After our disasterclass at Sunderland last Wednesday, I went into the Forest game with a sense of dread – and with good reason. The Reds had beaten us on their last two visits to the Gtech by the same scoreline of two goals to nil, sitting deep in defence and taking their chances on the counter. Last Saturday, I was quite afraid, like many other Bees fans, that history would repeat itself yet again.
Personally, I felt Keith had picked an overly attacking line-up for our League Cup trip to the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. However, he got the starting eleven spot on for Forest.
Sepp van den Berg partnered Kris Ajer in the heart of defence. It wouldn’t have helped Ajer to keep chopping and changing his defensive partner, and I thought van den Berg had done quite well in recent weeks alongside the big Norwegian.
Vitaly Janelt returned to the starting line-up after suspension, with Mamadou Sangaré and Mathias Jensen lining up alongside the relentless German in midfield. Over the last couple of games, Sangaré hadn’t looked the same player he was at the start of the season, but this felt like the perfect match for the young Malian to take another step forward in his performances. Jensen started further forward instead of Mikkel Damsgaard. Neither had been in the best of form, but, in my opinion, Jensen is better at breaking down defences than his Danish compatriot.
Igor Thiago started up front after his late goal at Sunderland. It felt imperative that he added to his goalscoring tally against Forest, as some Bees fans were beginning to get concerned about his lack of goals so far this season. The Brazilian international had the power to turn our recent draws into wins. Dango Ouattara was chosen over Jaidon Anthony on the right wing. I thought Ouattara put in his best performance of the season up at Hull and also made a positive impact when he came on at the Stadium of Light.
It was a very tight start to what was an important game for both sides. The Bees started the brighter, but Forest soon grew into the game and enjoyed a sustained spell of pressure for 15–20 minutes midway through the first half.
Ajer did superbly to defend a ball played in behind to Delap, blocking the former Ipswich and Chelsea man’s dangerous cut-back. The industrious McAtee curled his shot narrowly wide after finding himself in acres of space on the edge of the box – he really should have done better.
Down the other end, we were still creating the odd half-chance. Thiago screwed his shot wide after a terrific through ball from Jensen. There was also a corner which was cleared straight to Sangaré, who blasted his effort just wide.
We did very well to deal with Forest’s spell of pressure and quickly got back on top of the contest. You could sense we had a goal coming, and it duly arrived a few minutes later in rather fortuitous circumstances.
Caoimhín Kelleher drilled a magnificent cross-field ball out to Ouattara, who controlled it superbly before advancing towards Murillo, stationed on the edge of the box. He bypassed the Forest centre-half with a phenomenal piece of skill and attempted to lay the ball off to Thiago for a tap-in. Instead, it clipped Milenkovic’s left toes at the near post and looped past Sels into the Forest net. It always felt as though the first goal might play a key role in the outcome of the game, and I was relieved we were the ones to get it. Lucky? Yes, but huge nonetheless.
Following our opener, we really grew into the contest and could have added to our lead before the break. Kevin Schade was fouled right on the edge of the area, with Jensen’s subsequent free-kick scraping the top of the crossbar.
After the break, Forest enjoyed another short spell of pressure, which didn’t lead to much other than Yates heading over a massive opportunity from just a few yards out.
Both teams looked as though they were labouring in what became a scrappy second period. We finally seemed to be getting some decisions from the referee going our way for once, which made a nice change and helped break up the game.
One thing I really liked about our second-half performance was how we played in Forest’s half, winning a lot of free-kicks and throw-ins. Although these didn’t lead to anything, they prevented the Reds from building up a head of steam and kept the pressure off our back line. We didn’t attempt to sit on our slender lead by parking the bus but instead went out to try to get a second goal. The longer the half went on, the more comfortable we looked at the back, and we might well have had enough to hold on to our one-goal advantage. However, if we could get a second goal, you felt it would decide the match once and for all in our favour.
Roughly 15 minutes from time, we wrapped up the three points with that vital second goal. From a throw-in deep inside our half, the ball was worked out to Janelt, who found Aaron Hickey with a crisp pass. The Scottish international then drilled a sublime ball out to Anthony, who had just come on for Ouattara, in oceans of space on the right. The former Claret broke into the box and calmly pulled the ball across for Thiago, whose strike deflected off Milenkovic once again, shaved the underside of the crossbar, fooled Sels and, to the relief of every Brentford fan, found the back of the net. Thiago celebrated his goal like a man who knew just how significant it could be, not only in the context of the match but also for his season.
