The Football tourist

From edging a close home starter against Palace to wiping the floor with the hapless Saints and from making serene progress in the League Cup to scoring after just 23 seconds to lead at the Etihad things so far this season had been going really well for Brentford, almost too well….

So when Yoane Wissa was taken off at half time at the weekend I didn’t think too much of it, just a precaution right to ensure he’s good for the Spurs game right?

I should’ve learnt better than that by now.

As loyal fans of the Bees understand far too well, injuries for us are never simple short term affairs.

Last season we were without every single member of our first choice outfield at some point or other throughout the season, with both our best full-backs still out with injuries sustained in the opening salvos of that campaign.

So whilst it was not surprising to hear Thomas Frank announce that Wissa’s injury was bad and we will be without him for “a couple of months”, it was still a freight train punching me in the gut.

Just as it felt like Jersey road would be able to return to being a training ground it’s time to erect the hospital tent on the grass once more and bring in the triage nurses.

Taking that couple of month’s at it’s minimum that’s 7 games to get through an attacker light, including our trip to the cottage round the corner (which we will win handily).

As dejavu hits us hard in the anxiety belt for 24/25 the greatest thing about it is that this time we know we can overcome it.

Even with the slew of injuries we had last season we were never in any danger of dropping down a league and with the start we have made this time round coupled with our experience of getting it done against the odds we know that, no matter what the gods of football hit us with, we will overcome it once more.

Saturday’s trip to the banter boys of North London will be the first test of how our first team adapts to it’s Wissa shaped gap.

Fabio Carvalho presented a compelling case for being the man to fill that gap. His mercurial performance against Orient topped off with a spectacular overhead kick to open his account and an assist to help Mikkel Damsgaard open his.

No matter who takes Wissa’s place those are some big boots to fill, but I have faith they will be filled brilliantly till he is fit enough to reclaim them.

Despite this little setback, Brentford’s season will go up another gear from here.

Today comes our biggest challenge of the season, so to boost the confidence and destroy the nerves here’s a blog about our last minute victory at the Etihad 2 seasons ago. (https://the-football-tourist.com/2022/11/16/pure-insanity-at-the-etihad/)

If that isn’t enough then just cast your mind back to our last match before the international break as we swept Southampton off the park for 89 minutes, dominating a Premier League game like I’ve never seen us do before. The final score, 3-1, was so harsh on the buzzing, brilliant Bees especially as the consolation arrived in the 95th minute, when a clean sheet looked certain.

From the first minute till the last we hunted down the Saints in packs and dismembered them piece by piece.

Mads Roerslev and Mikkel Damsgaard have both come in for criticism from me over the past few seasons, but both were brilliant.

Roerslev roamed his wing, snuffing out any attacks the visitors attempted to spring down that side in their crib.

As for Damsgaard, he led from the front with a masterclass in pressing that brought the rest of the team with him. It was his hunting that wrestled the ball loose for our first and last goals.

That it took till the 43rd minute for us to open our account was mostly due to the last pass missing it’s mark far too often, plus a conversion from Yoane Wissa in the 23rd minute that has still yet to land back on earth.

We were lucky not to be behind by the time we finally took the lead though as Southampton’s first break of the match 3 minutes earlier would have ended in extasy for the travelling fans if not for the greatest goal-saving sliding tackle I have ever witnessed, from the one man brick wall that is Ethan Pinnock.

When the opener came it was the glorious pressing of Damsgaard that made it happen.

Nicking the ball off Taylor Harwood-Bellis on the edge of the box he fed Kevin Shade to unleash a cannon ball of a shot that had the goal frame shaking like a leaf. The ball bounced out to the feet of Mbuemo who made no mistake with the rebound, sparking joyous scenes around the ground and choking the voice out of me for the next 10 mins from cheering so much.

The best chance of the half would go to Adam Armstrong, of the south coasters, in the final minute of the 45, who somehow contrived to launch the ball over the bar from 4 yards out when found unmarked in the centre of the goal mouth.

