Sam Saunders played the friendly game versus FC Kaiserslautern as though it was a cup final, at full pace, and at times getting irritated with the occasional niggling foul.
He seems a man on a mission to regain and keep his place in the side. his fitness looks in no doubt.
When he was substituted he ran off looking like an extra from RoboCop
On a hot sunny afternoon this was a good workout for both teams that played a competitive match in terms of effort without a great deal of end result or indeed physicality.
There was the curious sight of the scoreboard using maybe a bad acronym for FC Kaiserslautern…….
As is the norm a number of substitutions in the second half rendered any interpretation of whether this was a good or bad display meaningless. Overall Brentford played with the same style as last season and looked a decent side. No one stood out today on either side. The work rate however was superb for a pre-season game. 
FC Kaiserslautern brougt almost 1000 fans it seems and there was a fair amount of cabaret between their fans and the Brentford stewards, mostly all good humoured and in fact well stewarded with no incidents that I saw. If their fans can be described as having a uniform it would be multiple tattoos and a flag per person, the noise from them was massive. They played an open style of play and it was no surprise that their goal came from quick running down the wing with an accurate cross on the floor that was finished neatly. In contrast Brentford goal came from an own goal scored from a corner.
Own goal gives Brentford the lead
Sam Saunders
A busy Maxime Colin
Romaine Sawyers
From the new players Romaine Sawyers looked industrious and moved seamlessly at times from central midfield to the wings. Sam Saunders played the game more like it was a league game and looked fit and interested throughout.
There were a number of nice touches in the game, not least the minute silence for the Munich victims, and the general noise and support from the FC Kaiserslautern fans. At times even a little too vociferous and some needed reminding that a minute silence means just that!
The stewarding was also appropriately relaxed and fans had a great afternoon in the sun.
Following the appalling reckless challenge that left Alan Judge with a fractured leg in the game versus Ipswich last saturday there has been a degree of media attention this week. What we know is that Mick McCarthy has given nothing resembling apology nor remorse for the awful tackle. At the time of the incident he felt it prudent to announce that it should not have been a yellow card and saw no wrong from his player. Since then current and former players have come out with views with are consistent with those of the Brentford fans. Andy Scott stated that Hyam knew what he was doing with that tackle, Sam Saunders was reported in the The Times as alluding to the fact that Brentford conspired to get Hyam sent off. We saw on the day as Sam was reported as saying ” that Hyam head had gone” in reference to the fact that he was a peripheral figure on the pitch and his team hardly brought him into the game. After the game on the various message boards, Ipswich Town fans were split on the nature of the tackle, but as Hyam left the pitch it was notable that there was almost an eerie silence. Jim Levack has reported his views on what he suggests amounts to appalling behaviour from Mick McCarthy that borders on bringing the game into disrepute.
It would be interesting to know what Jake Bidwell said to Hyam as he left the pitch.
There are some things that we presume but do not know. That Hyam has not apologised to Alan Judge. That Alan Judge as evidenced by the limited amount of statements he has made remains unhappy and has in no way condoned that tackle as ” this is what happens in football”.
Some things about Hyam we do know:
For me the tackle remains dangerous and uneccesary and when viewed in the context both of the game, the early minutes, and almost on the half way line, where Judge was in no position to make a play that might be dangerous to Ipswich, this further confirms my view. There is no way of knowing what if any malicious intent was present, but this is very different to making a dangerous tackle which might cause harm . Certainly in 50 years of watching Brentford I cannot recall a game in which the whole team were so incensed over a bad tackle, and we have seen a few of those down the years. Those Brentford players were visibly angry, and for Hyam sake it may have been better that he was sent off than carried off, as some fierce challenges were potentially fired at him.
Lastly Mick McCarthy displayed again bad management in not substituting Hyam even 5 minutes after the tackle it was clear that he was a peripheral and a marked figure. A good forward thinking intelligent manager would have substituted him. So little surprise then that that failed to happen.
We await updates from Brentford over the double fracture ( which to non-medics means fracture of both the tibia and the fibula, the two lower leg bones). no details have emerged regarding severity, nor even how the surgery went. So we must all wait. Meanwhile Luke Hyam has ended Alan judge hopes of Euro 2016 and a premiership transfer in the close season. We all need to hope and pray that this is all that it ends. I for one do not expect to see Hyam selected versus Brentford next season. You heard it first here.
