After a scintillating second-leg semi-final in the Championship play-offs, you’d have been forgiven for mistaking Thomas Frank’s Brentford side as a team already in the top flight of the English football.
Yet after a dismal performance on Tuesday night, with many of the usual stars failing to shine, Brentford are now destined to remain in the Championship for another season.
Having watched a delightful performance in the semi-finals, Brentford seemed on course to write their own History and achieve their long awaited goal: destination Premier League. Hopes were crushed after a 2-1 defeat saw 4th placed Fulham take the top-flight spot instead.
Quality was present in abundance in The Bees’ fight back against Swansea in the semi-final second leg. Particular players shone brightly. So much so that they seemed a perfect fit for the Premier League. In particular, the front three of Said Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins – ‘Brentford’s BMW’. The trio ignited the team and showed immeasurable talent. Alongside impressive keeper David Raya and pacy left-back Rico Henry, Brentford were on course to hold their own amongst the top teams.
Lack of attack:
Yet despite this promise, the light went out on the promising team in a 2-1 defeat to Fulham. Many of the usual characters failed to show when it mattered most, leaving Brentford falling short of promotion, not for the first time this season.
The usually formidable front three all failed to deliver when it mattered, showing a lack of flare and finesse. Ollie Watkins had the best of Brentford’s chances but failed to convert them following a lack of service for the majority of the game. Mbeumo was taken off by Thomas Frank, perhaps prematurely, in the 61st minute after also falling flat in the first half. A number of errors were committed at the start of the second half, from which the French winger could not recover.
Both of these performances seem less criminal however than that of Said Benrahma who was no where to be seen for a large majority of the game (except at the end of the second half when pummelling a free kick straight into the Fulham wall). Having shown immense talent on Wednesday in Brentford’s last game at Griffin Park, tonight’s showing was dismal across the board with Benrahma having little impact on the team.
Troublesome night for in-form Raya:
Although largely effective, David Raya will also want to forget his performance on the night. Raya was on the unfortunate end of a witty free kick, slotted in by Fulham left-back Joe Bryan. Bryan, who scored both of Fulham’s goals in the final, curved the ball past Raya who was solidly planted ready to dive in the opposite direction. Despite the fact that Raya has had an impressive season and is arguably one of Brentford’s best, he is likely to be remembered as the keeper who was outwitted in the play-off finals by a sneaky free kick. It seems cruel though that the play-off final had to include such a moment for someone who has shown so much promise thus far. You can’t help but wonder whether Raya will be snapped up by another team, possibly one from within the Premier League, if they have been monitoring performances throughout the season, rather than on tonight alone.
The Bees, whom many would have considered favourites for promotion, have now failed to secure a place in England’s top flight. Turning up in the same fashion as they did in their game against Swansea would surely have seen them left the trophy tonight ahead of Fulham. The dire performance wasn’t up to scratch in what appeared to be a mirror image of Brentford’s end-of-season efforts to secure an automatic promotion spot: showing continuous promise, before crumbling at the final hurdle.
In similar style to their playoff final, Brentford’s run at the end of the season showed considerable promise before falling flat. If The Bees had managed anything other than a loss to 21st placed Barnsley on the final day of the Championship season, they would have secured an automatic promotion place ahead of West Bromwich Albion, however lost 1-2 to Barnsley.
With two weeks before the start of pre-season training beginning, Brentford will need to ask questions of themselves in order to come back stronger and be ready to go again next season. Without the woeful ending this time.
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