That miss, reminiscent of Yakubu’s for Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup, was enough to see him hooked off at halftime as Russell Martin looked to a double substitution to salvage hope for his floundering seasiders.

His embarrassment was covered somewhat when his teammate Ben Brereton-Diaz shanked a shot so badly wide that you could fit the length of Chile, north to south, widthways between the post and the ball.

Having dominated the first half the hosts went after their visitors with renewed vigour, nearly doubling their lead in the first minute as all Mathias Jensen’s ball needed as it scythed across the 6 yards box was a feather touch to divert it home. Alas, it got none.

Even a double half-time save couldn’t save the sinking Saints from their fate as the swarming Bees destroyed them.

Sure it took 20 minutes for Brentford to double their lead but when Mbuemo completed his brace by slotting home after more incredible pressing play from the irrepressible Damsgaard, there was no way back for the visitors.

Four minutes later the final nail was hammered into their coffin by Wissa, latching onto one of Mathias Jensen’s trademark long throws to tap it over the line from inches out.

Finally, we get to see how dangerous that throw can be and we also got to see what Thomas Frank has always seen in Damsgaard. Mikkel terrorised the opposition back line

Saints hadn’t looked like breaking their duck in front of goal this season, despite a trio of tap-in chances in this half alone. Then they scored the ultimate consolation goal…

Yukinari Sugawara smashed one home with the outside of his right boot from just inside the box as the one-man wall finally tumbled to the turf with exhaustion.

No denying the brilliance of the finish and the brilliance of the away fans ‘ We’ve scored a goal ‘ chant, but the goal would not have happened if the players had not already run themselves into the ground with the most committed performance I’ve seen from a team in a decade and a half of following football nationwide.

We will need to reach similar levels to get a result today, but we have had the international break to recover and shown ourselves the levels we are capable of.

We sit 6th before kick-off, our opponents have only managed one clean sheet this season (which was away on opening day) and their focus might be wandering forward to their next two games, giving us the chance to catch them with their pants down.

The only bad news from the match for the rampant hosts was that Kristoffer Ajer had to be taken off due to injury 5 minutes before the goal. Having seen the team ravaged by injuries last season, let’s all cross our fingers to see him back on the grass soon.

For today though we have a new challenge to focus on, see you at the Etihad in a couple hours time.

COME ON BRENTFORD, THE RED AND WHITE ARMY STANDS BEHIND YOU

SAN MARINO HAVE WON A FOOTBALL MATCH!!!!

No this is not ‘fake news’ or an April Fool’s joke in very bad taste, it’s the real life and also the fulfilment of a fantasy. 20 years from their last and first victory, a 1-0 friendly win over Liechtenstein, the world’s oldest republic has done repeated the feat!!

This time though the historic moment was a step up on 2004’s glory as this time they won in an actual competition, the Nation’s League.

Again the victims sacrificed to history on the slopes of Mount Titano were Liechtenstein but they would not fall to the same player’s strike.

Nicko Sensoli, the Creatore di storia primario at the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle, wasn’t born till 2005.

His goal was just the 33rd in national history and propelled them to the top of their Nation’s League group, not to mention sending tsunamis of ecstasy reverberating across the world.

With the world seemingly careening down a collective suicide pact to disaster every year of the past decade, at least, it’s a welcome tonic of gargantuan proportions to have a teenage trailblazer igniting a beacon of hope.

The hope that if even the world’s worst footballing nation can overcome 2 decades of unrelenting failure to create a story of such momentous success then maybe, just maybe we can all overcome the traumas in our own lives.

Thursday 5th September 2024 will be forever known as the night of the Miracle on Mount Titano and Sensoli the Saint is the man responsible for that miracle, the Creatori di storia.

Nicklo Sensoli will forever more be a cult hero around the world and the patron saint of football forevermore in the world’s oldest republic, SAN MARINO

We all knew the end was coming, the air was thick with the stench of an ending, but of all places Al-Ahli and the Saudi Pro League… How many of us truly saw Ivan Toney heading into wealthy exile when he left the Gtech? Yeah, me neither.