The result was important here as this seals the impossibility of relegation and takes Brentford up to 13th in the table and a maximum of 9 points in a week. The game was marred by the terrible injury to Alan Judge who after a reckless challenge from the seemingly unrepentant Luke Hyam suffered a double fracture of his leg. After the tackle and when the players became aware of the seriousness of the injury it was clear that tackles on Hyam were strong and Jake Bidwell had words for Hyam as he left the pitch.
I cannot recall such anger from a Brentford team over a challenge such as this. At a minimum it was reckless and the conspiracy theorists argue that Hyam picked his man. The only person who truly knows is Luke Hyam. What I will comment is that having seen the tackle in real time and watched it on TV many times, that there was no necessity for this tackle. It was dangerous, reckless and is the type of tackle that can end careers. there seemed little sympathy in the ground even from Ipswich fans at his eventual sending off. Good management might have dictated that he was replaced as he became a peripheral figure after that unpleasant challenge. And as of 24 hours after the incident he has posted nothing on his Twitter account to offer anything resembling repentance or even good wishes to Alan Judge. He will be a marked man at Brentford for many years to come.
What was both refreshing and encouraging for next season was to see that the workrate and tackling so much missing this last few months was clearly back. The midfield were both skilful and combative and Sam Saunders for me had one of his best ever games in a Brentford shirt. Lass Vibe scored two superb goals that maybe he might not have scored even 2 weeks ago.
Sergi Canos gave the kind of display that should make Brentford want to sign him on a permanent contract and the 18,845 crowd included 559 Bees fans who made more noise than the 18,000 Ipswich players. Canos ran, tackled and fought for every ball. He was magical.
The introduction of Jonathon Douglas in the second half did galvanise Ipswich a little and Douglas was involved in most of the decent passages of play that Ipswich had. My own view is that I would have him back at Brentford any time.
Ipswich Town are a friendly football club and to some extent one wonders if that hampers their desire to return to the top tier. Certainly there was nothing in evidence to show that Mick McCarthy has great tactical or even motivational tactics to produce. Talking to the local fans it was clear that they feel his time has come and he should move on. The fans and the stewards are some of the most friendly football fans in our division.
Sam Saunders epitomised the spirit shown by the Brentford players as in the photograph below.
Even the fringe Brentford players when they came on, and will surely feature more in this injury melee that surrounds Brentford , did their part. Gogia looked interesting and created trouble for Ipswich and Kerchbaumer also had his best game in a Brentford shirt. The photo below of a snarling Jonathon Douglas is a classic.
Mention has to be made however of the defence who have been heavily critiscised this season, by many including myself. They were imperious. Maxim Colin was both skilful, creative and tough tackling and is the kind of player we need in the summer to boost our chances of promotion next season. Harley Dean shows the dominance to contain Freddie Sears and make him look almost anonymous. 
The only negatives apart from the dreadful injury to Alan Judge, were the cost to get in that Bees fans had to pay £32.50. This is too much for Championship football. Even for the home fans excluding travel, this takes the cost of a game over £100 for a couple.
But this week and maybe the day belonged to Lasse Vibe who looked every inch a Danish International striker. We should applaud him. 
This was another dire day for Brentford. Lets be clear I am a supporter who was there at Accrington on the terraces when it was minus 6 and if needs be will be there next season. But realism needs a place right now.
Firstly the facts. Brentford are currently the worst club in the championship. Anyone at the game yesterday and last week will know that. The form league table does not lie. The table also shows that we have the worst defence.
So yesterday when 3000 Bees fans discovered that the team selection included no striker there was little optimism that we would score a plethora of goals.
In the warm up David Button indeed looked like the most likely striker with excellent ball control.
David Button
We were right. The game has been excellently reported elsewhere but to summarise we were better with Alan McCormack in midfield to give a little bite until we went a goal down and then frankly gave up. The defence was at times torn apart and the QPR strikers rampaged down the middle through our central defence almost at will. I am not a fan of Poulter, who can consider himself lucky not to be sent off for two yellow card offences, but the difference between the chaos he caused compared for example with our Hoffmann ( unfit it seems yesterday) was interesting. Even strikers with little talent can cause chaos. Brentford never looked like scoring a goal with the potential exception of long range shots, and for me only Sergi Canos and David Button can come out the game with any great credit. Things were dire and no sign of getting any better. Some fans seemed to want to consider throwing themselves off the upper tier!
The undoubted highlights of the day were the omelette before the game at one the nice street cafes around Shepherds Bush and meeting Sergi Canos family in the upper tier stand. Lovely people who seemed as bemused as we were at the decision to take Sergi off who was without doubt working hard and probably the best player in our team. In fact the substitutions yesterday were frankly ridiculous and it showed. If we are to be treated to a fans forum this season one of my first questions would be to explain how Sam Saunders and KK are the right players to bring on when chasing the game and 2-0 down.
