Joseph Tulip says…
These Things Happen
We always knew that coming into the Premier League there would be some bad days at the office. Fortunately up to now we have been spoilt, and this is the first time this season – with the exception of Man City away – where we have been outperformed, so it’s absolutely vital that we understand the context. It’s just one game, and we will be back.
Fatigue Finally Catching Up with Us
It was perhaps inevitable that after such a congested run of fixtures a game like this was on the cards.
The first half was similar to Spurs, where we looked leggy and showed signs that our lack of options for rotation were catching up with us. Credit to the team for the way we approached the second half, but after Le Fée’s awful penalty we lost the momentum, and Brentford’s second goal knocked the stuffing out of our tired bodies.
Run-Out for the Old Guard
With the game over, it was actually nice to see Régis Le Bris rest a few of the starting XI and hand a run-out to Dan Neil and Luke O’Nien, as well as Dennis Cirkin following his recent starts. O’Nien saw a lot of the ball and has hopefully put his red card at City well behind him. I hope he stays, but if Luke’s future does lie elsewhere, at least he’s had a solid 15 minutes in the Premier League for Sunderland.
Mundle’s Struggles Continue
Romaine Mundle is struggling to make an impact in the top flight, and while it’s early days for our promotion-winning favourite, he needs to keep working at his game. Mundle cuts inside too often, to the extent where it is predictable. I’d like to see him given a go on the right just to mix things up.
Nic Wiseman says…
Still Top Half!
We finished the night in tenth position. This was only our fifth defeat of the season. We’ll move on quickly.
This team is full of spirit and belief. The manager will dust the team off and go again on Saturday. Keep the faith.
A Game Too Far
The team looked mentally and physically knackered. This was one game too far. The team had been performing remarkably well against all the odds since the tricky list of fixtures began at the beginning of December. We have not looked out of our depth despite having up to eight first-teamers out due to Africa Cup of Nations commitments and injuries. Today was one game too far, just as we were coming into a period of milder games and with players about to return from Africa.
Oh, Enzo…
That penalty. After the way Enzo Le Fée stuck away his two previous penalties this season with such aplomb, it was reasonable to expect a similar effort. But a simple dink down the neck of Kelleher saw the ball land easily into his grateful arms. Had the keeper dived either way or had Enzo rolled the ball either side of him, it was 1-1. Just another indicator that it wasn’t to be our night.
Bad Day for Many
There were too many players who didn’t quite cut it tonight, and they have probably lost the chance to secure places in the starting eleven when the international lads return from Africa.
Even Alderete, who has been a colossus, had a poor evening, but we all have a bad day at the office once in a while, and when tired and overworked they come around more often.
Fact is we just navigated the AFCON challenge with one loss when it could have been many more, and for such a fledgling team at this level that is pretty decent.
Let’s keep a balanced head, get five more points or so to stay up, then have some fun and see what we can do beyond that.
Jon Guy says…
No Major Injuries
We’ve come away from Brentford with no major injuries, which is a major plus given the pressure this squad is under.
Two Weeks Until the Next League Outing
We’ve got time to get a fair few of the Lads back from the AFCON, and we need them. The Lads looked tired, and we need the ability to give a few a rest.
What Was Enzo Thinking?
The penalty completely changed the game. We’d brought Mundle and Mayenda on, and we looked a different side. We had our tails up, and it was a stonewall penalty. Score and we push on and could have taken three points. Instead the farcical penalty got their crowd going and their team.
We Looked Tired
The Lads have worked amazingly in the last five games, and it really told in the last 30 minutes. They ran out of gas, and we need to get the energy levels back, but the games keep on coming.
Ciaran McKenna says…
We Can See the Light
We are finally through this tight schedule of games. You could see the effects of this run of games in the game, but ultimately it could have been worse. This Brentford game is the only one we have lost since AFCON hit and the games started to pile up, which is a credit to the Lads and also not something any of us would have expected. With six gone for AFCON, Ballard missing a couple of games, and Isidor missing some too, coming out of this period with four important points is something to be proud of. Yes, we didn’t play very well tonight, but it is important to remember the limitations we had.
Brobbey Was Brilliant Again
He did his best with everything that came his way and seemed our only chance to create anything going forward. He is so strong and powerful that the defenders can hardly do anything but foul him. I thought he was unfortunate not to have a better chance to score himself after how hard he worked. Even towards the end of the game he was winning headers and putting himself about. He did magnificently well to win the penalty too. If he continues to play like that, I am sure that more goals will come.
The Penalty
You have to mention it. I love Enzo as we all do, but don’t do that at any time and especially not when 1-0 down. Just pick your spot and rattle it into the net. But everyone makes mistakes, and I know he will learn from that. He has been brilliant for us this season and has stood out these last few games, so hopefully he can put that behind him and move on. Before the penalty I thought he was playing really well, so there were still some positives to take.
Three Poor Goals to Concede
For the first one the striker is in far too much space. We didn’t react quickly enough to fill the space Mukiele left when he stepped out and got punished. The second goal frustrated me the most. We were let off the hook when they rattled the bar just seconds earlier, but again we were slow to react, leaving the man unmarked at the back post to head back across the box. Conceding from a corner too. With our aerial dominance you would think that defending and attacking corners would be our forte, but we have been poor in both boxes recently.
