| Pos. 18th= (1pt) | SATURDAY 10 AUGUST 2019 | Pos. 14th= (3pt) | ||
| Boro | 0-1 | Brentford | ||
| 53% 14(5) 7 10 |
POSSESSION SHOTS (on target) CORNERS FOULS |
47% 9(2) 3 17 |
Watkins (54) | |
Two Halves and Half not!
After breaking a pre-war record last season with a win Brentford returned to Teesside to take on some familiar Boro faces but one with a new look and an entirely different proposition as Jonathan Woodgate made his Riverside bow as Manager. Budget Boro had George Friend considered to be close to a return and new arrival Anfernee Dijksteel pushing for a first start as RB. The Bees had been busy during the Summer having shipped out a few themselves and the possibility of a first outing for Ecuadorian winger Jel Valencia and defender Dominic Thompson. Striker Bryan Mbeumo was awaiting International clearance and Said Benrahma’s match fitness was questionable.
Boro had managed a point at newly promoted Luton Town last Friday night in a helter skelter highly entertaining game that thrilled and frustrated in equal measure but it at least delivered 6 goals and nobody walking out before the end. Brentford had travelled to Birmingham and absolutely bombarded them but somehow managed to lose that one 1-0. The likelihood was that this afternoon would see an entertaining game with like as not plenty of goals based on Brentford’s pedigree despite the loss of their talismanic Striker Neal Maupay and Woodgate’s Boro side.
The Boro line-up was unchanged with only Dijksteel coming in on the bench in place of Wood. Thomas Frank also kept faith in his Brentford charges going with the same again with neither of Valncia or Thompson on show but Mbeumo made the bench. The pre-match Boro warm ups were certainly more intensive than previous with the players well and truly put through their paces by Robbie Keane and Leo Percovich. That intensity seemed to pay off as Boro came out of the traps flying, harrying, chasing and closing down but despite that it was Brentford who nearly capitalised as early as seventeen seconds as Shotton won GHW’s prize by becoming the player who had fans reaching for their “Typical Boro” phrase books after a gaffe in the box. He did in fairness make up for it with an outstretched block a few minutes later but still looked far from comfortable in that left CB role.
Boro produced possibly the most exciting forty-five minutes seen at the Riverside in a very long time. Pressed back in their own half Brentford struggled to get their normal passing game going because as soon as the ball was rolled out a manic red shirt was closing them down, snapping into a tackle not giving a second’s respite. As the relentless wave of red shirts just kept advancing Brentford were clearly ruffled and none more so than visiting keeper Raya who was looking like a clanger was just waiting to happen. Coulson was lively down the left despite being on the receiving end of a few battering’s from Dalsgaard. The youngster did lose the ball once or twice but was tenacious in his recovery and inevitably winning back possession on almost every occasion.
On the opposite side of defence Howson looked comfortable and composed and Johnson was again proving to be a useful outlet and caused problems down the right flank including a wonderful strike that had Raya flying across his goalmouth to palm away an effort. But for a momentary lapse in the first half when he tried to dribble his way out of trouble losing possession on the edge of his own box when a simple two-yard pass would have sufficed
Marvin once again looked the part. Indeed, it was difficult to be seriously critical of any Red shirt in those opening 45 minutes apart from those minor failings mentioned above.
Recovering from his early wobble Shotton launched a clearance up field that set Fletcher free who latched onto the ball superbly and played in Paddy McNair but his effort was a little too enthusiastic, still very promising signs and the excitement was building. Ten minutes in and it was all Boro, Brentford looked like they didn’t know what had hit them as the red tide just kept on rising and in truth it looked like something had to break Boro’s way soon. Fast, slick interpassing moves which at times were almost breath-taking had become the norm as Boro were not so much knocking on the Bee’s door but wouldn’t let them out of the living room into the hallway.
On the quarter hour mark Lewis Wing had a free kick that curled over the wall but had too much on it and it sailed over the bar not dipping in time despite the South Stand trying to suck it in. Twenty five minutes in and the pressure finally burst as Brentford were rustled and corralled into giving away a silly corner and with Raya still inexplicably out of his box near the corner flag Marvin Johnson seized the moment, floated in a quick corner which had Raya struggling to get back in position and outstretched, tipping the ball into his own unguarded box targeted by the advancing Ashley Fletcher who was blocked off by Jeanvier who managed to head it into his own gaping net.
The euphoria which broke out at the goal was soon ended by the Linesman waving his little flag convinced he had seen something which nobody else had seen in the stadium. Why it was ruled out I have no idea but robbery would have been too kind a word and those “Typical Boro” phrase books were back out again with a few Teesside truisms hurled in the direction of the Keeper, the Linesman and the Ref for the rest of the first half.
Just three minutes later and Paddy McNair was at it again with another effort in a performance which was his best to date in a Boro shirt. He was one of the main protagonists in being a thorn in Brentford’s side. How Boro were not in front was not for the lack of application or indeed effort of which there was plenty on display but purely down to a miscarriage of justice. Undeterred Boro kept up the relentless pace and when it looked dangerous Howson was alert to a Brentford attack with the ex-Leeds man crunching into Henry to win back the ball yet again.
