Ed Aarons was at the Community Stadium. Here’s his report.
Brentford’s Pontus Jansson and Bryan Mbeumo speak.
PJ: It’s not a good per but we worked hard to the last minute, maybe a draw was a fair result. Today the luck was with is. Important goal, and we were in the game, and it’s with VAR there’s a wait to celebrate. I felt I was in a good position. We keep fighting and keep believing, we can turn it around. We want to finish as high as possible so the top half is a good start.
BM: The main taker is missing and I am hoping to score. You have to believe in yourself.
The socials are in.
❄❄ @BMbeumo19 ❄❄
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) December 10, 2021
🐝 2-1 🟡#BrentfordFC #BREWAT pic.twitter.com/QJUQBOHzFZ
Telling it like it is, nothing more.
Defeat in West London.#BREWAT pic.twitter.com/QdI6wY8qXm
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) December 10, 2021
Brentford up to ninth, and Watford’s capitulation an early Christmas present for Burnley, Newcastle and Norwich.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 15 | 23 | 35 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 15 | 32 | 34 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 15 | 26 | 33 |
| 4 | West Ham | 15 | 9 | 27 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | -1 | 25 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 15 | 1 | 24 |
| 7 | Arsenal | 15 | -4 | 23 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton | 15 | -1 | 21 |
| 9 | Brentford | 16 | -1 | 20 |
| 10 | Brighton | 15 | -2 | 20 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 15 | -3 | 19 |
| 12 | Leicester | 15 | -4 | 19 |
| 13 | Everton | 15 | -6 | 18 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 15 | -2 | 16 |
| 15 | Leeds | 15 | -7 | 16 |
| 16 | Southampton | 15 | -7 | 16 |
| 17 | Watford | 16 | -10 | 13 |
| 18 | Burnley | 14 | -7 | 10 |
| 19 | Newcastle | 15 | -13 | 10 |
| 20 | Norwich | 15 | -23 | 10 |
Full-time: Brentford 2-1 Watford
The team who wanted it more won it, though they needed William Troost-Ekong’s meltdown at the end to seal the win. Watford had looked dangerous and then tried to hang on for a clean sheet, an odd strategy considering they haven’t kept on all season.
Cue Hey Jude.
Updated
90+7 min: Can Watford stop the steal? No, they have offered so little after their goal. And Brentford have won it!
Updated
Goal! Brentford 2-1 Watford (Mbeumo, 90+5)
Straight from the Toney playbook. A stutter step, a delay and he slots home. Bachmann goes the wrong way. Surely the winner.
Updated
Penalty to Brentford!
Oh my. Norgaard to Ghoddos. And Ekong clatters him down! No Ivan Toney to take it.
90+3 min: Claudio not impressed on the touchline. His team ran out of gas. Brentford have all the energy.
90+1 min: Watford make a late change. Off goes Dennis.
90 min: Five minutes added on, and Onyeka booked for a Fernandinho/Busquets tactical foul when Watford threatened to escape.
89 min: Brentford the more likely now. Watford are pinned back. Joao Pedro has to hack the ball off the line. That Claudio change seems to have been fatal. Cleverley is not the world’s best player but he links midfield and attack. That was lost. And so might this game be.
87 min: Bachmann went to the ground when someone from Brentford tried to get the ball off him to kick off again. The replays made him look a bit of a wally.
Goal! Brentford 1-1 Watford (Jansson, 86)
No clean sheet for Watford. Janelt cuts it in, and Jansson nods in, and Femenia plays him onside. There’s a lengthy VAR delay. Bachmann goes down hurt, though not in the fashion of David De Gea the other week.
Updated
83 min: Watford closing in on a first clean sheet of the season. It couldn’t happen here, could it? Onyeka scampers to the left wing, but the ball is cleared away. Just.
81 min: Brentford need to find that final pass, that cool finish. Both disciplines looks a little beyond them at the moment. On the touchline you can hear the squawks of Thomas Frank. Josh King hurdles a flying challenge by Ghoddos, and the Brentford sub is booked for his troubles.
79 min: Those subs have briefly sapped the momentum that had built up for Brentford. Sissoko is getting back to help out.
76 min: Changes for both teams. Watford introduce Ken Sema on for Cucho Hernandes. Off goes Rico Henry for Onyeka for Brentford.
