Beesotted’s Jim Levack looks back at why Brentford were sent to Coventry by their fans this weekend and asks why there was such a dark cloud hanging over the team?
Hindsight. It’s a wonderful thing, especially when it comes to football. But realistically it didn’t take a genius to see that faced with a massively compressed season and games coming thick and fast, reinforcements would make a difference.
Forget all the guff about the lack of discernible value the January window offers. This was always going to be a season like no other. Fresh legs would prove crucial.
So the decision not to strengthen seems all the more baffling given the injury to Rico Henry and the lack of cover in that area.
But not half as baffling as Brentford’s refusal to adapt to the absence of Ivan Toney by ditching the aerial barrage to instead suit Marcus Forss’ very different game.
Today that failure to adapt and the fact we appear to have no recall on Dom Thompson from Swindon looks negligent. We have humility around the club but our lack of activity in January smacked of arrogance.
Fair play to Thomas Frank. He repeatedly insisted as the window creaked shut that he was more than happy with his squad. Had complete faith in them. Believed they could get the job done.
The last three games, when the free-flowing footballing side of just a few weeks ago has for the most part been a distant memory, will have left Thomas questioning that loyalty to some of his players.
He is also honest enough to be asking himself if he got the selection and tactics right against Coventry, a side we should have been looking to beat as a springboard – even though there are no easy games in this division?
Dalsgaard out? Jensen captain? Dasilva benched? Forss isolated by long balls Toney would have thrived on? Not sure but again it’s easy to be an expert after the event.
More than half of the side let the Head Coach down badly against Coventry in a performance that was bordered on shambolic at times.
Quite frankly, this didn’t look like the Brentford side we’re used to being thrilled by.
We played as if a dark cloud was hanging over us, as if something has gone on that we’re not party to. Hoping it was just an off day.
There’s no doubting that this squad consists of prodigiously talented footballers who have repeatedly mesmerised us this season. Wonderful, flowing football with an end product.
Which makes the last three games all the more frustrating as sides have turned the three 90 minutes plus into exercises in how to stifle, smother, press, foul and foil. And done it well.
I never publicly criticise players, but three or four who Frank has kept a near blind faith in have let him down lately. Hard to say why, but is it now time to go back to basics?
I’ve got no problem losing games as long as the performance is good, like in the first half at Shepherds Bush. But Brentford looked utterly unrecognisable at St Andrews.
A word cloud… languid, carved open, wayward passing, sloppy ball retention, half-hearted tackles, lack of movement, speculative long balls, questionable desire, failed to test the keeper, lack of ambition, reluctance to take responsibility.
That might be a tough or harsh read – I’m still hurting as I live among Cov fans – but the body language as the Sky Blues repeatedly snuffed out what little threat we posed, spoke volumes.
From the outset there was a sulkiness about us, a “why won’t they let us play?” teenage huff as Mark Robins’ side copied the blueprint of Barnsley and Co with a ‘high press and foul’ approach.
It was almost as if we were just playing football. Gone were the intensity and desire that has seen us fight back and never say die in so many games over the past six seasons.
Without Toney and Henry, it’s now even more all about rolling up our sleeves and competing – maybe forget the fancy stuff – until Pontus, Christian and Emiliano return.
But it’s going to need a massive change of mindset from some players who have failed to match their deserved billing and seem content to slink into the shadows.
Frank last week paid tribute to the eight Barnsley players who were still chasing back in the game’s dying embers. That’s the kind of endeavour all Bees fans want from their heroes right now – if we see that and still lose, we can live with that.
All of that said, we’re still second and I’d have bitten your hand off for that whenever it was the season started, our rivals are stuttering too and we have, to my mind, the best ever squad in the club’s history which will only get stronger as our key players return.
Games are coming thick and fast and we face Wednesday on Wednesday in a game we have to treat as the start of a new season, a clean slate and a chance to begin again.
Win that and follow it up with a decent performance in the free hit at Norwich and the gloom will be as distant a memory as Leeds’ wobble was by this time next week.
Jim Levack
Hard to disagree but listening to Frank afterwards it seems both Henrick and Josh had minors .. might explain at least that ..
It feels like the belief in indidiuals players ability to play it out from the back was shattered after Barnsley, because against QPR we rarely played out from the back and hit it long. Whilst we were ok in the 1st half at Lotus road, towards the end of it and all of the 2nd half iflt really did feel like backs to the wall, and if you can’t take care of the ball and keep gifting the ball back at some point you suffer, and boy did we suffer. What was painful about that defeat was not, in my opinion, because it was a local derby, but because it was against a pretty ordinary looking team.
Against Coventry, well we plumbed new depths sadly. The defence has become leaky and the MF awol. I totally agree with you, we need to go back to basics. It’s now got a little harder though with two of our most consistent performers out of action to go with the quality of Norgaard and Pontus on the medical table. Like you I didn’t understand the rationale of letting Dominic Thompson go out on loan except if we were going to buy another left back in the winter like we were rumoured to have been considering. Reid in my opinion was a good signing, yet hadnt played any minutes until the other day and I still felt we were light in midfield. What an inspired signing buy Swansea to get Conor Hourihane in on loan.
I’m a bit downbeat at the moment. We’ve got 0 in points against 3 teams we should have probably got at least 6 points against, and right at this moment we look a shadow of ourselves even just a 10 days ago
There can be no doubting TF got his team selection wrong today given the unavailability of senior players.That said many of the players selected let themselves & the team down .
Our lack of activity in the January window has come back to haunt us .A gamble on having no real back up at left Back has misfired & there have Ben occasions where we can’t even fill the subs bench despite including several B teamers who have little or no Championship experience.
