After a pretty beige month, Billy Grant looks forward to the Norwich match and asks the question … does Brentford continue to accept mediocrity? Or will they park the excuses and go for the win which should be 100% on the cards?
As Brentford managed to rescue a point against relegation-dabbling Cardiff, if made me ponder.
Here we were. Celebrating a last minute equaliser like it was a winner.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ll take a last minute point saving goal any day.
But the Cardiff fans’ confidence in their team’s ability to get anything out of this match was zero. “If you don’t get three points today then you must be crap coz we are sh!tte”.
As Cardiff led 1-0 for the majority of the match, their fans bellowed out from the away terrace “How sh!t must you be? We’re winning away”.
A disrespect of a chant if ever there was. But it tells a tale.
Only a few weeks earlier, we faced a Norwich team on the brink of a precipice.
They had lost 6 games in a row.
One small shove and they were over the edge. Gone. Finished. End of story.
Manager Alex Neil was on his way out the door. Norwich fans were on his back. Confidence was at an all time low.
What happens next?
Jolly olde Brentford turn up from West London to kickstart their season (supposedly).
Not only did we get both Norwich and Alex Neil out of jail with what must have been the limpest display seen in a red and white shirt since Stevenage-gate in the days of Uwe Rosler. But we gifted them five goals. Five goals which had Norwich fans proclaiming their season was back on track.
Brentford had put Norwich on course to win the league again. Apparently.
Meanwhile, back in TW8 the usual excuses were being throw around.
“Norwich are a good side”
“They had Alex Pritchard. He’s class”
“They have parachute money and we don’t”
“They’re in a false position”
On paper, all true. But the fact is Norwich were beatable. And we failed at the first hurdle.
So I ask the question. Is it a default position for Brentford to accept mediocrity?
It used to be OK for us to accept mediocrity back in the day. But I thought we had got well past that stage.
Surely our default position should be for other teams and fans to presume that we will be mediocre because of our supposed #tinpot status.
And then surprise them.
That’s the type of team I thought we were growing into.
Unfortunately, there seems to be growing signs that the Brentford of new seem happy to accept mediocrity.
When we lost so badly against Norwich as fans we were angry.
But we said Norwich were better than us.
Wrong.
We have the players.
The fact is. We made Norwich look good.
And the proof is in the pudding.
Since playing Brentford, they have gone on to win only one match – against Aston Villa who have problems of their own. The last few weeks have seen Norwich lose to Barnsley, Huddersfield and Reading.
Did Norwich’s opponents go into those matches accepting mediocrity?
Norwich now come to Griffin Park on Saturday with a record of two wins and nine losses in their last eleven matches.
The Canaries haven’t won away from home since October 1st when they beat Wolves 2-1.
They have lost every single away match (7 in a row) since October 18th – when they drew with Fulham.
So the question I am going to ask is … are we really going to accept mediocrity?
Lets look at our last few results.
Cardiff. Forget the dodgy ref. We should have beaten Cardiff. No excuses. We weren’t dynamic enough in midfield. But we were happy with the draw.
Leeds. If we actually tried to win the match we would have beaten Leeds. Hands down. As a Leeds fan said after the game “You came for the draw and you got found out”. We played ridiculously safe. And we lost the game with a goal in the final minute.
We beat Burton. Yippee. But isn’t that what we are meant to do? We’re at home. Against Burton – a team who had not won a single away game all season.
Bristol City. We beat them. Great result. But it could have gone either way. And looking at their league form, they’re really Brentford in disguise. We have won a similar amount of home and away matches as City. It’s like we were playing ourselves at Ashton Gate.
Birmingham weren’t great but they ground out a win against us us at Griffin Park. “They’re a top six team. They’re no mugs”. More excuses.
Blackburn were poor. They beat us 3-2. “Poor conditions. They were big lumps”. More excuses.
Fulham – we just didn’t turn up as they turned us over at Griffin Park. “Good manager. They still have parachute money”. More excuses.
My point. We always find an excuse to pull out of the bag.
So I ask the question once again.
Why settle for mediocrity?
Especially when you look at the top of the league and you see – with all due respect – teams like Sheffield Wednesday, Reading, Leeds, Birmingham and Derby occupying the top 8 spots in the league table.
They’re OK. But having reached the playoffs a couple of seasons ago, we know the calibre of team that makes a real mark at the top of this division. None of those top 8 teams come near to the Boros and the Bournemouths and the Watfords (and dare I say Norwiches) of that season.
So the last match of 2016 approaches.
And it’s the return of Norwich City.
