Beesotted columnist and number cruncher Dan ‘Leicester Bee’ Suh has got his abacus out again and has thrashed out the permutations for the Bees getting a result from the Sheffield match.
Oh buggery. Oldham proved to be toothless in front of goal, but then again, so did we. Another reasonably poor day at the office, and our away form is starting to look decidedly average compared to our home form. Let’s look at the evidence and our previous away games this year. The belter against Peterborough was a great game to watch, but since then:
Walsall – very average performance in a 1-1 draw.
Shrewsbury – tricky conditions, but careless performance in a 1-1 draw.
Crewe – great performance with 3 terrific goals to win 3-1.
Carlisle – very average performance in a 0-0 draw.
Leyton Orient – great performance to win 1-0.
Rotherham – not at the races and lost 3-0.
Oldham – an edgy performance in the 0-0 draw.
That’s 9 points from 7 away games. 6 goals from those 7 away games, and 3 of those were against Crewe. Our home form, however, shows 14 wins from the last 15 home games in all competitions. One loss to Wolves is our only blip at home, since losing to Rotherham in October. For some reason, we score plenty at home, we look confident, we pass the ball around excellently, and we win. Away from home, we look nervous, we can’t string the passes together, we can’t seem to create the clear-cut chances, we’ve only scored 1 goal away from home in the last 4 away games. Nervous times?
So to the Sheff Utd game. A team whose fans seem to think that play-offs are out of reach and are rightly distracted by their FA Cup semi-final against Hull City. However, the team went on an extraordinary run of winning 10 games in a row, before drawing to Preston, losing to Wolves, and losing to Swindon. Regardless, this is a team that is managed by an experienced manager in Nigel Clough, and make no mistake, he will be telling his team that they are fighting for places for the semi. Any below par performances, and they will be making his job in selecting his FA Cup squad very easy indeed.
Sheff Utd have, by all accounts, become a strong, physical, quite direct team, but can play football too. They are a completely different proposition to the team that we faced at Griffin Park earlier this season, and one thing is for sure, their defence is alot meaner. This is, again, another team who tend not to enjoy as much possession as the opposition, hence the more direct style of football, but where they have the absolute edge over us, is that they tend not to allow too many clear-cut chances against them. They allow only 2.63 shots on target against them, when we allow 4.50. Brentford fans will be optimistic, knowing that Sheff Utd don’t seem to score that many though, but then again, neither do we (away from home).
Word has it that Sheff Utd’s thin squad is suffering,and losing to Swindon was the perfect result for us, as the play-offs might just be out of reach for them. With injuries being picked up in the Sheff Utd squad, my understanding is that anything outside of their strongest 13, they become very weak indeed. So, there’s two trains of thought right now. Should Sheff Utd not be at the races, this will be the perfect game for Brentford to get back on track. We tore them apart last season, so we have nothing to fear. However, this is also a game that could prove that our away form is decidedly dodgy and our inability to score away from home could leave us open to another Rotherham style mauling.
For me, I think a 0-0 draw is on the cards. We absolutely don’t want to lose. Sheff Utd might be a little less gung-ho and decide not to risk further injuries and try to grind out a win, rather than go for the throat. It’ll be a tough game regardless, and any points picked up will be very welcome. Whatever happens between now and the rest of the season, I can pretty much predict that it’ll be unpredictable and make us Bees fans incredibly nervous. We have to remain behind the team, support the lads, and give them the belief that we can do it.
Come on you Brentford!
@DanSuh_KF
‘Sheff Utd have, by all accounts, become a strong, physical, quite direct team’
Utter uninformed drivel. We actually pass it far more than we lump it (sometimes too much). We have a small team physically and if anything get bullied (eg PNE other week). We need to add size and more physicality if anything.
Where has this direct football perception come from? Watching us 10 years ago under Warnock? Seriously. Head shaking.
Its like me saying Brentford are a tin pot side with rubbish crowds whose best hope is a season or so in the Champ but then back to lower leagues where they have spent most of their existence. Reality is you seem a progressive and forward thinking club with some really good players and a new stadium on the way but why let that get in the way of sweeping, inaccurate statements that most of football world will believe if perpetuated?
For the record prediction:
SUFC 0 Brentford 3
You will be too strong/good for us tonight