Brentford H Post-Match Thread

[Spudulike]

Frank admitted through gritted teeth that we were better in the first half (but not second). Made reference to the three worldie's over the two matches and we needed those margins going in our favour to beat them. 

[oxtonfox]

Absolutely delighted with that win. Don't forget most of the team played a really tough French side on Thursday night, 60 odd hours ago! Brentford had the week off and we still won. I forgive the tiredness in the second half, that was a distinct possibility. But we managed to get the win and get Tim and Johnny back from injury. 

Shout out to Nampalys, Cags and Nacho too, I thought they performed really well through the whole game and we needed some to do that today. 

[Guest David Oldfields Gate]

I'm still pissed from Thursday so fair play the lads today in my opinion.

[TJB-fox]

Three points in the sun, happy days.
 

onto the next. 

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

26 minutes ago, shiv said:

Good performance today and great win.

 

Confidence is definitely coming back, looked very comfortable on the ball and defended well for the most part.

 

Not long ago we probably would have conceded an equaliser so I think we should take the positives.

 

Seeing a lot of criticism of the subs, I personally didn’t see an issue with them. Brendan clearly wanted to give Evans some game time so that sub was logical - the others were just fresh legs. Brendan kept our formation positive. Had he gone 5 at the back no doubt people would’ve complained about the negativity. Also liked that we put 3 players on the halfway line when defending corners.

I was delighted and shocked. People sitting around me missed it the first few times, strangely enough.

[Lionator]

I think we’re probably safe from relegation now even if we lose every game from here thank goodness.

 

Thought we looked sublime at times and poor at others. What on earth happened with Barnes today? Seniorman was excellent and Amartey a rolls Royce until he was pushed to right back. 

[Ric Flair]

That's the good and the bad of the diamond system, I absolutely love it and the opposition often really struggle to adapt to it without regrouping and making a plan. That's what happened 2nd half and once we missed 2 sitters they started to have a lot more joy down the flanks and stretch the play, we really ought to have switched the system and instead we became laboured and poor in possession, but overall we were the better team.

 

Iheanacho was class, I never thought he could lead the line like that, he looked very quick as well so not sure if Pinnock is a tortoise or Kelechi has started to get a bit more explosive off the mark.

[FoxyLeon]

Typical Rodgers win - Individual brilliance for the two goals, but very little patterns of play offered again.

 

Moving Amartey to right back and taking KDH off, completely change the control we had. 

Justin needs to improve defensively, as through his lapses we almost conceded again.

 

What is clear though, is today showed us exactly what our summer recruitment has to focus on, players with the energy that KDH, Justin and even Fofana bring.

Maddison, Tielemans and Iheanacho look far better when they have the legs of the above players around them.

[Ric Flair]

2 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I think we’re probably safe from relegation now even if we lose every game from here thank goodness.

 

Thought we looked sublime at times and poor at others. What on earth happened with Barnes today? Seniorman was excellent and Amartey a rolls Royce until he was pushed to right back. 

Worst I've seen Barnes in months, not a surprise given the shifts he's put in recently. Didn't have a great game but still has an assist to his name and made one excellent defensive interception on Toney which led to him getting clouted again. 

[I blame Wellens]

Castagne is class. Love the lad. Also the only player that can control our Keeper’s aimless chips to the wing  

[Tuna]

Great win and two sensational goals as well, I thought we were good value for it as well and it was great to see us so dominant in the first half.

 

Brentford did come back into it and we had to rely on Kasper who made some great saves, we should have made it 3-0 when Nacho went through but hit the post, disappointing to concede to make it a difficult final 10 minutes of the match but we saw the game out comfortably and professionally.

 

36 points and scope to build, with players coming back lets hope we can have a good run in to the season, with the Europa Conference League quarter finals to look forward to, we can still turn this into a decent season.

 

Fantastic to see Evans and Timmy back on the pitch as well and two goal of the season contenders!

[SpacedX]

6 minutes ago, Tuna said:

Fantastic to see Evans and Timmy back on the pitch as well and two goal of the season contenders!

Arguably the winner came against Brentford too. 

 

Thought Söyüncü was not only solid, but showed a game intelligence and savvy that has been so lacking for much of this season. 

 

Kasper has to be our best reflex keeper since Banks or Shilton and still one of the best shot stoppers in the league. 

 

Goal music seemed quieter today - post match, the prospect of hearing it nonetheless had me haring out of the ground as Darren England raised the final whistle to his lips and sprinting up Raw Dykes Road like Usain Bolt out of sheer embarrassment. 

