Signs Show That Brentford Will Not Be Sent To Coventry

Everything is pointing towards another Brentford win, yet again.  We’re at home, we’re done with celebrating like we had won the FA Cup at Leyton Orient, and we face a team that is out of form.

Assessing the Coventry stats, they seem unable to keep a clean sheet, having conceded 17 goals in the last 8 games, and only scoring 9 goals.  Contrast this to the Bees, who have scored 12 goals, conceding only 6, keeping 4 clean sheets in the last 4 games.

Our possession stats are impressive too, averaging 54.63% of possession in our last 8 games, compared to Coventry’s 50.63%.  Seeing as they will be the away team on Saturday, we can expect to have our usual level of possession.

In terms of chances created and scored, again, Brentford show superior stats.  We are creating around 15 chances a game, allowing 10 chances against us.  Coventry are creating around 10 chances a game and allowing around 10 chances against themselves.  Crucially, though, Coventry are directing nearly 50% of their chances on target, compared to our 33%.

Coventry have, in truth, fallen away quite a bit in the second half of the season.  They have only won 3 league games during 2014 so far, but, they have goalscorers in their team, with Callum Wilson and Franck Moussa scoring 30 goals between them.

Their fans might argue that the sale of Leon Clarke to Wolves was a big blow, seeing as he had scored 18 goals for them. Regardless, their second half of the season is not proving to be particularly enjoyable and their form really shows this.  Their League away form in 2014 reads: Played 8, Won 2, Drawn 1, Lost 5, with only 3 points (1 win) picked up in the last 5 away games.

We can never rely purely on stats though. We could have an off-day, they could score a couple of worldies, it’s hard to say.  However, the likelihood is that we will celebrate another win (although we might not celebrate it like we have won the FA Cup, because a certain Mr Slade might get upset).

I anticipate that Coventry will be a goal threat, but their defence will not be able to cope with our’s.  From reading their reports, it does seem that they like to press high, so if Cov decide to do that against us, then we should be able to exploit the spaces behind them.  If they come to park the bus, then we’ve shown that we can wear teams down in the second half of games. Seeing as Coventry concede most of their goals in the second half (41 goals conceded in the second half compared to 24), then either way, we have the upper hand.

Following on from last week’s , I found it particularly interesting when Carl Hutchings explained to me that players feel the tension from fans.  They feel the anxiety, the impatience, the fear of us choking time and time again.  Throughout much of this season, I have found there to be a tension within Griffin Park that has prevented us from really getting behind the lads, when you compare it to the manner in which the fans supported the team at Leyton Orient, there is a marked difference.

Let us be the 12th man and provide the support to the team throughout the match against Coventry, then right through to the end of the season. Forget the mistakes made, the lack of goals when we’re trying to break down a stubborn away team, let’s focus on giving the lads every bit of support we can. What the Brentford players have achieved so far this season deserves our support. Let’s re-create the noise that we made at Brisbane Road… and then some!

Make sure you let the players know that we are fully behind them.

Come on you Brentford!