I had a meeting in Oxford to go to, round about lunchtime and decided to kill two, nay three birds with one stone.I caught the train from Blackwater to Reading and from there to Oxford to attend to the business I had there which didn’t take long. I then jumped back on the train to New Street and caught a connection to Butlers Lane near Sutton Coldfield where my disabled cousin lives. I had belated birthday presents for her and it’s nice once in a while to pay her a visit. She doesn’t get many people come to see her and it means a lot. I had arranged with Will to double back to Bourneville to grab a curry at the Balti Bazaar before the game. However, the best laid plans of mice and men do not always run smooth. Through no fault of anyone, I found that by the time I reached my cousin’s house, there was not going to be enough time to get back to Bourneville so I decided to go back to New Street, catch the shuttle to St Andrew’s and get something to eat at the fan park.
I confess to not having particularly high expectations of the encounter with Brentford although I doubt that they would put a full strength team out for a second round Carabao Cup tie. Nevertheless, I felt that they would probably have too much for us but the beauty of football is its unpredictability. As for us, following our sluggish showing against Bristol City on Saturday, I reckon I was right to feel less than optimistic. There were six changes from the team on Saturday with Allsop, Fry, Lund, Kanya, Gray and Vasquez coming in for Beadle, Neumann, Cochrane, Iwata, Stansfield and Priske.
My lack of optimism was well placed. With only six minutes gone we were behind. No pressure on the man with the ball on the edge of the box a square pass which Kanya Fujimoto waited for rather than try and intercept found Callum Wilson who swivelled and drove a rasping shot into the bottom corner giving Allsop no chance. The visitors looked in control although Demarai Gray did attempt a shot that was well wide. On the half hour mark Blues won a free kick on the edge of the box in the inside left channel. The two teams lined up expecting the delivery into the area but a short pass to Demarai Gray saw the Blues man rifle his shot through a forest of legs which the Brentford keeper could only parry into the net for 1-1.
Blues did not enjoy parity for long. Sloppy passing in midfield which littered the evening, gifted Brentford the ball. They wasted no time delivering a cross from the right which was only partially cleared. Unfortunately some head tennis ended up falling to Aaron Hickey whose volley from wide hit the post and in for 1-2. The problem was giving the ball away thirty-five yards from goal, not so much the defenders who tried their best to clear. A volley like Hickey’s 9/10 goes wide, is blocked, is saved or hits the woodwork to safety. It was a stunning strike. It was 1-3 just before the break when the now dominant Bees increased their lead. Jaidon Anthony’s cross from the right was headed in at the far post by Nathan Collins past a helpless Allsop as easy as you like; far too easy in my view. When centre-backs are scoring from open play because they don’t have to worry about their primary role, you know you have a problem.
Collins was nearly at it again at the start of the second period when he headed just over the bar from another too easy cross when well placed. Blues did attempt a flurry forcing a couple of corners but from one of them Brentford broke away with electrifying speed. We were in trouble from the moment Janelt seized on the ball at the edge of his own box. He surged forward leaving Blues players in his wake and at the half way line they outnumbered us four to two. Janelt timed his pass to perfection feeding Anthony down the right flank. His cross flashed across two Brentford forwards to find Damsgaard who had time to take a touch, make a cup of tea, drink it and fire home for 1-4. It was a fantastic flowing move and a beautiful finish.
Blues went pretty slope-shouldered at this point and three minutes later it was 1-5. Another flowing move down the right, another failure to pressure the man with the ball and stop the cross which duly came in for a tap in by the impressive Igor Thiago who was superb from the moment he came on as substitute for Wilson on the hour. Finally on 77 minutes the rout was completed by Nathan Collins, again with another free header from close range. On 83 minutes, Will, little Will, Alex and me could take no more and up we got to get back to the car for the long drive home.
This was a chastening evening for Blues fans. I think it shows just how far we have to go to get anywhere near top flight standard. I thought Brentford were excellent and toyed with us from the start. Yes, you might argue that we didn’t put out our strongest eleven at the start but they really ought to be better than this. I can take defeat, I can take a heavy defeat if, as was the case last night, the players aren’t good enough and the opposition is so much better but what I cannot abide is a lack of effort, drive, pride and commitment. The players need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask the bloke looking back at them; “Did I give everything I had for the cause last night?” The reflection, I suggest, were it able to answer independently, would undoubtedly answer no in the majority of cases.
We have an important league game at Wrexham on Friday. If the players were saving themselves for that game by only giving part of themselves, well it had better have been worth it because another lacklustre performance like the last two matches and the natives are going to get very restless. Our lack of shots especially on target in pre-season and so far is very concerning. This is not good enough Blues and like many fans who travel long distances to support the team; we deserve better!
The Good: I did get to kill three birds with one stone although only two of them were worth it! Also, Brentford! How good were they? I fancy them for top six in the Premiership. I reckon they are that good. We were very poor and made it easy but you still have to play well to score six.
The Bad: Where do you want me to start? I don’t need to elaborate further.
The Sad: The passing of the iconic Dolly Parton, queen of country and western, contemporary pop, singer-songwriter, actress and champion of literacy for children giving millions of free books to kids who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance. Rest In Peace Dolly.
The Ugly: The manner of the defeat; toothless and lacking spirit.
I am not going to score the individual players. Frankly most of ours would get 3s and 4s whereas their’s would be 8s and 9s such was the gulf in class as wide as the Grand Canyon.
Birmingham City: Ryan Allsop, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Dale Fry, Christoph Klarer, Kristoffer Lund (Alex Cocrane 61) Paik Seung-Ho (Tomoki Iwata 83) Jhon Solis, Carlos Vincente, Kanya Fujimoto, Demarai Gray (Phil Neumann 75) Luis Vasquez (Auguste Priske 61)
Subs not used: James Beadle, Ethan Laird, Patrick Roberts, Marvin Ducksch.
Goals: Gray 28
Yellow cards: Solis 37, Osayi-Samuel 55.
Brentford: Hakon Valdimarsson, Aaron Hickey, Rico Henry (Keane Lewis Potter) Yehor Yarmoliuk (Marmadou Sangare 46) Dango Quattara (Kevin Schade 45) Callum Wilson (Igor Thiago 62) Jaidon Anthony, Nathan Collins, Mikkel Damsgaard, Vitaly Janelt (Michael Kayode 71) Jannik Schuster.
Subs not used: Caoimhin Kelleher, Mathias Jensen, Fabio Cavallho, Kristoffer Ajer.
Goals: Wilson 6, Hickey 35, Collins 40, 77 Damsgaard 70, Thiago 73.
Yellow cards: Schuster 26.
Referee: Tim Robinson: It would be churlish to be critical of the officials with such a dire performance from our team. Frankly, I hardly noticed him. I was too busy looking at the utter demolition of our side on the pitch. I see from the lowlights that Mr Robinson took pity on us and called time at 90 minutes.
Attendance: 17,722
KRO Bazza
Apologies for the delayed appearance. There was an issue with posting yesterday, so had to wait until today to retry.
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