With long-term suitors Arsenal deciding that a loan deal for Raheem Sterling is preferable over signing a dead-shot from 12-yards and averaged a goal every 2 games for the Bees, the options left for Toney elsewhere dried up. Arsenal will regret their foolish choice

A prolific goal scorer, a mastermind from 12-yards and a leader in the dressing room who drives standards up amongst his team-mates or a man who has complained about every team he has ever played for when he is no longer the star man, who can only score goals when his life depends on it and is so consistent at making the wrong choice in the final third that I have named a syndrome after him…. why would anyone go for the latter??

All that really matters I suppose is that Arsenal have made their choice and Toney then had to make his. Choosing the wasteland at the peak of his career is such a waste of a mercurial talent who we all know should have been on the plane to the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Lunchtime of November 12th 2022 at the Etihad where his superb stoppage-time winner sent ecstasy on steroids surging through the away end will remain one of my favourite memories of this beautiful game of ours for decades to come.

His brace that day was the icing on a virtuoso performance, when even for the millionaires of Manchester couldn’t handle the magician of the bus stop.

From humble beginnings at hometown club Northampton Town and after enduring a loan-ridden stay in the North East his career finally took off at Peterborough, where averaging a goal every other game got him the move to West London where he would make his name, break into the England squad and ride the wave of genius to Euro 2024.

Now he slides off to Saudi having been dropped from the England squad by interim manager Lee Carsley and with little prospect of forcing a recall, whilst playing in the desert.

Thank you for the memories Ivan, you will always be a legend in West London.

Sterling Syndrome: when you’re in the box and don’t know what to do with the ball think through all the options for long enough to be dispossessed then whinge to the media about how it’s everyone else in the teams fault that you don’t score more often.

Mamma Mia, here we go again. Another season of ups and down, ecstasy and heartbreak gets underway.

Despite all the doubters along the way, including myself last season (sorry), Brentford begun their 4th successive season in the top flight today and our visitors for this one were another set of Londoners.

Having opened our Premier League account with a gorgeous 2-0 victory over Arsenal and last season with a 2-2 draw against their North London rivals, with a 2-2 draw at the King Power in-between, this season it was the turn of the Kings of South London to be hit for a Brentford brace.

Crystal Palace fans who made the long trip to the other side of the capital will have felt frustrated on their pointless journey back as not only were Oliver Glasner’s Eagles better than the Bees for much of the match. They had the ball in the next 3 times too, just a shame only one counted.

Always nice to see my beloved Bees start the season by securing 3 points and launching ourselves to 6th place, the edge of Europe…

Palace, in their away kit reminiscent of the bright yellow highlighters from high school, got the season underway at the Gtech and 40 seconds later Kevin Shade was slashing a shot across the face of goal for the hosts.

Bees failed to capitalise on this fast start as they dropped deeper and deeper for the next 20 minutes inviting pressure and looking to catch the Eagles napping on the break.

The problem with that approach was that it allowed them space in midfield to play and they were making excellent use of the space to mount charge after charge at our back line.

Eberechi Eze was particularly adept at this and if his final ball had been better on several occasions the visitors could have had an early lead. His most mercurial runs were into the left wing void that opened up when Mads Roerslev had to tuck in to cover.

Our defensive frailties had let us down in the early games last season and, after conceding 4 against Wolfsburg in pre-season it looked like they might rear their ugly heads once more.

In a backs to the wall effort we kept our sheet clean, even managing to catch them on one swift break with Yoane Wissa, till he tried to beat 5 players single handed with Mathias Jensen in acres of space to his left.

In the wake of that attack Wissa picked up the first yellow 20 minutes in to the host’s season thanks to a shoulder barge 20 yards out. Nothing came of the resultant free-kick, but they had the ball in the net from one just 6 minutes later.