Since the last time we settled for mediocrity against them, they have ONE single match – against Aston Villa.
Did Reading make an excuse that Norwich had Oliviera up front when they beat them?
Did Barnsley allow Pritchard to run the game when they beat them? He got taken off at half time.
Did Huddersfield hand the midfield over to Jonny Howson when they beat them? I don’t think so,
So I ask the question one again.
As Norwich come to Griffin Park on their knees.
With Alex Neil is on his last leg.
With the Norwich fans on the manager’s back.
With the manager seemingly unable to motivate his team.
With Norwich – full be expensive stars in their side – unable to buy a win at the moment
Is it not time that we stopped accepting mediocrity?
We may be little olde Brentford. But the fact is … Norwich coming to Griffin Park on Saturday should be a nailed on three points.
That’s not being arrogant.
It’s just a simple fact.
And if we don’t get 3 points against Norwich, some serious questions have to be asked of what exactly is going on with our team.
We need to stop accepting mediocrity. Because we’re better that that.
The danger with mediocrity is … it can become contagious.
And before you know it, you lose all sense of purpose. Because you know you can always find an excuse for not delivering the results.
So after a mediocre couple of months, I’m going to be bold .. and say …
Here’s to three points against Norwich.
Because anything less … is mediocre ….
and quite frankly ….
…… I’m not going to accept that
Billy Grant
@BillyTheBee99
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
CastBox
Acast
TuneIn
Google Podcasts
Spot on Mr bee and time our fans stop excepting ridiculous coaching of our talented squad .
No tactics no passion no die hard attitude.
Simple for me our coaching staff are clueless and have lost the team .
And same excuses every week we were shocking yesterday.
Smith just blamed the ref excuses excuses .
Difficult one this! When you look at the team/squad permutations that we put out, it seems that we are too afraid of making a mistake. The result is that several of the selected team struggle to make an impact early enough in the match.
This varies from game to game, different players- different weeks who all know they should and could do better.
Sayers, Yennaris, Vibe, are all talented enough players on their day, but the required consistency is not there.
The coaching, I don’t think is the problem. After all we have recently accommodated our three centre backs and seem to build quite well from the back.
But the ‘tempo’ is all wrong when it gets into midfield and from where we need to apply pressure on the oppositions defence.
Woods is an all action player who can do the business, but the ‘floated possession’ ball he has in his game does not help our attacking momentum. By the time it has been accurately received by his team-mate, that same player has been closed down.
Both Sawyers and McEachran have produced clever defence splitting passes into the opposition area this season and both have resulted in goals. Woods I think needs to try a bit more of that himself. With that thought in his mind, and the skill he undoubtedly has it would add seriously to our threat.
I agree with the coaching observations above. The manager appears to have lost the dressing room – and i wouldn’t doubt due in no small part to his misguided continued selection of Sawyer. It just looks and feels wrong. Didn’t we do well on Saturday after the subs came on? Why did we (and do we continue to) pick a team with a solus striker half the height of the Cardiff centre backs?
But back to the Woods point. He is being played in front of the back 3 (or 4) depending on the day. I feel he should be playing behind the front men. A quite different role that would allow him to run at the defenders, something we all seem reluctant to do.
And finally today, we all run away from the player with the ball and not towards him and we all want to offload too quickly and that is why we give the ball away in midfield too frequently and cheaply.
But… I am just a fan not a coach or manager – so what do I know?
I would agree this is a difficult one. The simple situation as far as I can see is the midfield rarely threatens the goal and just has no flair or quality and simply needs a rethink .
