What an absolutely incredible and unbelievable season it was for Brentford FC – finishing in 13th place with a massive 46 points, never once dropping below 15th place in the table, with remarkable victories over the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea for disbelieving fans to relish and start to believe that the Bees fully deserved their place in the Premier League. They defied all expectations and in Thomas Frank’s oft-repeated words, Brentford became a real “asset to the Premier League.”
That of course was the 2021/22 season, not the one just finished, but could lightning strike twice, could the Bees build upon the impetus gained during a quite unforgettable season and not fall foul of the dreaded so-called second season syndrome?
Before the start of the 2022/23 season many pundits, apparently disbelieving the evidence of their own eyes, seemed to think that the Bees were a mere one-season wonder and would struggle to repeat their exploits of the previous year and might even languish in the nether regions of the table.
That certainly was not the case inside the club where Phil Giles saw no reason why Brentford’s levels would tail off given the amount of planning and activity that would take place in the preseason. His hope was for Brentford to become an average Premier League team by the end of the 2022/23 season, a view shared by Thomas Frank who was determined not to allow standards to slip. “We do well, but there is more in us, and we need to push.”
As is so often the case, the insiders knew best, and far from struggling to maintain impetus, the Bees came within a hairsbreadth of qualifying for Europe, finishing beyond the dreams of most supporters in ninth place in the Premier League table with a remarkable 59 points, the club’s highest placed finish since the halcyon days of 1938, and perhaps, on an aggregated points per game basis, the club’s finest season in their history.
At this juncture I will put my cards on the table and say that I have few regrets at missing out on a European tour – and it was so so close to coming to pass. Had we held onto our fully deserved lead against Aston Villa in April instead of conceding a cruel, late equaliser, it would have been us and not them who would have qualified for the Europa Conference League by finishing in seventh place! As it is, whilst I would have loved the glamour and kudos associated with European competition, the prospect of traipsing around Eastern Europe on Thursday nights followed by a plethora of Sunday afternoon Premier League games might well have played havoc with our limited squad numbers and resources. Hopefully next year will be different and we can then be fully prepared for a European adventure.
Beating the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Brighton………
and Manchester United, 4-0 !
Sorry that was a thrashing rather than a beating of United – and having the best record against all of the top six teams was no fluke.
Most Brentford fans were disappointed when a sluggish and disjointed performance allowed Leeds to secure victory and delay relegation (!) on the final day of the 2021/22 season and they added insult to injury with a prolonged celebration which delayed Brentford’s lap of honour. There was no such escape this season when Ivan Toney’s majestic hat trick including THAT chip in a convincing 5-2 victory contributed to Leeds’s eventual relegation and a feeling of schadenfreude from Bees fans who had seen Leeds players mock Brentford when we missed out on promotion in 2020 – revenge is a dish best served cold.
The team was brilliantly coached, made full use of small margins and were the masters of the high press, low block, man for man marking, transition, counter attacking, turning defence into swift attack and, of course, set pieces. The best in the world at the latter according to Klopp and Guardiola.
Brentford’s achievement made light of the fact that they possessed almost the smallest squad, crowds and budget in the division and bears testimony to their levels of confidence, planning, innovation, leadership, adaptability, versatility, organisation, bravery and sheer hard graft – not forgetting, of course pure footballing ability.
This was a team that boasted no real individual stars – although Ivan Toney might beg to differ – but you knew what you were going to get every week with Brentford – a team with a clear identity, DNA, and sense of unity and togetherness, who would give everything for the cause and switch positions and formations as the need arose.
This was indeed a band of brothers who were determined to make the most of their opportunity – and prove themselves they most certainly did. From a team of veritable no-names, the likes of David Raya, Ethan Pinnock, Rico Henry, Vitaly Janelt, Ben Mee, Christian Norgaard, Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, Aaron Hickey and Mathias Jensen are now fully-fledged and established Premier League players, coveted by many envious rivals. With one of the youngest squads in the league, they, and several others too, can only get better.
