Here’s new Beesotted contributor Matthew Milne’s view on our start to the season, our slight drop-off in our levels of performance in recent weeks and why that may be the case.

Cast your mind back to the opening day when we thrashed Spurs – a team who had spent over £300 million during the summer – in that thrilling 3-0 victory. That afternoon, we dominated from start to finish thanks to midfield generals Mamadou Sangare, Vitaly Janelt and Mathias Jensen’s non-stop work rate. We also looked really strong in defence and sharp in attack. We caused Tottenham big problems all game and on another day, it could have been a cricket score. It was without doubt a scoreline that flattered Spurs. It was also the complete Brentford performance and a sign of what this exciting crop of players might be able to achieve this campaign.

The following week brought us a visit to Elland Road to take on Leeds United. In the first half, it felt like a continuation of our dominant performance against Tottenham. The Bees played like the home team – much to the locals’ disgust. We controlled possession and spent a lot of the half camped in Leeds’ final third. We created almost all the chances and restricted the Whites to overhit crosses and wayward shots into Row Z and were duly rewarded with a half-time lead thanks to Kevin Schade’s wonderfully taken finish. The Bees were playing brilliantly once again.

The disappointing thing is it feels like we haven’t found those levels since.

Come the second half, it felt more of an even contest. We still dominated most of the ball and should have been awarded a clear penalty, which had it been scored would have almost certainly killed the game. However, as the half wore on, we lacked a cutting edge offensively and composure when in possession and found ourselves defending deeper and deeper before Calvert-Lewin’s equaliser. A share of the spoils was by no means the worst result – Leeds will be a very difficult place to go to this season and I would have definitely taken a point before the start of the match.

We were fortunate to come away with a draw from the Sunderland game a week later. Despite the Bees’ fans’ best efforts to boost the Gtech atmosphere pre-kick-off, out on the pitch we offered little threat and thanks to VAR, a string of fine saves from Kelleher and a goal-line clearance from the impressive new Bee, Schuster, were lucky not to fall behind. Andrews made three substitutions at the break and the Bees put in an improved showing in the second period, taking the lead, before conceding a soft penalty – not the first dubious decision from referee Thomas Bramall that afternoon – and subsequent equaliser late on. In the end, it was a decent point against a strong Black Cats side.

Last weekend at the Vitality, we played well in the first half, but I still had a sense we could play much better. After taking the lead through a powerful header from Schade, we conceded a poor goal soon after. Yet, in truth, the Bees could easily have been behind at the break – the Cherries missing a string of fine chances. Not long after the break, Bournemouth took the lead through a well-worked goal. Then, just a few minutes later, thanks to a dreadful error from the Bournemouth goalkeeper, Schade completed his brace with a well-taken lob to level the match. Yet, with the entrance of attacking full-backs, debutant Malick Diouf and Kayode, we seemed to drop deeper instead of putting pressure on the Cherries’ backline. As the clock ticked down, we were hanging on and if it wasn’t for Kelleher being on top form once again and the woodwork coming to our rescue in stoppage time, things might have turned out differently. Overall, it was an excellent, hard-fought point from a game we could and perhaps should have lost.

All in all, we played superbly in the Tottenham game and in the first half up at Elland Road. However, I feel we have looked a bit flat, lacked poise when in possession and have been disjointed offensively since. Even though we haven’t been playing as well as we could do in the last few weeks, the pleasing thing has been that we have at least been taking something from the game and are still unbeaten so far this season. When we are on it, as we showed in the Spurs match, we can beat anyone.

I personally believe a big reason for our slight drop-off in performances of late has been the injury sustained by Mathias Jensen – ruling him out ’til the international break. He makes our midfield tick, is a calm presence on the ball, offers a threat going forwards and his creativity is instrumental to how we play. Hopefully, he will return fit and raring to go for the game up at Villa Park the other side of the internationals in a few weeks’ time and can help kick us on to new heights this season.

For now, we just need to give it our all against Chelsea on Friday night – we will certainly give them a very stern test. Can we get our long-awaited first home win over the Blues since 1938? Fingers crossed.

COYB!!!

Matthew Milne