Sawyers and Josh Mc both have good capability and skill to unlock defences but neither are quick nor have the strong defensive capabilities needed. Which means we are saddled with one of these two paired with Woods and Nico, and to be honest I think Nico has now run his course. Neither he or Woods run beyond to offer an attacking outlet and with no natural ball carrier we ask Vibe to do this role and he too often runs up a deadend or delays his pass. As a result the game stifles in midfield as they pass side to side hoping for a run from Hogan. And there lies the problem – we have lauded Hogan as the quality striker we know he is, and he demands the type of through ball to be delivered to meet his strengths (think it was mentioned on a podcast that Hogan really only fits a system which suits his game style) but this has given us such a limited outlet we are expecting reasonable at best players to provide something they feel uncomfortable doing. They have no ability to make it happen when teams cut the flow off to Hogan. I personally feel this team is meeting its expectations – mediocre you can call this if you like, but I think its more exactly what two thirds of the championship is – pretty poor. We have no outstanding talented player (Hogan aside) and we are a prime example of so many Championship teams which is why this league gets bunched up with so many nearly teams. I hear all the time so and so are a poor team and we should beat them. But its a league full of poort team, its been like that for the last 10 years – ask Ipswich fans whose teams have been shuttling between play offs and the bottom for decades! Simple fact is we are mediocre because thats the limit of the players we have, too many people have been bigging up how good we are and the players we have and how we should beat this team and that team. Yes maybe we have tripped out excuse after excuse, but which manager doesnt. Simple fact is this league is full of mediocre players in mediocre teams and we are in amongst them. Warbs was lucky, he was blessed with 4 even 5 high quality players that came together at the same time. This team lacks players with outstanding quality and that is why we are so inconsistant because only quality delivers every single time. The team is setup to be defensive – half the team saturday were defenders (inc Bentley) and our midfield included two who are coverted full backs – so 7 are defensively minded. Smith has always been known to play a more defensive mindset so with that and a team of which 50% are defense driven we are unlikely to be tearing teams apart as per a Warbs team. I have said on these pages before this team needs an experienced general who can dicate and boss the game, like Sidwell or Leadbitter – we have too many young players who are scared to make mistakes (after all they get abuse and groans from the fans the moment they do make a slip up) and don’t have the skill and quality needed to give them an edge. I don’t see this group of players putting a run together, their confidence is shot as could be seen the way their heads dropped after the penalty after a promising start. They have lost faith in their own abilities and they feel the nervousness in the crowd. Its not the players fault and I dont think totally Smith’s fault either. Our recruitment has been poor and what many people thought was an excellent midfield has been proven to be nothing better than mediorce. This season needs written off, and the undoubted sale of Hogan put to good use to get the players we need to build for next season. Should Smith go? Seems he is failing to win the vast majority of fans over so is on a hiding to nothing, but would it change anything if we made a change? The same players will still have the same limitations and the sooner some supporters start to realsie the players which were lauded on Beestotted podcasts as being worth 3 or 4 million are not worth anything like that. Its a team with only one outstanding players and that is why you get mediocrcy – exactly like 15 or so other Championship teams
I agree with almost all you say except the last bit…. such is the money bouncing around these days £3 – £4m is probably close to the going rate for an average Championship player. Other than that spot on. I like your point about Hogan and how he needs to receive a killer pass immediately and when that doesn’t happen or he can’t be found the play makers run out of ideas. I think a similar thing happened when we went through the bad patch last season with Judgey…it was, give the ball to Judge…and when they couldn’t find him they didn’t know what to do. When he got injured they had to do things differently and everyone was responsible for making things happen and at that point we came out of our shell. It’s almost like we have to do everything through our star man and that makes us predictable. What I’m saying is we look like we play more as a team without a star man, or we need a couple more star men on the pitch so we aren’t looking to one player all the time.
Great post – if our transfer policy had a little more intent maybe we could push for top six
Billy – I know part of your role here is to spark debate – but I don’t get your article. Who are you digging out? Is it the players for being mediocre, or the management team or even the owner. Perhaps you’re even criticising your fellow fans for accepting mediocrity. I’ve reread your article and maybe you just don’t like Norwich.
For me Brentford aren’t mediocre and they ain’t super brilliant either. We are what we are – which is a middle of the table team. As a club we are minnows and punching above our weight just being in the Championship. I still have to pinch myself that we are playing at this level having spent 40 years watching Brentford play mostly 3rd and 4th division football.
Two years ago we had the most amazing team play the most scintillating, exciting football any of us have ever seen a Brentford team play. The legacy of that and finishing fifth has been to raise unrealistic expectations and prompt articles like your one. I for one will be happy to see our team / club cement our championship status and that means being patient, not overreacting when things don’t quite go our way and focusing on the bigger picture – building steadily for the future.
What he said
Yet another piece of over analysis, dreaming up every possible negative to reach the conclusion that Brentford have the wrong 11 players on the field, the wrong coaching team, the wrong back room team and therefore by conclusion that Brentford is just a small outfit punching above weight with no direction and just wallowing in mediocrity.
Well….that is just a load of rubbish.
The simple truth is that Brentford are well managed and have a group of gifted and talented people, both on and off the field. The players right now are lacking in self confidence individually and as a team, they are young and inexperienced and the only way to gain experience is to play more games.
True, Brentford struggle against the heavy handed ‘roughing up’ tactics of some teams and is probably part of every opponents strategy against Brentford at the moment.
I am staggered that some people above manage to criticise Hogan because he likes the team to play to his strengths. It should be patently obvious to everyone that the way to maximising anything is to play to an individuals strengths.