Testimony, indeed, to the detailed and inspired work of the recruitment team, and their adroit use of bespoke statistics, data analysis and a combination of video and live scouting.
Perhaps I will just allow the Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel to provide his view about Brentford: “They are a brilliant football team – a shining example of how to wring out every droplet of potential. They play front foot, breathless football.”
Rather than provide an August to May overall summary of the season, I would simply prefer to look back in no particular order at some of the key learnings and highlights:
- There was a refresh of the coaching staff with the arrival of Claus Nörgaard, Justin Cochrane and Ben Ryan who provided fresh voices and ideas (were we slowed up by the effects of wearing match shirts made heavier from playing in the rain?) and the departure of Brian Riemer who, job well done, became head coach of Anderlecht.
- Kudos and gratitude as always to Matthew Benham, Phil Giles and Lee Dykes for their continuing effort and energy in the quest for continuous improvement and progress.
- New signings arrived in the shape of typical young, promising, talented Brentford captures such as Aaron Hickey, Keane Lewis-Potter, the much sought after Danish international Mikkel Damsgaard and Kevin Schade, a versatile forward with electrifying pace who is on the verge of completing his permanent transfer from Freiburg after a successful loan spell. Hickey impressed as an elegant two-footed right back who can both attack and defend and he provided two of the most memorable moments of the season with his brutal shoulder charge on the icon that is Christian Ronaldo simply emphasising Brentford’s lack of fear and utter domination of Manchester United on an unforgettable broiling hot August afternoon and his glorious slide rule through pass which shredded the defence for Bryan Mbeumo’s second goal against a frankly disbelieving Spurs team. Lewis-Potter’s season was ruined by injury but he and the elegant Damsgaard, also seeking to recover full fitness, showed more than enough to more than whet appetites for next season.
- The loss of Christian Eriksen who – not unreasonably – preferred the riches and glamour of Manchester United to the down to earth homeliness of the Brentford Community stadium, appeared to outsiders and some fans alike to be a mortal blow given how much he contributed to the latter part of last season, but, as always, Thomas Frank came up with a solution, with Mathias Jensen more than rising to the occasion and the opportunity presented to him, scoring a remarkable 5 goals from an xG of 2.2, assisting on six others and was also responsible for the majestic pass from defence to Ivan Toney which helped set up Bryan Mbeumo’s unforgettable goal against Manchester United. How ironic it was too that Jensen caught his illustrious Danish international team mate dawdling in possession of the ball before stroking home Brentford’s second goal of the game.
- Goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha arrived with no little fanfare from Lazio and perhaps the Albanian international felt that he could compete with David Raya, however it turned into a no contest given Raya’s consistent brilliance and the series of niggling injuries that afflicted Strakosha throughout the season. He never played a minute in the Premier League and was confined to two cup appearances, keeping a clean sheet at Colchester and then conceding a long-range FA Cup winner from former Bee Said Benrahma that whistled just past his left shoulder and should surely have been saved. That victory was little consolation to a West Ham team that has now been beaten by Brentford in all four Premier League matches between the two clubs – can we play you every week? Strakosha will surely be looking for a new home next season and hopefully we can recover the money lavished on his wages this season.
- David Raya was an ever-present, earned 12 clean sheets, made 154 saves – more than any other goalkeeper in the EPL – and saved 77.7% of all the shots he faced, the second-best record in the Premier League. It has to be said at this point that the way in which the Bees set up defensively ensured that a high proportion of shots taken against us came from outside of the penalty area and not in positions of maximum opportunity – which is not to denigrate Raya’s achievement. His distribution was as crisp, accurate and clinical as ever with an incredible long pass completion rate of 44.9%, and he fittingly signed off with a clean sheet and a contribution towards the winning goal against Manchester City with a quickly taken and perfectly placed free kick down the right channel to Kevin Schade. After four years of impeccable service and 52 clean sheets it is hard to begrudge the Spanish international the chance to join a leading team (aren’t we on the verge of becoming that though?) and Mark Flekken, (apparently a Raya clone) has already joined the club from Freiburg as his likely replacement. Perhaps Raya will find that the grass is not necessarily greener elsewhere, but he fully deserves his move which should come to pass as long as we are offered ideally a club record fee which would provide us with a handsome profit on the fee expended on him in 2019. Of course there is some posturing going on at the moment but Raya is one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and despite his contractual situation, he should surely command a transfer fee in excess of those we received for Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma. His value is best indicated by the fact that we have apparently paid around 13 million Euros to replace him.