Unlikely to overturn their two-goal deficit, Forest looked defeated and spent the rest of the match knocking the ball sideways at the back rather than going forwards, much to the disgust of the away end, who booed them off at the final whistle.
Kelleher had very little to do in goal, partly thanks to the rock-solid defensive partnership of Ajer and van den Berg in front of him, who handled Delap masterfully. Keane Lewis-Potter was superb in defence once again and was able to get forward on multiple occasions. We seem to be seeing fewer of Michael Kayode’s iconic marauding runs up the pitch, but, to counter that, he has developed into a brilliant defender and stopped Ndoye well and truly in his tracks.
Janelt was his usual hard-grafting self once again in the centre of midfield. Sangaré put in his best performance since the start of the season, helping us to control the game. Jensen was creative going forwards but also worked tirelessly in our press – he was non-stop all afternoon.
Schade was quiet out on the left – we need to start seeing more of the Schade we enjoyed at the start of this season again. Up against three centre-backs, Thiago was superb. He gave Milenkovic a torrid time from minute one and thoroughly deserved his goal. Whisper it quietly, but is Ouattara beginning to find some long-awaited consistency in his performances? He is certainly starting to look more like a £40 million player.
Hickey came on at the hour mark, replacing Sangaré in midfield and helping us to boss the second half. His wonderful through ball to Anthony not only helped set up our second goal but also attracted much praise from those of a Bees persuasion. Damsgaard worked hard in our press to trap Forest in their own half as the clock ticked down. Anthony showed brilliant composure in the build-up to our second goal.
Overall, it was a hard-fought but vital win, which calmed the nerves of some of those in the Brentford faithful. It was gritty and low on quality at times, but I really enjoyed seeing us scrap for every ball and continue to battle hard to preserve our three points right up until the final whistle. It might well turn out to be one of our biggest wins of the campaign come the end of the season.
On Sunday afternoon, the Bees visit Brighton at the Amex in a clash between two of the division’s top-six sides.
This will probably be our toughest game so far this campaign and one of the hardest we will play all season.
Brighton have been outstanding over the last few years, earning a place in the Europa League with a sixth-place finish (the highest in the club’s history) back in 2023, reaching two FA Cup semi-finals and, earlier this year, pipping the Bees to the Conference League.
A good measure of how the Seagulls have been faring in recent years is the fact that they have only finished outside the top half of the table once in their last five seasons.
At the start of this season, they seem to have gone up another level. They have been scoring goals for fun and are comfortably the top scorers in the division.
At home, they have won three of their four games so far, putting four past Aston Villa, three past Arsenal and another five – including a goal-of-the-season contender from the halfway line – past their near rivals Crystal Palace in the process. The only slight blot on their home record to date was a fortunate draw against Leeds.
Away from home, they have taken Coventry to pieces, scraped past Sunderland and picked up a fantastic win at Manchester Ci… (sorry, the cheats) last weekend. They have also suffered narrow defeats at both Chelsea and Liverpool.
Not long ago, Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler was in danger of the sack, but he has done a brilliant job of turning an already talented squad into one of the best teams in the league. It was therefore no surprise when he was touted for the Manchester United job two weeks ago.
Brighton have sublime quality in all areas of the pitch, always have a goal in them and are extremely tricky customers. This fixture is arguably the worst we could have faced this weekend, especially with the upcoming international break.
Everybody is going to have to be on their A-game if we are to escape the Amex with anything. My best bet would be that we try to sit deep and hit Brighton on the counter, but Keith may also decide to go toe-to-toe with the Seagulls. That would be risky, but might also reap its rewards.
Kelleher and the defence are going to have to be on it at the back to keep out Brighton’s first-class attack. Sangaré or the returning Yarmoliuk will need to be their usual tireless selves alongside Janelt, screening our back line and helping us control the flow of the game at various stages.
We will be relying on either Jensen or Damsgaard to find some pinpoint passes in behind on the counter. Our whole front line is going to need to break hard and fast on the transition. If we are going to get a result from this game, we will probably have to score at least one goal, if not more.
Schade and, probably, Ouattara will also be required to get back and help out their full-back in defence. Thiago just needs to try his best to bully the Brighton centre-halves and give them a terrible afternoon. If he can win us a few free-kicks upfield, that would relieve the pressure on our back line and help us to play more of the game in Brighton’s half of the pitch.
This is another huge game. I would absolutely snap your hand off for the dullest 0–0 draw of all time right now, but I still feel that, if mostly everything goes our way, the three points are also there to be had. You never know – we might just catch Brighton on an off day. We are also due a victory at the Amex, having gone winless down there for over a decade.
Matt Milne
