Beesotted contributor Billy Taylor scours the internet to dig up the latest Brentford related gossip from Twitter, Facebook, the Griffin Park Grapevine (GPG) and more.
Brentford welcomed Huddersfield Town to Griffin Park on Saturday for a test of wits against a side who have been pushing for promotion to the Premier League all season.
Pre-match, the gossip was all about the in-form “King Jota” rather than the upcoming match. The question that had everyone asking was, is Jota the best Brentford player of all time?
So was Jota was the best Brentford player ever or Judge or Holdsworth or Sinton or Hreidarsson? The matter was discussed at length on the Beesotted Pre-match podcast:
A debate ensured as to how Jota was discovered – not being an obvious signing. Was he identified using stats by Brentford analysts?
This was confirmed by well known football analyst Ted Knutson – who worked with the club on player recruitment for a few years – pointing the finger at below-the-radar analytics scout Ricardo Larandart for discovering Jota and bringing him to the club.
On the pitch Brentford faced a tough test against Championship dark horses Huddersfield who have spent the season out preforming many of the top spenders and pushing the top 2 all the way.
The Bees went down 1-0 to a goal that caused confusion among everyone. It appeared that Dan Bentley had made a big error but on second glance you can see that the ball in fact deflects goal wards off of Harlee Dean after the initial save.
RANCHOMIRAGEBEE: Mistake from Bentley it seems
TEESBEE: Doesn’t sound great from Bentley, becoming a bit of a habit.
Throughout the game, chances came and went for both sides – including a open goal for Lasse Vibe who put his effort high over the bar and Ealing Road from 7 yds when it was easier to bury it.
The Terriers came away from Griffin Park with a professional 1-0 away win. Bees fans were quick to praise the visitors on the job they did nullifying Brentfords attacking threat.
MHEADBEE: I feel I have lived through that game a hundred times in the past.
They out muscled us all over the midfield, played some good football at times but never really created anything of note. Sloppy and lucky goal and a couple of half chances but that was it really. They worked their socks off and stopped us playing pretty well.
We were far from crap and kept plugging away but the fact all our flare players were extremely quiet tells you all about how effective hudds tactics and methods are.
We had huge passages of play but only carved out a few clear cut chances, vibe hit the bar and thank god that miss was offside. Woods and HD were immense as always and henry just looks the nuts.
BIXER: Can’t begrudge anything about our performance today, we were anything but bad, Huddersfield just knew how to keep us quiet.
I think today just showed that we’re not quite ready for a Premier League push. We’re not far off, but when you come up against a team that already are like Huddersfield, all you can do is accept you’ve been bettered.
On another day we could’ve and perhaps should’ve got a point (Vibe’s effort in particular springs to mind!), but I don’t feel like we were robbed or anything like it.
You can’t win ’em all, but I’m proud of our performance regardless.
Despite being gracious in defeat, the Brentford faithful still had their criticisms with the referee coming under a lot of scrutiny. This seems to be a reoccurring theme at Griffin Park.
It was a strange day for the Bees with a flat game and atmosphere for the most part. The fans and players will be looking to recapture some excitement in the near future with a home game against Wolves under the lights on Tuesday night. Hopefully Brentford can capitalise against an out of form team and get themselves back on track for a top ten finish.
Billy Taylor
@BillyTbeesfan
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Surely Jimmy Bloomfield must come into the reckoning as Brentford’s best player even though he joined near the end of his career.
Jimmy Bloomfield had a year at Brentford as an 18 year old and showed promise playing 42 games scoring 5 goals.
He then returned in 1964 when he was 30 years old and in 44 games scored 4 goals. He was a decent player but I can name at least 20 players better than him.
I know Jota has scored twice with his right foot but for me he is to one footed therefore easer to mark particularly by the covering defender.
I know when he was a bees player Brentford were fourth tier but he tore second tier Hull city apart in the 68/69 league cup when that cup was taken more seriously. I’m sure that but for serious injury Allan Mansley would have gone on to much better things. Pity there is probably no footage of him out there.
If you might have forgotten there was another reason why Mansley left Brentford not an injury. ???
I recall that Mansley signed for Notts County where he re-united with Jimmy Sirrell. However I think that he was not the same player post injury.
you did not answer my post WHY did he leave Brentford . car tax disks ????
Dave I had moved to Australia by the time he left so you obviously know something I don’t but my memories of him was as a player who made the crowd suck in in their breath in expectation when he gat the ball.
you were correct Mansley was an exciting player but it seemed he mixed with the wrong mates and was involved with stolen car tax discs and he was moved on. But he was not in the same class as Joter perhaps a little faster but skill wise a different class.