Time to get real, get behind the team – some will depart, others will arrive, but everyone in the Red and White steps will be Brentford.
There is a great set up at Brentford, it is being developed bit by bit every day. There are 23 teams and supporters trying their level best to defeat and destroy Brentford at every opportunity and the last thing we need is a group of so called supporters looking to dream up false problems, based upon little or no knowledge and look for ways to undermine the very team we should all support for success.
Football is a tough, cut throat business and it doe not get any easier for players and back room staff to go forward when the very people that should be supporting them are looking for every excuse to criticise.
Don’t think the comments regards Hogan are meant to be critical in anyway at all. It was stating that we are play to his strength but if that option isn’t working the quality in the team is limited to find another route to goal.
There is no doubt that we are not playing to our potential. Even the win over QPR we gave away the ball far too cheaply but luckily for us they kept giving it back. I feel we have really missed McCormack. His no comprise play can lift not only the supporters but his teammates.
I grew up with Division 4 mediocrity (until Bill Dodgin came along) and then watched 30+ years of (mostly) Division 3 mediocrity so to be honest I’m more than happy with Championship level “mediocrity” now.
The beauty – and the frustration – of the Championship is that any team is capable of beating any other, and although it doesn’t do the heart any good, I rather like the fact that the outcome of almost every game we play is in doubt until the final whistle. (Except the occasional tonkings dished out by teams with parachute payments, obviously.)
We’re not going to play like Barcelona every week so let’s at least applaud the character shown by the team on Monday.
I agree with the last three comments,i am amazed at some of the negative comments, especially after the way we were run in the lower reaches of the football league, and the standard of football we Bees fans have had to put up with for donkeys years.So get real folks, at least we are now in the championship, and now have players being sold for millions, and long may it continue.
I expected BFC to be in the relegation zone by now, the way things were going, so Smith has halted the slip, but as I have previously suggested, I think it is unlikely he has the oomph to take the club upwards. Survival to the next season, but what then?
Warburton wasn’t “lucky” to have those distinguished players; BFC had the best chance appointment [the owner just pushed him in to the role, purely by chance and circumstance, he has little credit for the subsequent surge to promotion], in decades and his management team colleagues, hand picked by the manager, not by some 4 year plan from a computer, obtained those players through skill and good connections; they also had more power and clout in their job descriptions, eg manager.
Warburton refused to have his hands tied by the owner’s ego [it was not that he was “a gentleman “, that he went quietly, as some pundit whittered, it was because he has a successful business background and that experience and pedigree would have trained him to go with DIGNITY in a professional manner].
With the wierd obsession with all things Danish that goes with that, not with much to be applauded about there, Smith was chosen as a “coach”, who would be complient with “the vision” and not rock the boat; that vision has found its true level, anonymous mediocrity. It’s just not worth forking out £25 to see that, is it?
I wish Hogan well at his new club in the New Year; with Warburton and co, his talents would not have been squandered in the current BFC setup; BFC may well have been clinging on at the bottom of the Premiership.
Yawn. We need to move on.
You probably spent the years between 2006 and 2013 harking back to the “glory days” of Martin Allen…
Let’s pass over your ignorant response; MA was a flawed manager, but he had his good points and no, the only govner that has set GP on fire and successfully tried to move the club upwards, was MW; the big chance for BFC, was there for the taking and the owner made a big, the biggest blunder in the clubs history, by making his brilliant continuance impossible and wrecking the best chance BFC will ever have, to reach the top level.
Saint Warbo’s judgement has gone. Signing Joey Barton and Clint Hill ffs!
Let’s start by remembering the bees are playing at the highest level they have been for seventy years,and with less resources than most championship teams. However, we’ve gone backwards during Smith’s tenure. Yes the squad is unbalanced and short of quality in certain areas but Smith was part of the team buying and selling during the summer.Team selections have been poor and inconsistent, tactics negative. Above all there seems little spirit, passion or inspiration. A decent man I’m sure, but it isn’t working.