- Perhaps the best signing of the season was the most unheralded. After 11 years at Burnley, 32-year-old central defender Ben Mee joined the Bees and given his age and experience he was perhaps initially perceived as a squad player who could enhance the dressing room and fill in whenever and wherever necessary. How wrong we all were! Mee missed only one game (in which we defended appallingly and conceded four times!), blocked 42 shots, made 48 interceptions, 116 clearances, 64 headed clearances, 45 tackles and won a league-leading 132 aerial challenges. Can anyone ever forget that crucial goal line block of a certain goal early on in the Liverpool home game where he anticipated the danger so early and so well. Would we have won without it, and he did the same late on against Manchester City in the final game of the season too. He also found time to score three goals including an acrobatic and totally unexpected scissors kick against Wolves. He was the first to celebrate Toney’s last gasp winner at his former club, Manchester City after a lung bursting length of the pitch celebratory run. Ben Mee found a new lease of life and the adoring cries of “MEEEEE!” rang around the ground whenever he made a defensive contribution – which was generally several times per game. No wonder he was the Supporters’ Player of the Year – a fully deserved award. A thoroughly decent man who added so much to the team and the club. A perfect replacement for Pontus Jansson as the experienced club house leader.
- Pontus Jansson was given a rousing send-off at the Manchester City game and departs for Malmo in Sweden with our heartfelt thanks and gratitude after four seasons of impeccable service. His signing broke the mould and caused a flurry of surprise and amazement when he approached us to join the Bees after leaving Leeds under a cloud. He brought a much-needed toughness and professionalism to what could often be a team that was perceived as soft and easy to score against. He became a leader at a club who in his own moving words “let me be myself.” I am sure that much of Ethan Pinnock’s success is due to the promptings and example set by Pontus. Injury curtailed his appearances this season but he was a loud and positive voice behind the scenes and signed off with a typical thumping header at Brighton. It was sad to see him limp off against Newcastle, but his influence will never be forgotten and he played an integral part in our rise from being flat track bullies in the Championship to becoming a hardened and seasoned Premier League team. What a send-off we gave him after the Manchester City game too!
- Where does one start with Ivan Toney? It is hard to remember that less than three years ago he was still playing in the third tier of English football and was almost untried at the top level. How far and how fast has he come? To score 20 goals in the Premier League and become the first Brentford player to gain full international honours for England since Leslie Smith way back in 1939 are mindboggling achievements. He was a real leader on and off the pitch and it is noticeable how much he raised his game when playing away at the might of both Manchester City and Arsenal where he terrified and bullied the opposition and he was quite clearly the best player on the pitch.
Thomas Frank is in no doubt about just how good he is: “His link-up play is at a very high level. The ones who look at him closely can see how technically good he is, the way he understands the game is a big thing, he is a fantastic leader and character on the pitch and a very good pressing player.” I can still see that hat trick against Leeds that had a bit of everything, that perfect cheeky pass off his backside against Fulham, the goal against Wolfsburg from the halfway line, a feat he nearly repeated in the Premier League and the feeling of immense pride seeing him bestride the Wembley pitch as a fully-fledged England international footballer. It is testimony to his ability that his missing a penalty against Newcastle became headline news – an error swiftly rectified shortly afterwards when he scored again from the spot against Nick Pope who must now be totally sick of the site of him stepping up to the penalty spot, as he has now faced four Ivan Toney spot kicks! As far as the betting offences are concerned, hopefully we can all put this behind ourselves now. I was impressed by the fact that somehow Ivan had the strength of mind to continue to play at such a high level seemingly unaffected by the storm gathering in the background. Our thoughts are now with him as he can hopefully get the help and support he needs to combat his gambling addiction and we all look forward to welcoming him back fit and mentally strong next January. At least the furore saves us the knotty problem of whether it would have been best for the club to sell him this Summer at the top of the market.
