Brentford historian and BU Board member Greville Waterman focuses on‘a topsy-turvy fortnight, one in which we went from the extremes of triumph and joy to despair and then back again’. Grev mentions ‘a personal tragedy’, as many Bees fans will know his wife Miriam passed away after a battle with COVID. We are especially grateful that in these circumstances Greville felt able to write this article. Supporters on social media have expressed their condolences to Grev and he has thanked them for ‘your kind words and best wishes’.
A fortnight is a long time in football and the events of the last 14 days just highlight the madhouse and rollercoaster that is the Championship.
The Bees left the pitch at the Madejski Stadium on 10th February capering for joy after two late goals from Josh Dasilva and Ivan Toney gave them a 3-1 victory over promotion rivals Reading and took them to the top of the table for the first time since they were promoted to the championship in 2014.
Ivan Toney and Josh Dasilva celebrate at Reading with ‘Tactical Statistician’ Bernardo Cueva.
Everything in the garden looked lovely. The win extended Brentford’s unbeaten run to 21 games since the Stoke City aberration way back on 24th October and loyal supporters were daring to dream that this could finally be the year that saw the Bees reach the promised land of the Premier League without enduring the Sisyphean torment that is the playoffs.
In his infinite wisdom Martin Allen used to say “neither quaff the champagne nor pop the pills.” In other words, things are rarely as good – or indeed, bad – as they initially appear. Never were his words more apposite. The unbeaten run was an incredible achievement as the Bees were relentless in finding ways to win and some of their football was characteristically brilliant. Ivan Toney was a goal machine scoring seven times in his last four games, Vitaly Janelt was proving to be an Ironman in the continued absence of Christian Norgaard, Sergi Canos had more than recovered his mojo and Mathias Jensen was effortlessly brilliant in midfield.
But digging beneath the surface some cracks were beginning to appear. The Bees had only kept one clean sheet since the turn of the year and were clearly missing the influence of Pontus Jansson. Soft goals against, particularly from set pieces, were becoming the rule rather then the exception and Brentford had fallen behind in their last three games, requiring Herculean efforts from an exhausted team to come back and win them all.
The pressure on players in this unique COVID ravaged season has been relentless and unending with Brentford playing no less than 13 games since the 5th January this year, or to be totally specific, 13 games in 50 days. That is a totally ridiculous workload and it is no wonder that despite all the advances in sports science and the quality of our backroom support, the players are flagging with their energy reserves depleted and injuries becoming commonplace.
Thomas Frank raised a few eyebrows when he gave chapter and verse to our horrific and ever-growing injury list the day before Wednesday’s Sheffield Wednesday match.
- Pontus Jansson – out until after the next international break
- Rico Henry whose hamstring I can still almost hear twanging against Coventry – out for up to two months
- Christian Norgaard – who has been out since the beginning of October bar one belated substitute appearance against Newcastle is on the verge of returning
- Emiliano Marcondes – almost recovered from his lingering back injury
- Ivan Toney – day to day
- Marcus Forss – out with concussion
- Josh Dasilva – nursing a hip injury
- Shandon Baptiste – long-term absence
- Charlie Goode – long-term absence
We are not unique as other teams have been similarly afflicted but our squad is not the largest or deepest, we have played eight cup matches and also had the shortest turnaround after the end of last season, as well as having to deal with the mental heartbreak of missing out on promotion so cruelly.
The fortnight from hell comprised three defeats. The Barnsley home game was quite simply Groundhog Day as they pressed and squeezed us to death, never allowed us to get going and took full advantage of two slovenly defensive aberrations. A total reprise of last season’s home disaster against them.
To our surprise we then lost the local derby to QPR – a team who we can rely upon to freeze when they play us. There was an eerie non-atmosphere at a near deserted Loftus Road as the Bees dominated the first half and fully deserved the lead given to them by Ivan Toney’s excellent near post finish from a Jensen freekick. The second half continued in a similar vein with the home team creating nothing but our energy levels went down and we were caught up field from a cleared corner kick. Three players could have taken a booking and stopped the counter attack almost at source but they dithered and waved the player past and shortly afterwards from a misdirected Henry header the ball was volleyed into our net. Heads went down and milk turns quicker than Dalsgaard and Mbeumo who allowed a cross into our box which was converted by Austin who then added insult with his wild celebration in front of Thomas Frank who was distinctly unamused.
Cameron then committed an outrageous professional foul to stop the marauding Toney in full flight. QPR had taken up the dark arts and had benefitted accordingly.
One defeat is happenstance, two is coincidence but three is enemy action, as Ian Fleming so memorably stated and a depleted and inexperienced Bees team ran up the white flag and put in an abysmal dispirited performance against an average Coventry team, lost comfortably, never really threatened and saw talismanic defender Rico Henry limp off with a serious hamstring injury.
It was at this point with Swansea and Watford breathing down our neck that matters were at their lowest ebb. Three defeats in in six days is pretty gruesome but a sense of perspective must also be kept. We had been undefeated for 21 games previously and were riddled with injuries and fatigue. We had not necessarily become a bad team overnight.
I was feeling particularly low given a personal tragedy and the team’s results had certainly helped bolster me and keep me going and the Sheffield Wednesday game now took on epic proportions as heads were down on the pitch and certainly amongst the fanbase.
We all knew, given Frank’s injury update that the team would be composed of those left standing – if not running at full pelt.
Quite simply if momentum was to be regained and confidence was to ooze and course back into our shattered psyche then a win was paramount – nothing less would do. Thankfully our opponents were Sheffield Wednesday, a team also lacking in confidence and with an appalling goalscoring record, having scored a measly 21 goals all season.
I was worried about the mercurial Barry Bannon, a most gifted quarterback of a midfield player and he was by far their best player but totally lacking in support.
Brentford just had to win – never mind how and if we saw very little beautiful football and far more blood, sweat and effort then who cares. And that is exactly what happened. We overcame a slow and nervous start which saw an excellent Raya save from Bannon and Lees head a presentable chance wide from the corner that followed and slowly we took charge.
The goal that settled nerves was most un-Brentford like in its foundation and execution as a long throw from Sorensen, the new emergency left back, was allowed to bounce and pinball around the penalty area as players thrashed around trying to make effective contact. Reach should have cleared but appeared to bottle out of the challenge and Canos mishit a shot that was going nowhere but unerringly found the head of emergency striker Mbeumo and settled into the corner of the net. Goal of the season without a shadow of a doubt.
Suddenly we were all wreathed in smiles and despite a couple of scares the second half was a procession with further goals from Ghoddos and Sorensen giving us a comfortable, much needed and morale boosting 3-0 victory. Canos and Dalsgaard also saw yellow after committing the sort of professional fouls we only normally see inflicted upon us. Suddenly we were getting our retaliation in first. Not easy on the eye perhaps but perhaps the ends justify the means?
We also found a new hero in loanee Winston Reid who won everything in the air and exuded calm and solidity. Toney and Marcondes also made cameo appearances off the bench and suddenly with the Bees still in second place, although shadowed by both Swansea and Watford, everything is beginning to look a little bit better, particularly with the prospect of Norgaard returning shortly.
What a topsy-turvy fortnight, one in which we went from the extremes of triumph and joy to despair and then back again.
The race for promotion continues – and we are as well equipped to succeed as everyone else.