Adam Wharton, of England’s Euro 2024 subs bench, crumpled to the floor off minimal contact and as he shaped up to take the free-kick it appeared to all the world, Mark Flekken included, that the ball would be floated into the box to be met by a driven header… Palace had other ideas.

Eze sauntered over to the ball and hit it first time round the one man wall and past Flekken statuesque between the stick. Some early season sluggishness from the hosts punished by the visitors only for the ref to give us the lifeline of a free-kick for a foul amongst the scrum of players waiting for the cross.

That huge let-off was pounced upon by the relieved hosts in the best possible manner, they were 1-0 up less than a minute later.

Bryan Mbuemo finished off a flowing solo move, twisting this way and that to throw his marker to the floor creating just a yard of space for him to turn and flash the ball into the bottom left corner.

Against the run of play Brentford led and they almost had a 2-minute brace as Nathan Collins slid a shot through a forest of legs from the left channel only to see it blocked on the line.

Despite near-monopolising possession for the rest of the half, it was the hosts who came within a cat’s whisker of doubling their lead just before half-time.

Shade, brought in last summer but injured for most of the season, announced his return to the team with a sumptuous effort just before half-time, curling the ball beautifully round his marker, out of Dean Henderson’s reach and an inch wide of the post.

That was the last meaningful action of the half, with the last 5 minutes ambling along, and the hosts sprinted down the tunnel 1-0 up in a game their opponents had bossed.

Glasner shuffled his pack at half-time, replacing Jean-Philippe Mateta with Odsonne Edouard, the man who would draw them level.

It would take Edouard 10 minutes to open his account thanks to an abysmal mix-up in the Bees back-line. Tyrick Mitchell was given far too much time to float a cross to the back post and when it was nodded down into the 6-yard box Edouard reacted quickest to poke it home, despite the attention of 2 defenders. Hopefully that’s one of the softest goals we concede this season.

Edouard thought he had doubled his account minutes later when Eze fed it through to him in the centre for him to stroke home, only for it to be correctly chalked out for offside.

That was the last of the visitors hat-trick of finishes, but Brentford had one more in them.

First though a change of personnel, with Shade withdrawn to deafening applause to be replaced by Keane Lewis-Potter and Mikkel Damsgaard replacing Vitaly Janelt in midfield.

These changes seemed to upset the Eagles as within 2 minutes it was the Bees soaring to victory. Wissa slid in on the line to snaffle the ball home after Henderson’s dive could only shovel the ball into path. It was a gift the Congolese was never likely to pass up and the home stands were sent into the stratosphere.

Defensive substitutions from Thomas Frank helped us withstand the final onslaught of the wounded beasts from south of the Thames.

As the final whistle blew, after 4 nail-biting minutes of added time, a wave of relief flowed round the home stands. The performance may not have been brilliant but what matters early in the season is the result.

Brentford struggled to impose their will on the midfield throughout the game, but when they broke their trademark speed and tenacity shone through, with a little potency sprinkled on top for good measure.

Taking our chances was an issue for much of last season so it’s brilliant to see that, even without Ivan Toney in the squad, that problem seems to have been fixed.

On my way home now I see nothing but good signs for the seasons, after all they do say the best teams find a way to the win when they’re not playing their best football. Today that was us and long may we continue to find that way to win.

Here’s to securing a 5th season in the Premier League and to whatever else this season holds for the Bees of BRENTFORD!!

As I scythe south to start Brentford’s 4th season in the Premier League I’ve been tempted to write a blog, but running short of time I’m taking us back to my last game of last season.

At Leyton Orient’s gorgeous Brisbane Road ground for the penultimate game of Emma Hayes’ reign at Chelsea before her move Stateside, I had the best seat in the house.

Right by the halfway line in the disabled seats, the only tickets available when I booked, there was no-one between me and the pitch. With the stewards permission I took advantage of the panoramic pitch views to take a few (400) photos of the action and now I’m sharing some of the best with you.

That’s a few of the better photos from the match completely un-edited and chosen at the end of a long train journey.

Last season is done, roll on the new one.