- Oh, and by the way, for those who say that Brentford are a one-man team I would just like to point out that in the five matches that we played without Ivan Toney last season, but for a scrappy and contentious 96th minute equaliser at Nottingham Forest we would have won all of them. We also managed to score 11 goals in those five games with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa notching nine times between them!
- For those ignorant enough to criticise Bryan Mbeumo let me remind them that he is still a mere 23 years old who, despite his youth, has played over 150 games for the Bees and missed only nine matches in his incredible four seasons at the club. He can play down the middle, out wide or as a wing back and often does all three in the same game. Hs performances last season were sensational as he more than doubled his goal tally, scoring nine times from a 10.10 xG figure, a massive improvement on 2021/22 when he scored only four times despite an xG figure of 9.81. Bryan also contributed a team leading eight assists and was involved in 17 goals. He seemed to come to life in the absence of Ivan Toney with whom he had linked up so well and perhaps the penny has finally dropped that he is a magnificent player in his own right, more than good enough to flourish and stand out at the top level, who has surely benefited from the subtle promptings of Thomas Frank who has encouraged him to take more responsibility.
- Yoane Wissa is often underestimated but he shouldn’t be as he contributed well with another seven goals and three assists and clearly demonstrated why, in the opinion of Pontus Jansson, he is the most clinical finisher at the club. He too will need to continue to step up to the plate in Toney’s absence and he has already shown that he is likely to do so. He scores extra marks for his positive character and exuberant post-match dancing to Freed from Desire as the team makes their way around their thankfully frequent laps of appreciation.
- It is a shame that Kevin Schade failed to open his goal account for the Bees after his arrival in January and that miss against Aston Villa stands out, but in glimpses he showed that he is an awesome embryonic talent whose devastating turn of pace shredded both the Fulham and Manchester City defences, leading to key goals for his team. We must remember that he is only 21 and we have a lot to look forward to from him next season. Like both Mbeumo and Wissa he can play either wide or down the middle providing Thomas Frank with the flexibility he requires up front.
“….. biggest result in the club’s history …..against possibly the best team in the world….”
At this stage let’s just put on record that Brentford were the only team to win at the Etihad on an unforgettable afternoon in Manchester where Frank comprehensively out-thought Guardiola and his tactical plan worked to perfection
Then followed by a fully deserved 1-0 victory at the Gtech on the final day of the season.
No other team did the double over the Champions who lost only five times all season – twice to the rampaging Bees. I almost forget that it was really a treble over City given our B team’s magnificent 3-2 victory over the Manchester City EDS team in a thriller recently!
Hats off to Pep Guardiola for graciously congratulating the Bees after both of our victories, acknowledging that the results were fully deserved and not hiding behind the sour faced and grudging excuses that some other managers who will not be named have made after losing to us. I suspect that he will be out for revenge next season!
- In 2021/22 Brentford lost 18 times in all but last season that figure was halved and the Gtech became a fortress with 10 victories and only two home defeats, one to a brilliant Arsenal team who hammered us on a sleepy Sunday lunchtime soon after the Queen’s death and the other a totally undeserved 2-1 loss to Newcastle who we totally outplayed for 45 minutes. Kudos to the fans whose non-stop singing and encouragement made the stadium into a bearpit where opposing teams ventured at their peril.
- Sometimes it is easy to forget that a mere six years ago Ethan Pinnock was a Non-League player with Forest Green yet in his understated manner he has developed into Mr Consistency and a brilliant Premier League central defender who is totally dependable and rarely makes errors. It was so fitting that he marked the fully deserved award of a new four-year contract with the winning goal against Manchester City with a clinical finish that Ivan Toney would have been proud of.