73 min: Brentford’s final ball is letting them down, but Josh King concedes a handy free-kick. Sissoko whacks it clear. Bachmann is forced to make a low save as Brentford ratchet up the pressure. Then Bachmann comes out again and almost makes a mess. Somehow that ends up in a Watford break. The ball goes from Dennis to King, but the shot is unconvincing. Chances at both ends. Good stuff now.
Updated
71 min: Jensen is booked for what briefly looked a last-man foul on Sissoko but there were others on the scene. Cucho Hernandez takes and lands his shot somewhere near the slip road for Didcot Parkway.
69 min: Double change for the Bees. Ghoddos on, Jenson off. Forss on, Wissa off.
68 min: Yellow card for Janelt for smashing into Joao Mario. Thomas Frank is furious about that on the sidelines.
66 min: All Brentford, all business. Kucka comes across to clear the ball just as they threaten to get around the back through Janelt. This is relentless pressure.
65 min: Peter Oh zings in: “The update about Norgaard taking a shot right to the family jewels reminds me of the title of another Blur song I like: Tender.”
64 min: Brentford have gained control of midfield since Tom Cleverley departed, which may need some more tinkering from Claudio to counter.
Updated
62 min: Paulo gets in touch: “Did Bachman turn on his overdrive for that play I imagine he was just takin’ care of business. Ok, I’ll leave now.”
Not ‘arf.
60 min: Risky business at the back from Brentford but they play it out well. The ball is launched to the back post and Henry suddenly runs into trouble. Femenia clears. Relief for Watford. They had been overloaded.
58 min: First Watford sub, off goes Cleverley, and on comes Joao Pedro. Claudio bringing on a forward? Does he smell blood? Or is he just tinkering?
Updated
57 min: Admir gets in touch: “Indeed, Pozzos have proven themselves as the best gem finders at Udinese. Alexis Sanchez and Bruno Fernandes almost played together for Udinese. Oliver Bierhoff was replaced with Marcio Amoroso. Speaking of Amoroso, that’s the best example of their model. Udinese got big money plus Stefano Fiore for him before eventually selling Fiore himself for big money to Lazio.”
55 min: Bachmann has to come all way out to smash clear. There’s a Stephen King Running Man gag in there somewhere. Meanwhile, Norgaard takes the ball right to the goolies. That hurts. Ouch. He’ll be OK to continue but singing his carols in soprano this Christmas.
53 min: Watford get a free-kick on the right-hand side of the pitch. This time, Tom Cleverley’s dead-ball skills are found wanting.
50 min: Brentford keeper Fernandez hoiks a ball off the field with a clearance. He rather got away with that.
Justin Kavanagh gets in touch: :That sounds like a fun night out (remember those!) at the Community Stadium. Perhaps the King Bee on the PA will give Elton’s Don’t go breaking my heart spin as the teams come back out, what with Watford leading and all tha’.”
Was Kiki Dee a Brentford fan? Did she hobnob with Rick Wakeman at the old Griffin Park?
Updated
49 min: Baptiste surges through and tries to play in Mbuemo, but Femenia defends well for Watford, stepping across to clear the danger.
48 min: The ball goes off at the sideline and Thomas Frank gets it. He’s angry, no longer the fun-filled figure of the early weeks of the season.
46 min: We are back back back with no changes made by either team.
Matt Burtz gets in touch: “The Beatles made their way across the pond in short order, but in the ‘90s Blur did not except for “Song 2” (fantastic song IMO), so it was only a few years ago that I heard “Park Life” for the first time. I like it, but then again I haven’t had to hear it for the last 25 years.”
It was more having to hear it at every pub and disco I went to in the 1990s. (That phrasing makes me read like I am very old indeed.)
Half-time reading from Barney Ronay.
Half-time: Brentford 0-1 Watford
Both teams have had chances but the difference between the teams is the superior finishing of Emmanuel Dennis where Brentford have missed Ivan Toney. It’s been breathless stuff. They leave the pitch to the sound of Smalltown Boy. RIP Steve Bronski.
Updated
45+1 min: Just a minute added on, as both continue to push for another goal. Dennis seems to be fine as he makes another attempt to win a high ball.
44 min: Two Sissoko fouls and yet no booking. And rightly so, as neither was a bookable offence in the midfield. The ref tonight is Michael Oliver, by the way.
42 min: Panic in the Watford box as Charlie Goode climbs highest but can’t direct his header in. Both teams are highly vulnerable at set pieces.