Of course injuries have played their part but we have shot ourselves in the foot with our failure to bring in a LB and a creative or combative midfielder.
TF& his coaching staff’s inability’ to combat the high press employed by teams against us is concerning .We are often overrun in midfield and don’t seem to have the nous to overcome it .
As a result confidence is shot , mistakes are plentiful and we are missing 4 or 5 of our most influential performers.
I’m afraid I can’t see how we are going to get out of this downward spiral we are in until some of our more influential players are back. I hope Thomas proves me wrong as if we fail again this year in our pursuit of the Premiership I feel it may spell the end of his tenure which would be a great shame .
If not the end of TF’s tenure then a significant team rebuilding exercise as I feel there are a number of players being sought after by PL teams. Rico, Raya, Da Silva, Toney, maybe even Pinnock to name a few
I cannot help but agree with Jim L. I always try to be positive when talking about our team but today was an embarrassment, a shocking, incohesive performance that reminded me of the kick and rush / hope football we used to play in the 70s. To be fair, it’s been coming. The last three performances have been unacceptable in my view. Don Goodman summed it up during the game today when he said “…. I can’t believe I’m watching Brentford, they’ve stopped playing football….” Unlike a lot of others, I fully bon’t blame TF, I think the D of F and the Owner have let him down with their decision not to strengthen in the last transfer window. Our competitors all strengthened, why didn’t we? So what if it cost a few quid, with injuries mounting up this seems to have been very short sighted along with decisions to let some players leave on loan without adequate cover. There needs to be a big turnaround over the next couple of games but unfortunately we might not have the suitably experienced and motivated resources to effect this change. For all our sakes, I hope the team prove me wrong!
I just don’t understand all the anguish. Comments about players not motivated, not playing with intensity or desire. Quite simply as individuals and as a team Brentford are not playing well. This same group of guys, less those that have fallen by the wayside injured have just gone 21 games without defeat – a monumental achievement. It is not unusual when a team has a good run to fall into a bit of a heap for a few games. So what is different at Brentford. It is also normal to play with more effort when things go pear shaped and no doubt that has happened in the last three matches. TF and his coaching group have a big job to do and I have no doubt they will quickly resolve the problems.
Look at the table, look at goals scored, goal difference and whatever other statistics are of interest. Over reacting, over criticising and making derisory comments are unhelpful and of no value. The D’s of F and TF actually know what they are doing, which is why Brentford are still second after three successive losses. As for suggesting that Benham has let TF down is probably the most absurd thing I have heard in the 67 years I have been a Brentford supporter – and I head a few over the years.
I always value your remarks and usually very sound reasoning Jim, but I think you are missing the target with your comments above.
Excellent piece as ever Jim, clearly written from the heart.
Just one slight clarification. It was actually 8 BEES players racing back after a corner (even though we were 2-0 in the 90th minute) that TF referred to after the Barnsley game last week.
Clearly highlighting the “heart/fight” that he still sees within the team.
Before yesterday’s game, after I heard the team, I thought the best we could hope for was a 1-0 defeat. Sky were saying Toney has 24 goals, and the team on display had only 22 between them. Forss has not scored for some time and Mbeumo has become a shadow of his former self. With Fosu and Dasilva starting from the bench, I was not hopeful.
Hitting long balls to Forss was not the answer, but with no Dasliva, then the idea of passing our way through the opposition becomes harder.
Looking ahead, I am resigned to losing maybe seven or eight on the spin. In the short term, there is one player who might make a difference, Zamburek, who is energetic, and another who could do a job, albeit with little experience, namely Pressley. He has scored a number of goals for the B team and is more like Toney in the way he plays.
In the longer term, I sincerely hope that we can get into the playoffs at least. I know that our record is abysmal, but we might just have a fit Jansson, Norrgard, Henry, Toney, etc available for them. Realistically however, I can’t see even that happening with so many experienced players injured or playing with knocks.
Getting Reid in was a positive. I don’t understand letting Thompson go to Swindon. He had a nightmare game against Blackburn, but I blame TF for taking Henry off with only ten minutes to go. Rest Henry, yes, but taking him off at a vital time in a game smacked of naivety.
Someone mentioned another combatative midfielder. We forget that Janelt’s performances when Norrgard got injured have meant us punching above our weight. He for me is the Simon Ratcliffe (class of ’92) of this team and we will struggle even more if he is dropped or gets injured.
Oh dear Bognor Bee and well said Mr Carney , a reality check ,what would our league position have been without Benham and the Dofs .The National league at best fact.
CHANGING ROOM ROW CONSPIRACY.
Just listened to the pod. Had exactly the same feeling as Dave about the Coventry game. It felt different to the other two losses. It felt exactly like they had all argued on the coach up. Thomas’s post match felt odd – not as candid as he usually is.
Add in speculation about Toney and a move to Leicester (gossip, I would never normally listen to) and I have built a conspiracy theory in my head that I can’t shake. What if Laney’s dressing room row was about Ivan wanting to take a Leicester type offer whether we go up or not and the lack of performance is due to disappointment of the rest of the team at his decision?
Previously when players are in transfer talks they have been dropped. This might explain Ivan’s mysterious ‘ankle injury’. Would also explain Thomas’s lack of candour and concentration on the word togetherness in the post match too.
I get that this is too much of a stretch. My head says it is all bullshit. But my gut says Laney is right and something went wrong before Coventry. They weren’t ‘my Brentford’ either. Independent of Laney I felt something was wrong between the players on Saturday. Something different to what went wrong in the Barnsley and QPR games. Something more worrying and team based.
I hope I am wrong. Logic tells me conspiracy theories are seldom true. But Laney’s analysis in the podcast felt so right I find myself adding to the speculation and reinforcing it in my gut.