- We have not ignored Rico Henry although frustratingly it appears that England manager Gareth Southgate continues to do so. Almost unbeatable defensively given his pace and anticipation, his final ball can still frustrate and hopefully he will be able to make that final step towards the full international team next season – an accolade he totally deserves. Wasn’t it lovely to see him embarrass and totally get under the skin of Kyle Walker in the last game of the season too?
- A word too about Josh Dasilva whose comeback from his almost career ending injury gathered pace last season. He started so well with a typical long-range left footed curled equaliser at Leicester and ended the season on a high with another brilliantly taken late winner against Nottingham Forest. Just like Mikkel Damsgaard, another highly gifted player seeking a return to fitness, he struggled at times but we saw enough evidence to make us believe that both Josh and Mikkel will be forces to be reckoned with next season. Mikkel grew in influence as the season entered its final phase – just as Thomas Frank told us he would. Thomas knows best!
- If I had not mentioned others such as Christian Norgaard, Zanka, the departing Saman Ghoddos, Frank Onyeka, Vitaly Janelt, Mads Roerslev, Kristoffer Ajer and Shandon Baptiste it is almost paying them a compliment because their skill, consistency and ability to cope with the demands of the Premier League is almost taken for granted
- Farewell to Pontus and Saman Ghoddos who never quite established himself or found a position, although contributing well at times given his attitude and versatility. I will never forget just how well he played as an emergency right wing back against Spurs late last season. He was seen off appropriately with a torrent of not so gentle head pats from his team mates – the biter bit, or the hitter hit!!
- The future of the effervescent, ever-popular and Labrador-like Sergi Canos is still up in the air as the club has taken up its option on him for next season. Will he stay or will he go is an unanswered question at present but whatever transpires he is a player whose contribution to the club will never ever be forgotten.
- This might well be the time when we say goodbye to the likes of Charlie Goode and Tariqe Fosu and thank them for their past efforts. Goode in particular deserves some good fortune after an injury and illness wrecked spell at the club and Fosu contributed well to our promotion winning team.
- On a less positive note it was disappointing that we never progressed very far in the cup competitions, a weakened team losing without much of a whimper to West Ham and a crazy defeat to a brave but very limited Gillingham team – a game which emphasised just how much better we played without the ball than with it! Thankfully the longer the season went on, the better and more confident we became in possession.
- Let’s also pay tribute to Neil MacFarlane’s Brentford B team who captured a trophy by winning the prestigious Premier League Cup against Blackburn Rovers and the conveyor belt of talent continues to deliver with the likes of Matthew Cox, Tristan Crama, Fin Stevens, Yehor Yarmoliuk, Paris Maghoma, Daniel Oyegoke, Michael Olakigbe as well as the exciting Ryan Trevitt all bubbling under and waiting for their opportunity. Congratulations also to their player of the year, Alex Gilbert who led the team so well and surely also has a bright career ahead of him. The B team also gained front page coverage with the loan signing of Romeo Beckham who fitted in well and was just another player.
- Both of the Brentford Women’s Teams enjoyed successful seasons in the league and cup and the recent announcement of Lydia Bedford as head coach of the men’s’ Under 18 team provides further evidence of Brentford leading the way and acting as trailblazers.
- I thought that I would leave the best until last – The Bees are the Champions of West London finishing a stonking 15 points above Chelsea and seven ahead of Fulham. Let’s enjoy that stat whilst we can!
There is so much to be grateful for and even more to look forward to and I will end by recalling the comment by leading sports economist Stefan Szymanski who stated last year: “If Matthew Benham can do what he’s done for the last decade for the next decade, then Brentford will be getting to the Champions League every year.” Given the progress made in the last 12 months maybe that is becoming a bit less of a pipedream and more of an inevitability.
We can but hope and dream!
Greville Waterman – Commissioning Editor