41 min: Another speedy move from Brentford. Norgard’s pass was a beauty, but Mbuemo can’t play in Wissa or Henry. They do seem to lack that little bit of quality.
39 min: Dennis is back, thankfully, the fear was of an achilles injury. That would be very doomy indeed for Watford.
37 min: Uh oh, Dennis is down after what looks an innocuous tackle, and it looks like the after-effects of that climb. He limps off but in some pain, and tries to job but not convincingly.
35 min: Watford break at speed. Sissoko cuts in from the wing, and spins a ball out wide. Dennis climbs highest, as he can, with real hang time, but he can’t keep the his header down.
33 min: Brentford coming back into it? The passing does seem to be of the long-ball variety. Watford’s neck muscles getting some work out tonight.
31 min: There’s a tussle between Zamburek and Dennis, and it looks like a penalty call, but one waved away. Dennis seems to want to change his boots. It is a tad soggy out there.
29 min: Brentford look rattled. Ivan Toney and Sergio Canos are both much missed.
27 min: Mbuemo whacks a snap shot wide after the ball spills from a corner. Meanwhile. two Prem legends in Claudio Ranieri and Mike Dean are in deep discussion on the touchline.
25 min: Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis’s goals look like Watford’s best route to safety. It has to be said that the Pozzo family are masters of the market. They find jewels in the market where nobody else is looking. One of the finds of the season.
Goal! Brentford 0-1 Watford (Dennis, 24)
Tom Cleverley pings a perfect corner and Dennis climbs highest and furthest to nod in. His seventh of the season. What a find he has been.
Updated
23 min: Chance for Watford, and King smashes the post after cutting in from the left, and Brentford clear behind.
22 min: Bachman in overdrive! And he needs to be, making a fine save. Mbuemo shoots from distance after a speedy break from Brentford. The best football of the game so far.
19 min: Meanwhile, both teams pushing on at either end. It’s pretty open and the next goal could come either of them
16 min: Mary Waltz is in: “I was youngest of six and grew up immersed in the Beatles. My older brother had a band and tried to make me a Stones devotee but my heart belonged to the Beatles. But I heard Hey Jude so many times that I cringe at the sound of it...There is such a thing as Hey Jude PTSD.”
I have the same feeling with House of Pain’s Jump Around, the worst record of all time. Blur’s Park Life another. I think it’s the way everyone else dances to them while I cuss in the corner and am just too cool. Still, at least we’re true heads, Mary.
15 min: Brentford pressure. Baptiste and Henry both surging forward and already panic stations for Watford.
13 min: The home fans are making a hell of a racket and so are the Watford fans. It can be a decent noise down Vicarage Road, too.
11 min: Henry, for Brentford, speeds out to the left, and whips in a cross. Bachmann claims the ball. Good goalkeeping.
9 min: Jensen picks the ball up deep for Brentford and whacks it long but beyond Wissa. He’s having to fill the huge gap left by Ivan Toney’s absence.
Updated
7 min: More Brentford pressure. A long throw launched in by Sorensen but Watford counter the aerial bombardment. This is quite end to end, though a little lacking in quality.
5 min: A couple of corners are played in and Watford scrabble away both of them. Watford look vulnerable, as they have all season, and perhaps even more so under Ranieri.
3 min: It’s Watford who seem to have the early impetus here, with Brentford sat back deep. But it’s Brentford who have the first shot as Baptiste steps up, and fires a snap shot that is tipped over.
1 min: And away we go...and it’s an energetic start. Some goals have to be fancied as neither team is much cop at defending.
To the football, and Brentford go into a pre-match huddle. It’s very loud by the M4 tonight.
There’s a Friday rave on at the Brentford Community Stadium, with the Chemical Brothers following the Nightcrawlers, and now The Streets. What is about rave and nu-rave in the Premier League? Then comes The Beatles, those lovable mop-tops are currently in the Top 40 due to that Peter Jackson marathon. From Wiki: “Although McCartney originally wrote “Hey Jude” for Julian, Lennon thought it had actually been written for him.” It was doing this performance on David Frost’s programme that meant the lads wanted to do the Get Back thing. (It says that at the start of the eight hours.)
Claudio Ranieri speaks to Sky Sports.
This team [Brentford] is very well organised and press very well. All the matches are very difficult but if we want to climb the table we have to make a point. That is very important for us today. We have our philosophy as do Brentford. We try to do our best but we know we concede some goals. We must not concede, keep a clean sheet but try to win the match. We have to stay together, attack together. They work in transition, we have to mark them.
