Brentford Blog: A point gained, not two lost

As part of Playmaker's extended Championship coverage this season, we will be running a series of fan blogs from each club, in today's post, Brentford Daily give us an update on the season so far.

Brentford continued their impressive start to the 2020/21 campaign away to Millwall at the weekend, off the back of three successive victories, with two against Premier League sides in the League Cup. 

The Bees on paper, would’ve been eagerly anticipating this game, hoping to take all three points. However, the hosts most definitely had the same intentions, which was clear upon reflection of how the game played out.  

The Den is always one of the hardest places in the Championship to come to and pick up points, and despite the home advantage that Millwall so frequently possess and are renowned for, being stripped from them due to the ongoing pandemic, the Lions are still a very well set up side under the experienced Gary Rowett and in my opinion able to beat any team in the league on their day. 

©Getty / Kieran Cleeves - PA Images

Evidence to this is the simple fact that they haven’t lost a single game in all competitions this season so far, and in this game last season, we lost a narrow 1-0 game, so Sunday’s match up was never going to be easy.

Brentford started arguably their strongest current eleven, bar Said Benrahma and possibly Mathias Jensen, but Millwall burst off the blocks against us. Their intensity and pressing was relentless and they were swiftly rewarded with an extremely early goal, giving the Bees a taste of their own medicine in some respects – as it’s a style of play Brentford are so well drilled in and well known for. 

After the integral Rico Henry pulled his hamstring in the opening three minutes of the game, he was swiftly replaced by the young Dom Thompson and just a minute or so later, Mason Bennett was turning Bees skipper Pontus Jansson inside and out before floating a ball into Millwall’s star man Jed Wallace to head home in a frantic opening to the game for both teams.

©Getty / Kieran Cleeves - PA Images

For Brentford, there were plenty of positives to take. Another Man of The Match performance for Josh Dasilva, and the stress-relieving sight of Benrahma, who has been linked with a move away for weeks.

©Getty / Kieran Cleeves - PA Images

A first goal for Ivan Toney and an overall good team performance with few holes to pick, meant most Bees fans could walk away from this draw, perceiving it a point gained, not two lost. 

The downside to the game was that new signing Saman Ghoddos still was unable to feature as he awaited international clearance. The skillful Iranian can operate in any attacking role and based off the typical compilations on YouTube you watch to gage an idea of a new signing, I’m sure everyone is eager to see another potential gem play for the club as soon as possible. 

At time of writing, Saman has now gained international clearance, and could very well make his debut against Fulham in the EFL Cup this Thursday, a fixture that could have plenty of implications, and be the perfect game to make an instant impact in.