Fake Bees host the real Bees in North London. In early season I would have given a cup run low priority for Brentford, but things have changed now in terms of league position, no one is yet giving up on anything in the Championship , but they are keen to stay involved in the FA Cup. Head coach Thomas Frank is still looking to cement his own position and an 8th game unbeaten would go a long way towards doing that. Also, the competition has opened up, there will be a max of 7 Premier League teams in the final 16, maybe as few as five and only three of the Big 6, so the draw could really pan out well for some of these Championship clubs. I spoke about Brentford's improved form ahead of their last start, a trip to Rotherham ..............

 

Last weekend the Bees hosted Stoke City and my notes on that are reproduced below the "good luck " sign off (edit: see Jan 19th newsletter). Brentford won 3-1, it was their best performance of the season and if they replicate it today, they will win comfortably. In 90 +minutes play, City had one touch of the ball inside the Bees area, the home side dominated and might have scored five or six. Comments on the main Stoke forum afterwards were fulsome in praise of Brentford and this was fairly typical .....

"Brentford were everything we were not. Pace, energy, movement, options, pressing, togetherness, tenacity, menace, aggression, shape. You name it. I seriously doubt, on the evidence of yesterday's performance, that a single Stoke player would get into the Brentford team. And that also goes for Butland. That is shocking for a team on our wages.A complete horrow show. In fact a humiliation when they strung together about 40 passes in the second half, and had the crowd ole-ing.
Could and should have been 5 at least."

Brentford won that 4-2 and are building some momentum now. Frank has spoken of rotating a couple of players, talk has been of 2-3 maximum ( I am not even sure it will be as much as that) and those missing out should ,anyway, be on the bench. Barnet are 17th in National League, that is 69 spots below the visitors and we "know" the away side are better than that and there is a big edge in class, but that has not meant much this round in the FA Cup. Barnet have collected more points on the road this season and with their new Hive Stadium holding just 5,100 and "officially" 1,800 of those being from West London and maybe a couple of hundred more having bought tickets in home areas, circa 40% of the crowd will be away fans and home advantage, somewhat limited. Brentford have refound their goal touch, seven in two starts, also hit the woodwork twice and missed several big chances in those games and should win this evening, they rarely grind out a win and have the pace to exploit Barnet if and when the home side fall behind and have to start opening up and taking chances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I previewed Brentford- Norwich (see below) on New Year's Day..............

 

 

 

 

Norwich were in much better form at the time and some of their early season bad habits ( won one from first 6, conceding 12 goals) look to have returned. This is exactly what we usually expect from the brutal training sessions and very few days off favoured by Farke and some other German coaches, a slow start when players are a little "leggy", then the benefits of the hard work kicks in, before ultimately, or rather usually, hitting a bit of a wall at some stage. City players were in revolt over the training schedule last season, when results were poor, but we have heard little dissent since early this season, but last year it (the wall) came at the end of January and maybe they might just struggle over the coming weeks. Brentford remain tough to beat at lovely old Griffin Park where they have lost just 6/34 and given how leaky City are, the visitors look on the short side odds wise this afternoon.

 

That game ended 1-1, but Brentford put in their best home 45 minutes for a very long time, looked like the Bees of old and could and perhaps should have had the game sewn up before the break, passing was slick and play high tempo, and only one team looked like a top six team and it was not City. They did come into things for the final 30 minutes, but needed a goalkeeping error from Dan Bentley to get back into the game and City have some issues, midfield looks weak right now and their keeper made two world class saves to rescue a point.

 

Bees beat Oxford in the cup in their only subsequent start, they were again at their best early, which is all very un-Brentford like (they are normally stronger after the break, especially at home), but they are unbeaten in five now since switching to a back three.

 

Disappointing season for Stoke who were amongst the pre season favourites for promotion, they parted company with head coach Gary Rowett in midweek, with highly rated Nathan Jones coming in from Luton Town. We might see the change make an immediate impact, but Jones plays a very different style to Rowett, like night and day and he will try and get players to adopt an adventurous system totally alien to Rowett, who you can call cautious if you are being kind .City have seen enough of those kind of coaches in recent years and this is a major shift, a quantum leap if you like in mindset. I think it is 100% the right way to go, but it will not happen overnight and players might even be a little confused about what they are asked to do, with very little time on the training pitch under Jones, who is very "hands on".

 

Lots of interest in Bees players, but Brentford do not negotiate on price and stifled interest in striker Neal Maupay with a £22m price tag, fringe squad player Nico Yennaris is on his way to China for a fee of between £4-5m and Rico Henry, Ollie Watkins, Romaine Sawyers and Chris Mepham are all said to be wanted by bigger clubs and we can expect one, or more to go this window, but there is no need to sell and only at top price and in January, when teams are desperate, that is usually top price +. As is always the case, if anyone is likely to leave, a replacement will have long been identified and will be brought in before sales are made if tehre is no real cover and I do understand that there is some incoming business expected. That should not overly matter today, Mepham is unlikely to start, with the preferred three being Konsa, Jeanvier and Barbet, so a £15-20m rated defender on the bench,never dreamed in a million yeras I would write those words about Brentford, Ollie is woefully out of form and has been for sometime, the others named will start, always give 100% and are in good form.

 

City arrive with former Bee and favourite son Ryan Woods in midfield, unlike most who return, he will get a good welcome, but most returness struggle and it is certain Brentford know more about Woods than Stoke and far more than Jones. Bees do their homework (more tham the majority of clubs) and head coach Thomas Frank was on Sky last night and said he expects Jones to go  with a "front-foot 4-4-2 diamond", that or a variation of it, is all I have seen from Luton with him in charge, it is very soon to try to implement that at City, after ,what, two /one and a half training sessions ! It will be fun to watch first hand and I am very excited about the game, but who wouldn't by a trip to Griffin Park ! I favour the Bees today.