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A bad day at the office? Just a tired performance after the exertions of playing with ten men for 50-plus minutes against Watford on Wednesday? A demonstration that there’s a lack of strength in depth in certain key positions? A distracted side who had their minds elsewhere after an unsettling week of rumours concerning their manager? The answer is ‘probably a mixture of all of the above’… But one thing is for sure, the Bees team that went down 3-0 at Charlton was a poor relation to the one that had looked so confident and strong at Leeds seven long days ago – WarbsGate is certainly taking its toll on the club and it needs sorting quickly – one way or another.

Yesterday we looked vulnerable and toothless… Add to that yet more individual mistakes at the back, and below par cover for the absent Jake Bidwell. In truth Charlton didn’t look much, yes they were up for it, but it is not an exaggeration to say that on any of the previous dozen weekends we would have come away with a win… The Bees’ visit to South London certainly raised the spirits of Addicks fans though – as you will hear in the Beesotted Pride of West London podcast. By beating a Brentford side down in the dumps, they went from pre-match borderline suicidal, to post-match delusional, thinking they were world beaters and play-off contenders.

However, the home side did looked brighter in the first half and carved out several chances by finding space down the flanks… David Button had made several saves before Gudmondsson produced a cracking shot into the top corner just before the half hour… And despite an improved second half performance by the Bees, we looked vulnerable at the back and the creativity we have become accustomed to had evaporated.

The second Charlton goal on 55 minutes was the killer blow, and the third, deep into injury time, just rubbed salt into Brentford Football Club’s self inflicted off the pitch wounds this week.

We went to Charlton hoping to see a positive reaction from the players on the pitch after a negative week off it, instead we trudged out of the Valley  realising the squad has been affected just as much as the rest of us.

After the game Mark Warburton denied that the uncertainty surrounding his future had been a factor in this defeat… Nice try Warbs, although we have been used to you telling things as they are… It would be a shame if we started doubting your word.

Dave Lane

 

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