Sergi Canos Family. CF Nunes was Sergi’s old team in Spain
Highlight of QPR v Brentford
A separate article is needed to describe the QPR day out in fans terms however I am unsure that the plethora of stewards and police on horses were really needed.
Having said that there were reports of fighting amongst Bees fans apparently on the basis of ” you are not loyal enough”. We do not need any Brentford fans who fight for any reason if this allegation is true, though I did witness homophobic abuse from a single middle aged male in the front row of the Upper Tier.
So as we now enter a relegation battle and many fans have correctly identified that we have been in one for 4 weeks already, the question we might ask is will we be here at Loftus Road next season? And reviewing the fixture list makes interesting reading, our final two games of the season against Fulham and Huddersfield may be in fact be huge relegation battles. Frightening.
On Feb 24th I wrote an article after the Wolves game essentially saying that the clouds had lifted over Griffin Park .I was in retrospect very wrong to suggest that the dire spiral that Brentford had descended into over the last 2 months was over.
https://arcticterntalk.org/2016/02/24/the-clouds-lift-over-griffin-park-brentford-3-wolves-0/
The reality is that is has got a whole lot worse and Brentford now must be potentially fearing relegation if not this year then next unless a whole load of changes are made.
Today we lost a home game 1-2 to an appalling Charlton side who had the benefit of the worst goalkeeper in the Championship, Nick Pope. And frankly we deserved to lose.
The game was of a standard that frankly under the trade descriptions act should not belong in the “football” league. Better skill and certainly better commitment can be seen weekly free of charge on many park football pitches.
I will not deal with Charlton other than to say that they were poor and relegation certainties and one wonder why Sanogo the tall striker on loan from Arsenal needs to handle the ball almost every time it comes near him.
Brentford lacked desire, application, effort, skill, height, speed, accuracy of passing, and ability to get players in the box. Other than that they did well. Dean Smith seemed unable to turn the tide and his substitutions apart from being poor and not leading to any improvement were utterly incomprehensible. Taking off their most creative player, Sergi Canos, was not the best option, and bringing on Sam Saunders, who contributed zero, Phillip Hoffmann ( did he touch the ball in the 20 minutes he graced the pitch?) and Lasse Vibe, were frankly absurd changes.
Some will blame the sale of Tarkowski and Diadouraga. I don’t. They would not have made much difference today. Something was very wrong in the state of Denmark. Brentford did not compete, although I would abstain from including Bidwell and Swift, who did put in the work and were the best players on the pitch.
Brentford fans do not mind losing to a better side, but to lose in this appalling manner to an equally dreadful side needs some explaining and responsibility needs to be taken and changes need to be made.
Who is at fault here? Should Dean Smith be sacked already? There is a case for the defence that he only has the players he has. There is a better case for the prosecution that he is neither trying to change things with the players he has, for example bring in youngsters like Jan Halldack, or change the system if his players cannot perform in this system. He also appears unable to motivate his side to perform the kind of work rate that all successful sides do and which we were doing under Lee Carsley. And this is the man in indictment against him. Many of these players were involved in Brentford wins last autumn. The role of the co-directors needs also some discussion. What we can say with certainty is that they are not visible. That is not always a crime and in many cases a cloak of invisibility is a good thing, however when things are going horrifically wrong then some explanation is needed. At the very least a Fans Forum seems a sensible option to at least explain the direction of the club in the next 6 months. Most of the players brought in last summer are not good enough and lack basic technique. My own view is that even given time and opportunity , Hoffmann, Vibe, Djuricin, Kerschbaumer and Gogia, will not become championship standard. The jury is also out on Ryan Woods who increasingly is muscled off the ball and needs a strategy to become more involved in the game. Increasingly Marco Djuricin is looking out of his depth and I remain underwhelmed by his goal scoring rate and his work rate.
What should and will worry the club are falling attendances and no doubt lower season ticket sales than this year. Empty seats help no one.
At this stage of the season we need to ensure enough points to avoid relegation and make a decision then over Dean Smith. We also need to stop making excuses over players who have been with the club almost a year and chronically under perform. The main value of a striker is calculated by goals scored and it is clear Brentford do not have a striker meeting that definition. Most fans would like to see the back of Phillip Hoffmann.
Lets hope the way forward is not now down.
