredible stadium to look at and I was awestruck as I turned the corner to come face to face with one of the most iconic stadiums in football history and the largest stadium I have been to in a long time, since I went to England games at Wembley before the pandemic hit. The stadium is fully enclosed on 3 sides whilst the 4th side opens up onto a road that was festooned with stands from multiple different groups. The ones that stood out to me as unusual for a football ground were the ‘Ask a Muslim’ stand and the food bank donation stand. Two extremely different issues being tackled metres away from each other.

There were also programme sellers everywhere on that road, but there were none that I could find anywhere else around the stadium. The programme sellers are cash only, whilst the club shop and all the kiosks inside the stadium are card only so make sure you have a bit of both on you before heading to the match. I picked up my programme and my traditional keyring before making a lap of the stadium to take a look at the statues to Wor Jackie and Sir Bobby Robson, both of who are legends of the club and Robson is also an ex England manager who did wonders with the national team at Italia ’90. There is also a plaque to celebrate the achievements of ex-player and manager Joe Harvey which lists all the trophies he won with the club. There was even both physical and digital roll calls of all the players ever to play for the Toon under the Milburn stand. What surprised me most though was there was no statue to Alan Shearer as in my mind he is the main Newcastle legend of the past 30years.

That all being said it’s now definitely time to get inside the stadium and as an away fan that meant heading down to the Leaves stand under the covered area below the stands that seems to go on forever. Another thing that seems to go on forever at St. James’ Park is the walk up the stairs, it takes you all the way up to your seats on Level 7 of the stadium and if you’re out of shape in any way this will point it out to you in blaring neon letters. There must have been lifts somewhere as there were fans in wheelchairs up in the stand with the rest of the away fans, but these are kept separate for the exclusive use of those with mobility issues so for the rest of the away fans its the long walk up stairs.

Once those stairs were below me I went straight out to find my seat and jeez it was high up. I am not great with heights and had not been this high up for a long time so it took me a little while to adjust to the view of the pitch I had and just how high up this meant I was. Luckily though I had got to my seat with long enough to go till kick-off that I was relaxed and able to focus on the game by the time it got underway. Not that I could actually make out who was who from my vantage point though and I had to rely heavily on both the screen to my left and the stadium announcer to work out who scored all the goals that we were treated too.

With both teams having something to fight for, Newcastle looking to impress their new manager and Brentford looking to avoid a hat-trick of first wins of the season for their opponents, plus the fact that there had never been a draw between these two teams I hoped that we would be in for a good match. Despite the injury depleted bees squad that saw two debutants being named on the bench I was not disappointed.

The teams walked out to the song O Fortuna and from the first minute both teams went at the match trying to ensure it lived up to the grandeur of that song. It took a mere 3 minutes for the hosts to have their first chance of the match when the visiting centre-backs got pulled out of position and Roerslev was beaten to the ball as he rushed back to cover. The resulting header went just inches wide of the left-hand post. Only 3 minutes after that Brentford had their first chance of the match as they got in down the left and headed the resultant cross inches wide of the right-hand post.

With a near miss under their belts for each team it was now time for some goals. The first of these came in the 10th minute and it went to the hosts. Newcastle’s first goal under Eddie Howe came from a simple corner which was missed entirely by the visiting defenders, Jansson in particular completely mistimed his jump. As the ball floated over him it found the forehead of Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles 6 yards out in the centre of the goal and he deflected it off the post and into the back of the net. The joy of the home fans was unleashed and the roar was deafening.

It was silenced within 60 seconds though as Brentford wasted no time in evening up the score. Worse still for the home faithful was the fact that the equaliser came through Ivan Toney, who Newcastle released years ago and who was now back with a vengeance. His goal was a beautiful solo effort down the visitors right before he cut inside and slid the ball under the keeper to level the scores. Some of the home fans were still cheering their opener at this point and the shock that you could hear around the ground at how quickly their lead had been wiped out was palpable.

Toney then had the ball in the net again less than 10 minutes later in the 19th minute of the match. The visitors got in down the right again on the break and Mbuemo’s cross from that side hit the post before rebounding off Toney and nestling in the back of the net. The despair of the home fans and the away fans joy at taking the lead was short lived however, as VAR got involved and the goal was chalked off for a tight offside call against Toney.

The hosts made the most of this reprieve as they took charge of the game and spent the next ten minutes camped in the Brentford half of the pitch. They put the visitor’s goal under siege as Brentford seemed to forget what a clearance was. Newcastle were only prevented from taking the lead due to a series of last ditch defensive blocks from the visitors who banded together to weather the toon storm. Newcastle kept the pressure up though and it looked certain that they would be the next to score.

Imagine then the surprise of almost every fan inside St. James’ Park when the visitors took the lead. They finally worked out what a clearance was and with the home players all focusing on attack the visitors were able to get in behind them with ease. Once more the cross came from the right to be met by Rico Henry this time who was able to head it in off the crossbar. This time there was no VAR to come to the hosts rescue and the visitors took a 2-1 lead.

This pushed Newcastle forward even more as they begin the new era with the attacking football their fans have been wanting for a long time now. This means that they conceded a lot of goals so far this game but it also meant they were creating a lot more chances than they had been in other games so far this season. Newcastle almost had a second goal in the 34th minute as they created another chance on the right of the penalty area, but the shot that came in bounced inches wide of the post.