Brentford begin the match four points above Watford.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 15 | 23 | 35 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 15 | 32 | 34 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 15 | 26 | 33 |
| 4 | West Ham | 15 | 9 | 27 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | -1 | 25 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 15 | 1 | 24 |
| 7 | Arsenal | 15 | -4 | 23 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton | 15 | -1 | 21 |
| 9 | Brighton | 15 | -2 | 20 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 15 | -3 | 19 |
| 11 | Leicester | 15 | -4 | 19 |
| 12 | Everton | 15 | -6 | 18 |
| 13 | Brentford | 15 | -2 | 17 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 15 | -2 | 16 |
| 15 | Leeds | 15 | -7 | 16 |
| 16 | Southampton | 15 | -7 | 16 |
| 17 | Watford | 15 | -9 | 13 |
| 18 | Burnley | 14 | -7 | 10 |
| 19 | Newcastle | 15 | -13 | 10 |
| 20 | Norwich | 15 | -23 | 10 |
The Brentford manager, Thomas Frank, as quoted by the BBC.
I am sure that they look and think that they are a bigger club and better team than us. That is said with the biggest respect. I tried to count how many Premier League games their last starting line-up had played and then counted how many we had played. I then counted the value of the two teams and then there’s the experience of the grand maestro Claudio Ranieri who is a Premier League winner and me, a young Dane.
Some Brentford news ahead of the game, the club’s co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen is set to leave the club.
Some social media quotes from him in this lengthy thread, including this:
Everything good comes to an end. I loved every minute of the journey, and I am really honoured to have played a small role in your long history. I want to wish all the bees fans the very best going forward. I have no doubt that there are great things waiting for you.
1) 12 years ago when moving to London I remember flying into Heathrow wondering who that little rusty stadium with the blurry Qatar Airways advertisement on the roof belonged to. Never imagined this was going to be the centre of my professional life for the best part of a decade.
— Rasmus Ankersen (@RasmusAnkersen) December 10, 2021
For Watford, Jeremy Ngakia, Cucho Hernández and Juraj Kucka replace Joao Pedro, Danny Rose and Imran Louza. Rose looked tired against Manchester City last week.
🚨 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🚨
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) December 10, 2021
Ranieri makes three changes for tonight's clash with Brentford!#BREWAT pic.twitter.com/OKBy7G81Ws
Updated
Three changes for Brentford from their 2-2 draw with Leeds last week. Mathias Jensen and Yoane Wissa start. Ethan Pinnock isn’t in the squad as he is another victim of Covid. Sergi Canos is suspended, rather than Covid positive.
🚨 𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 🚨
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) December 10, 2021
➡ Wissa and Jensen start against Watford
⬅ Pinnock and Canos miss out
Teams presented by @BlueJeansNet #BrentfordFC #BREWAT pic.twitter.com/VR33QLvXrT
Updated
The teams
Brentford: Fernandes, Goode, Jansson, Janelt , Roerslev, Norgaard, Baptiste, Jensen, Henry, Mbeumo, Wissa. Subs: Cox, Thompson, Forss, Ghoddos, Onyeka, Bidstrup, Sorensen, Stevens, Young-Coombes.
Watford: Bachmann, Femenia, Ekong, Cathcart, Ngakia, Kucka, Cleverley, Sissoko, Cucho, Dennis, King. Subs: Elliot, Rose, Louza, Joao Pedro, Sema, Fletcher, Tufan, Kabasele, Angelini.
Preamble
Friday night football, it’ll never catch on. With Christmas parties aplenty cancelled because of the Great Unpleasantness, including that at No 10, a nation will be rapt by a battle between two clubs on the outer fringes of the London conurbation. (Yes, yes, Watford is its own town and in Herts.) In football terms, we have a battle of 13th hosting 17th. Brentford are with the Covid-ed out Ivan Toney, and that’s a massive blow. Sergio Canos, too. With just one win since 3 October it’s been a lot of running to stand still for Brentford. They will take on a team that finished above them last season in the Championship but is already under new management. Has Claudio Ranieri changed much? Aside from beating Everton 5-2 and Manchester United 4-1, they have lost six from eight matches, though their last two opponents were Chelsea and Manchester City. So neither’s on an upward curve going into that busy Christmas period and those questioning their life choices by reading - or indeed writing - this blog are in for a game where the outcome is enigmatic.
Kick-off is at 8pm, join me.