[Reg Vardy]

3 points and still no Vardy,N’didi and Fofana…. Justin and Castagne great……safety……

[Blueman1967]

Great first half, with two wonder goals, second half try to cruise through, been different if Iheanacho had scored

[CrispinLA in Texas]

Glad Eriksen didn't play today, he would have made Brentford play much better....Ivan Toney

[The Year Of The Fox]

People will no doubt think what I’m going to say is a way to bash Rodgers, but it’s not. A win is a win, which is the most important thing

 

But I’m worried about the contribution from the front 3 when playing one ‘central’ striker. Ian led the line well today, but our win depended on two individual moments of brilliance. Most days, Castagne’s shot goes wide, and Maddison’s free kick goes over. And we’ve lost the game

 

Ian/Daka, Barnes and Lookman have a combined league goal tally of 13 this season. It’s simply not enough at this stage of the season, and doesn’t bode well for the Vardy-less future either I don’t think 

Edited 20 March 2022 by The Year Of The Fox

[Philkeavo]

2 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Easy to forget we played Thursday night and travelled.

 

Lot of tired bodies and mind out there.

That was how I saw it, the midfield looked jaded in the last 25 minutes which given the effort and emotion of Thursday was to be expected. I think the first half showed we are returning to the team that finished 5th in the previous two seasons. Looking up and looking forward to a barnstorming finish to the season 

Edited 20 March 2022 by Philkeavo

[CosbehFox]

The balance we have when players are playing in their better positions makes us so much better. When the full backs have the ability to overlap and take a player on, we improve so much moving the ball around the pitch. 
 

That’s been particularly evident when we are shoehorning Amartey or Hamza at right back. 
 

Our work rate is improving substantially and the scramble defending much better. There’s signs the squad are happy again and uniting with each other. 

Edited 20 March 2022 by Cardiff_Fox

[Reginaldo]

A good win, although scrappy in second half. We defended well especially as they liked a long ball which we’ve been dodgy on of late. Cags was outstanding. Justin and Castagne a threat. Diamond enabled slick passing, esp first half. Two worldies. Credit to Rodgers he can swap personnel and systems and get some tune out of the team. This is also credit to the players. Unthinkable under Puel. Looked tired at the end but good to give minutes for those coming back and resting others. 

Edited 20 March 2022 by Reginaldo

[Mike Oxlong]

I thought Mendy had a very good game today. Tidied up and kept us ticking over. How on earth he wasn’t in the PL 25 before Christmas is beyond me 

[Sir Shep]

Great win, now please come over to the FA cup thread and slate forest please! 

[Ric Flair]

40 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

People will no doubt think what I’m going to say is a way to bash Rodgers, but it’s not. A win is a win, which is the most important thing

 

But I’m worried about the contribution from the front 3 when playing one ‘central’ striker. Ian led the line well today, but our win depended on two individual moments of brilliance. Most days, Castagne’s shot goes wide, and Maddison’s free kick goes over. And we’ve lost the game

 

Ian/Daka, Barnes and Lookman have a combined league goal tally of 13 this season. It’s simply not enough at this stage of the season, and doesn’t bode well for the Vardy-less future either I don’t think 

I'm not too concerned about our ability to score goals as long as we keep our best defenders fit, if we do that then eventually we will get back to more expensive play. He's eventually had to concede we've had to go more robust in recent weeks to try and out work and fight teams for results.

 

But I agree, right now we look quite limited in our attacks and if we were playing us each week we'd point out that they were fortunate to get the wins having created very little expect individual moments of brilliance from 25-30 yards.

[funkyrobot]

The only major disappointment today was Barnsey. What an opportunity he had - up against a Vestergaard sized full back. I was expecting him to get the ball and run at him but he didn’t try it once. Just a shame that he combined his off day with Lookman not being able to replace him off the bench. We should’ve had a field day on that left hand side. 

[Lesterlad]

21 minutes ago, Mike Oxlong said:

I thought Mendy had a very good game today. Tidied up and kept us ticking over. How on earth he wasn’t in the PL 25 before Christmas is beyond me 

[Lesterlad]

Just now, Lesterlad said:

22 minutes ago, Mike Oxlong said:

I thought Mendy had a very good game today. Tidied up and kept us ticking over. How on earth he wasn’t in the PL 25 before Christmas is beyond me 

Some people in this site think he isant good enough.  Today he was supurb