The hosts didn’t have to wait long to actually get their second though as they drew the scores level in the 39th minute. After a session of penalty area pinball the ball finally broke to Joelinton in the centre of the box who proceeded to gain himself a yard of space before wrapping the ball around Pinnock and into the right hand corner of the net. It brushed the post on the way in, but not a single home fan cared about that. The noise that St. James’ Park makes when Newcastle score is spine-tingling. It is a noise that has to be experienced as it cannot be put into words.

Having scored their second of the match the hosts once again laid siege to the visitors goal right up till half-time and once again the visitors weathered this siege without conceding. They had to rely on last minute blocks again to keep the ball out of the net, particularly in the 42nd minute when a defensive mix-up left the hosts with the ball mere yards out in the penalty area. The resulting Newcastle shot looked certain to go in and give them the lead, but Toney got back just in time to make a goal-line clearance and sink the hopes of his previous employers. The hosts had one other chance in the half a minute later when a rasping shot from distance skimmed just inches wide of the left-hand post.

That was the last chance of a half that was full of them. The 4 goals that we were treated too would’ve been a lot in a half of few chances, but with so many near misses from both teams, a disallowed goal and a goal-line clearance there could have been so many more. It was certainly a half that should give the Toon army hope for the rest of the season.

At half time I picked what turned out to be the slowest queue for the food kiosks and by the time I reached the front of mine there was only one type of pie left. The servers made up for this disappointment though as they were both hilarious, they joked with both me and each other whilst serving and whilst this may have added to the wait it also put a smile on my face and left me ready to go for the start of the second half.

The second half started with both teams seeming to be fatigued by the frenetic pace of the first half. The first ten minutes were end to end for sure but with far fewer clear cut chances and no chances that were good enough to distract me from the pie I was eating, it was delicious.

Perhaps Thomas Frank saw this too because he was the first manager to make a substitution in the 59th minute when he replaced Ghoddos with Onyeka. This change made an impact as it was only 2 minutes after this that Brentford got their 3rd goal of the match. A minute before the goal Mbuemo had got in behind the defence and was one-on-one with Darlow, but the keeper was quick off his line and cleared it off the striker’s toe just before he could get his shot away.

The ball came straight back to the hosts penalty area though and this time there was no last minute block. Onyeka unleashed a shot from the left-side of the area which flashed across goal and settled in the goal at the far post. From my vantage point on Level 7 of the stand it looked like the ball went straight in, but it has been given as an own goal by Lascelles on official match reports. I’m sure Lascelles and Onyeka would both prefer what I saw to be right, but I’m equally sure that the officials have looked at the replays to ensure that the goal is credited to the correct person.

Luckily for Lascelles that wasn’t the winning goal though as Newcastle were able to score a third goal of their own in the 75th minute. This one came through a simple switch ball on the break that found Allan Saint-Maximin in space on the right who sent the ball to a teammate. He then followed his run into the area to meet the cross to the back post and send Newcastle level again and leave the game poised at 3-3 with just 15minutes left in the game.

Those final 15 minutes were extremely tense and end-to-end, neither team was settling for the draw. The visitors were the first to go close in this final part of the match with a testing ball across goal that barely evaded the onrushing Jansson. Then Mbuemo skied his effort from 25 yards when the ball landed to him from the resulting corner. Then in the 82nd minute Joelinton found himself clear in the box with just the keeper to beat before losing his footing with the goal at his mercy. This was Newcastle’s last glaring chance to secure a winner for their passionate fans and to get their new manager’s tenure off to a successful start.

Brentford’s final chance to win the match came in the 86th minute when Mbuemo found himself clear in the box with the goal at his mercy. Unfortunately for all those who had made the 6-8hour journey up from London he couldn’t sort his feet out in time to score and the defenders used this time to get in with a last ditch tackle to secure the point they more than deserved.

The game ended 3-3 and a draw was absolutely a fair result given the effort put into the game by both teams and the quality of play by both teams. This was a game that both teams will feel they did enough to win and that losing would’ve left both teams feeling hard done. The draw is the first one ever between these two teams and, with both Aston Villa winning this weekend, a result that prevented the hat-trick of managers getting a hat-trick of wins on there first games with their new teams. Although this may be unfair on Howe as he was the only new manager unable to be directing his teams play from the dugout and perhaps if he had been able to do so the result would’ve been different. He should be back in the dugout for Newcastle’s trip to Arsenal this weekend so I wish him the best of luck for his first game on the touchline with his new club.

As you leave St. James’ Park, where descending the stairs is far easier than ascending them, you will find a double line of stewards and police officers separating the home and away fans from each other. I think the only time this would actually be necessary is if Newcastle and Sunderland meet in the league once more. With there current league positions such a clash is possible next season, but I do believe Newcastle will stay up and I hope they do too. Having clubs of Newcastle’s size and storied history in the league is what makes the Premier League such an attractive proposition for clubs in the lower leagues to aim for. They wish to try themselves out against these huge clubs and see how they fare.

On that front Brentford are doing excellently in their first season in the league and my next two blogs will continue to chart their progress against these big teams as first I see how Everton do on their visit to London this weekend and then on the first weekend of December I am heading to Elland Road to see how the newcomers do at another of the most most historic clubs of the north.