We also need to remember that we have to comply with FFP rules and the Ipswich lad getting “stuck in” on Judgey probably took £5m out of the summer transfer budget at a stroke…
The number of posts & varied opinions suggests your piece was timely & completely fair. Love this division & happy to simply remain competitive within it, we have some great memories over all 3 seasons so far. I’ll always be at GP, & on the road & would never withdraw my support for the club I love. Sadly I don’t think setting out to survive in the division is viable, its push on or fade away & I truly believe MB gets this from a financial & football perspective. Smith is the ultimate pragmatist & possibly has enough nouse to keep us safe, although it may not be pretty. But is this what our ambitious owner had in mind when he made those big changes? Are we finding & recruiting the talent to make the model work, and is the team under DS able to play a brand of positive attacking football? Progress is never linear & hard to measure, with big bumps along the way, but for me the jury is out on where we are headed right now. That’s not only related to DS’s position as he has others working with him charged with providing a competitive squad We need a large shot of positivity & passion to spark the club again, DS doesn’t inspire in the way MW & LC could, then we feared nobody, I sense too much respect for the bigger clubs & some of the little old Brentford inferiority thing. Maybe the return of Jota & other additions would help, we all need to get our collective Mojo back. I do feel the next 3 games are huge, sonwhat would be an acceptable return from them? For me 3 points & a place in the fa cup 4th round is the minimum required.
Mediocrity? Earth dwelling Bees witness a team pumped up on Benham’s financial steroids. Planet Beesotted whine that the 3rd worst supported team are merely mid-table. A Narnian lad is told the reward for a good deed is to be set a harder task.
Weird. Narnia beats Beesotted in the reality stakes.
Unthrilled by some recent performances I know criticism is due. But really; Brentford accepting mediocrity? Seriously; I have a wardrobe going spare.
BFC, is only surviving this long in the Division, because of the legacy inherited from the massive efforts and quality of the groundwork laid by MW (and team) – and with a nod to Rosler. Carsley was a part of that team and could carry forward the quality for a while, but he, like so many of the great team of that time, saw no future, staying in a club under the tutelage of a person who puts his control above the star shell clear common sense of keeping a successful management team for the journey upwards; he sacrificed the best chance the club will ever have of the Premier division, by thinking he knows more about football than professionals and that imposing his fantasy football stats bring success. No, what you see, is the steady mouldering and stagnation of all that was achieved before, when it was with real excitement and anticipation of another great game from the team, with relentless attack, rock defence and with team spirit and morale sky high. Where is that all now; history has plenty of examples of powerful individuals, who take over the reigns and overreach themselves, when, in the BFC case, they should stick to the finances.
Fact are,once again Boru,is that Benhams finance employed them ALL,and continues to keep us in upper reaches of the football league.Credit were credits due i think?
I accept he bankrolls the club; but he made a mistake crossing the line from successful financier, or rather gambler, to interfering and meddling with the club management and on pitch structure and not in a good way. I believe he is a club supporter, but he is a bit of an enigmatic character and his ego eg he wants hands on control, starting with him downgrading the managers role , to so-called head coach; this has recently degenerated to sharing the role with another Dane. Surely, this cannot be a recipe for success, as the number of staff, through sheer human nature, wrestling for the decision making role and trying to keep in the Scientologista’s good books, could explain the confused on field strategy, unimaginative substitutions and questionable recruitment policy.
How would you like your every move, over analysed and questioned, even during games?
I feel some sympathy for Smith, although I am pretty sure the owner picked him for pliability and conformity.
Bottom line is Boru, are we better of with him, or without, three years in the championship seems proof that we are.first thing he did was to fund a new ground,something we desperately need. Is he better than Noades,Webb, ect? You can bet your bottom dollar he is,all they wanted to do was take.By the way you seem to have a problem with his gambling background? And now a scientololgist thing, is he? As you can tell,i am pro Benham, as a result of 50 plus years supporting the Bees, in the lower reaches of the football league, with little or no money.
Whats the matter with you supposed bees supporters. The word is support not moaners. After 70 years of supporting the bees ive seen us in all divisions, success and not so successfull, but ill be there shouting them on why dont you try it .
Let the managment manage and get behind the team.
I think Billy has a point about the ‘acceptance’ bit. It’s not an argument about are we happy we’re in the Championship (let’s, for the sake of simplicity, agree we are all delighted not to be watching year upon year of third-tier football like we had to endure before MB). It seems there has been a change in the way the club (players and management) talk about performance. Yes, they are not going to win every game. But the feeble excuses from Smith and the trite ‘We go again’ narrative after defeat from players comes across as pretty passionless. After the Norwich debacle the noises coming out of the club should have been that performances like that are unacceptable, the players know it, and it won’t be tolerated. Likewise Smith has to follow through and drop players who do badly since that is the point of having a squad. He’d find it easier to manage too, since fringe players would believe they have a potential place in the team. As someone who does PR, I’d suggest some media training for Smith and the squad. Talk about passion and winning and the mindset will change. It’ll also builds a link between players and fans… look at the way spin from Martin Allen used to put a smile on fans’ faces. For me the jury is still out on Smith, but I’m certain he needs to change his demeanour and start to look like a winner.