Brentford crept out of the Capital One Cup last night after a pretty bland display against local rivals Fulham at Griffin Park.
Mark Warburton opted to make a number of changes from Saturday’s league XI and surprised many by unleashing a Spanish revolution on his post-Forshaw midfield – with Jota, Toral and Tebar forming the central three. Odubajo (at right back), Dallas and Proschwitz were also brought into the team.
Harlee Dean had spoken before the game about how a strong tackle can create a cult hero in a local derby, but unfortunately few players took this approach into the game – we prompted and pressed, but sorely missed a midfield enforcer such as Jonathan Douglas or Alan McCormack. The absence of the scampering skills and effort of Pritchard and Judge were also very noticeable.
The game was won on fine margins, but the reality is that Fulham created some decent openings throughout the match. The winning goal came from ÂŁ11m man Ross McCormack, who converted after a neat one-two in the 68th minute. McCormack, who has allegedly lost a stone since his move from Leeds, had previously refused to dine out on a number of decent chances and had a goal disallowed for off-side a few minutes before the decider.
Brentford’s play had been neat throughout – particularly working the ball out under pressure at the back – but for all the nice flicks and swift interchanges we lacked penetration throughout the game – our best chance fell to Jota in the first half who struck the ball well but was denied by a great save from Bettinelli.
Fulham started the evening with a strong core – Scott Parker as resilient as ever in the centre of the pitch for the first half whilst the freakishly tall Dan Burn had a dominant night at centre half – although substitute Andre Gray twice left him chasing shadows in the game’s dying moments. But this core provided a solid foundation for their win and a feather in the cap for under-fire manager Felix Magath.
Mark Warburton spoke after the game about his pleasure at seeing a number of recent signings get game time, but many of the Griffin Park supporters will not be pleased about losing to the Cottagers. Whilst the Capital One cup was clearly a distraction for us this season, it would have been nice to have seen some of the players recognise the importance of local bragging rights to their most loyal fans.
In truth a number of our players had evenings to forget – the odd moment of brilliance tarnished by loose possession or a failure to track a runner. Brentford weren’t awful by any stretch of the imagination, but we were lacklustre at times and failed to go for the jugular from a number of promising positions.
That said, Moses Odubajo put in a brilliant shift at right back. Let’s be honest though, we didn’t pay ÂŁ1m for a defender when we signed him from Orient and we need him to be freed to apply his skills in more advanced areas. David Button was solid again last night after a great performance at the weekend and Scott Hogan played the last 15 minutes following injury. Bidwell, Dean and Tarkowski had reasonable games too – but we need to step up a number of gears if we wish to have a fruitful season.
We’ve got two more games against Fulham this season in the league. Two more bites of the cherry. Let’s hope we learn from what we got wrong last night.
Condorman
Brentford 0 Fulham 1… end of
Brentford 5 Fulham 0
Points are all that matter thank you.
One big point is we’re still in the cup!!
Completely agree with all points made.ÂŁ11m player made the difference.
And you drew a cack team so will probably progress to the detriment of your league campaign. Look and the starting 11s – it’s clear who cared more about the “who gives a crap” cup
Are you on about you as an individual not caring, the fans as a collective or the club itself because it cleary showed someone didn’t care with your “sell out” crowd on Tuesday night!!