With just under ten minutes to half time Fletcher was again the victim of the gentleman running the West Stand touchline as he flagged furiously after Ashley believed that he had put Boro into the lead. This time it was presumably for a very fine offside but again the slenderest of margins if indeed it was the correct call. Determined not to give up the chase Johnson won the ball back nipping in to sweep the ball away from Pinnock unleash a shot from the edge of the box requiring Raya to save from our reborn right-wing revelation.
With seconds remaining Britt broke into the box and pulled his shot across Raya’s goalmouth that was teasing and inviting to be prodded home but Fletcher was just two strides behind to turn it in as Raya’s goal once again led a charmed life. The half time whistle sounded shortly after to a rousing round of applause that was well deserved and a far departure from the jeers and boos which had tainted the end of the Pulis purgatory.
No changes at half time as Boro came out first, waiting for their opponents, determined to finish off the job they had started. The fairy tale however ended at that point. The sheer exhaustive impact of running and chasing like a pack of Jack Russell’s for 45 minutes looked to have emptied Boro’s collective batteries. The visitors clearly hadn’t read the script and instead pushed further up, closed Boro down not letting us settle into that aggressive domination again. The Bees were now buzzing and indeed had Randolph fully engaged for the first time this afternoon in the opening minutes of the half. Boro needed to clear their heads and get back into gear but their tank was looking ominously empty. Now it was Brentford’s turn to chase and snuff out with Boro struggling to impose themselves in anything like the fashion they had in the first half.
We were starting to look ragged and disjointed, as great and as exciting as we had been in the first half, we looked the total opposite now. Disjointed, disorganised and lacking structure. This defending malarkey certainly didn’t fit the home side and Thomas Frank and his side now knew it. Dark clouds had gathered overhead at half time giving those in the lower seats of the stands an unseasonal shower but those clouds were still overhead and added to the distinct mood change and but for an outstretched Coulson block it could have been 0-1.
Coulson and Howson were being kept busy trying to stem the attacks down the flanks but we were now looking decidedly susceptible all over and a headed Bee’s clearance over the head of Shotton sent Canos clear, one flick, cheeky toe poke and quick cross from him to the unmarked Watkins at the far side of the box and we were one down. That certainly wasn’t written in the script and you could literally sense the air hissing out of the Boro balloon as that early optimism and swashbuckling bravado was now replaced with “Typical Boro” foreboding.
What ensued was punch drunk Boro trying to somehow get back into the game but clearly the new plan hasn’t yet evolved to the point of what to do when you go behind and the opposition have shut up shop. The reality was that we never really looked like getting back into it and those exertions in the first half had clearly been at a huge cost. There was endeavour and willingness but the speed and agility required to reproduce those opening 45 minutes of attacking deluge had been sapped and that sucker punch had flattened belief. Brentford had reshuffled into a defensive diamond content to see what Boro could do if they didn’t commit themselves; confident their slender lead would be enough to see the game out.
Out of ideas and with only a quarter of an hour left Woodgate brought on some fresh legs in the form of Browne and Dijksteel. The tired looking Johnson and Clayton went off with Howson moving up the wing and Dijksteel behind him at RB with Browne in a No.10 type role trying to pull strings but Brentford were defending with ease knowing Boro had to commit whilst they could stand back keeping things tight. Dijksteel looked comfortable on the ball but much of it was recycling as Boro tried to find a gap in the Brentford rearguard. The ex-Charlton lad did manage to get a couple of balls into the packed Bee’s box one enabling Britt to get a shot off but there was no power in it and easily collected by Raya.
At this stage we looked distinctly ragged with little structure or tactics on display to speak of. Woodgate’s last throw of the dice was Rudy Gestede being brought on for Fletcher. The predictability of such a substitution was clearly obvious to those sat around me. What on earth was the strategy of all this high tempo closing down stuff when it had been abandoned in favour of hoof it to the big lad even if the big lad in question had failed to deliver on numerous occasions. Out of the striking options he had removing Fletcher was strange as he had been one of our better performers and on the day the most likely to score.
The obvious one to hook for me was Britt who looked a few yards off the pace, possibly protecting that calf strain from midweek. Britt’s reactions and movements seemed several degrees behind Fletcher all afternoon. Eccentric substitution aside after that whatever the game plan was it never materialised in any discernible shape or form. Frank and Brentford had been putting their own Subs on to eat into the clock and manage the game out with ease. The contrast between the two halves were black and white, chalk and cheese.
What is clear is that running around for forty-five minutes may be great entertainment but the fitness levels required to do that for the full ninety are probably impossible to achieve. Britt didn’t look to fit into this system any easier than he did to Pulisball. Entertainment alone will only get the Boro management team so far and without some much-needed tactical nous and underpinning this could be a long hard season ahead. No doubt there will be days when we do go in two up at half time, in the ascendency and taking pressure off in the second half but the ability to organise and defend looks like a work in progress at the moment. Considering the inherited DNA and starting point of this squad it is a mild cause for concern that so much has seemingly been sacrificed in that regard.
MOM for me was Howson closely followed by Fletcher, McNair and Coulson for their endeavours. A Penalty miss last week and one poor Official today and the table could look so very different but the League tables don’t have a column for that so its on to Blackburn next week and hopes of a more balanced, measured approach.