There is no doubt that Brentford have been a spiral of disaster the last 2 months, and this is reflected in the win ratio of 1 win in the previous 9 games, and in the plethora of negativity that followed the Derby debacle on saturday. Something had to change.
Clouds over Brentford seen while flying in for the game
Fans arrived late as often they do for an evening fixture giving the impression till almost the last minute that there would be no crowd. In fact almost 9000 hardy souls braved a bitter and literally freezing evening to watch an entertaining game.
Griffin Park By Night
There was little agreement before the game on what the outcome might be and even less agreement on the team selection other than something had to change to bring back the fighting spirit and work rate that we saw earlier in the season. In reality the summoning of two of the best players in the club, John Swift and Sergi Canos gave the side width and skill, and Nico Yennaris recovered from a hideous performance in central midfield on saturday to have an excellent game at right back. The work rate in midfield was probably double that of saturday and from the start the elevated work rate and the chances created got the crowd going. In the end a 3-0 victory did not flatter Brentford and it should have been greater. We must not however lose site of how abject Wolves were. Watching the game it was difficult to believe that they had 40 points this season and sitting seemingly in mid-table security. They were poor, very poor. Never the less a good performance that should keep the crowds interested for the remainder of the season. Yet margins are thin in this league, with Brentford comfortably winning 1-0 in the second half, only a superb save from David Button kept the Bees ahead. Conceding a goal then might have led to one of the many Brentford collapses we have seen this season.
Were there any downsides to the game? Only one for me. No cornish pasties. What kind of football catering does not have cornish pasties, forcing me to sample a Chicken Balti pie, which I can sum up as saying could be a vegetarian option lacking anything I could find that resembled chicken. Edible none the less.
Lastly a strange emerging feature of watching Brentford lately. As the crowd streams out of the New Road stand, a group of 2-3 steward looking characters in cheerful fashion thank the crowd for coming and have a safe trip home. Brentford are emerging into the customer service era and will achieve that for me when cornish pasties return.
So the gleaming clouds were an omen and indeed the sun was truly shining on Brentford and their fans at 10 pm last night.
The Skies above Brentford before kick off
Clouds Gleaming over Brentford
Floodlights over Brentford
A final thought. I will miss this old ground when it goes. We know it has to and understand why but the character and atmosphere is what sums up real football , even in the absence of cornish pasties.
A miserable afternoon ended with Brentford losing 1-3 to a moderate Derby County side. But for many grumbling Bees fans that was not the main issue. More worrying aspects include the recent sale of key players, no replacements, absence of anything resembling a striker who scores goals and seemingly a roulette wheel that randomly chooses the midfield players. And more importantly deafening silence from the hierarchy as to what is happening and what the plans might be. 
For some reason that I cannot begin to fathom two of the better players were left on the bench when the team were crying out for creativity and players that in football fan parlance ” make things happen”. Sergi Canos and John Swift. Swift has his critics, but I am not one of them. He is not the box to box midfielder that maybe Douglas was, but he has far superior skill and this is his first season playing competitive football. The roulette wheel was spun and out popped Kerchbaumer and Yennaris.
Frankly Derby outplayed and outfought Brentford all game bar the 15 minutes following a superb solo effort from Alan Judge, who must be wondering what he is doing in this team and how so much can go wrong from 4 months ago. Many fans have that question too. Is Dean Smith not the man for Brentford? I have no opinion on that but am questioning his team selection. The Derby fans also witnessed their first victory since Xmas. 
A bigger problem though is the size of the Brentford players, who often looked like midgets when compared with the larger size specimens on display from Derby. Woods, Vibe, Judge, together equal the size of a single large Bradley Johnson. Physicality is needed in this league and in this regard Brentford are not competing .
In fact in general Brentford are neither competing nor explaining to the fans how they plan to compete. If ever a time for a Fans Forum it is now. But there is a deafening silence from the owner and his minions.
Many worried faces today and few signs that anything will improve soon. And who chose these players and on what grounds were they chosen. There was clear evidence of fan disenchantment today that is increasing by the game. One win in nine games is not acceptable. Not to the fans anyway. 
If anyone has a spare couple of hours on mondays it is well worth going to watch the Bees under 21 side in action as you might be seeing the stars of the future. A decent game of which there are plentiful and excellent match reports elsewhere, so I will limit this to a few photographs on mostly a blustery day. The two players who did stand out for Brentford were Josh Clarke and Jan Holldack . A highly competitive and physical game.
Josh Clarke
Nick Tzanev
Bradley Clayton
Jan Holldack in action
Jan Holldack in action
Dillon Barnes Goalkeeper
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 