F365 says: Bournemouth ‘star quality’ > Brentford ‘collective’
Bournemouth’s “star quality” won out over the Brentford “collective” in the first leg of the play-off semi final.
The atmosphere was bizarre. There wasn’t the low-level buzz of normal times and with the absence of away fans, the chants, jeers and cheers of the 2,000 Cherries were interspersed with absolute silence when Brentford were threatening.
Bizarre, but very entertaining. The relative quiet meant that single fan voices could be heard (if not quite assimilated), including the banter instigator before the echoed response: ‘Everywhere we goooo’… ‘Everywhere we goooo‘ etc. etc. That was fun, as were the much-missed goalkeepers ohhhs, scuffed shot wheyyys, and inexplicable jubilation over the award of a corner. The game could have been rubbish and it would have been enjoyable. It wasn’t, though.
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The excellent Keith Andrews said in the Sky Sports studio ahead of kick-off that he saw this as the “collective” of Brentford against the “star quality” of Bournemouth. He was bang on.
David Brooks and Arnaut Danjuma were evidently the most technically gifted players on the pitch. The former would almost certainly be playing Premier League football this season had he not been injured for most of last – either with Bournemouth, having kept them up, or for one of the many teams who were linked with his signature. The latter never really got to prove his top flight quality last season, with his campaign similarly blighted by injury. But they are both definitely at that level and cases could easily be made for three or four of their teammates. Jefferson Lerma was also very good.
While their strength is in individuals, Brentford’s is in the cooperative. That’s not to say Bournemouth don’t work together – the goal they scored was a wonderful counter-attacking team effort – and it certainly doesn’t mean Brentford have XI dogsbodys: Ivan Toney has just broken the Championship goalscoring record. But extraordinary though that and he is, he profits hugely from the work of his team rather than taking on opponents solo through moments of magic. The team weren’t at it and he was rendered insignificant as a result
Andrews’ punditry partner – the also excellent Curtis Davies – predicted Bournemouth’s “air of arrogance” would hold them in good stead. And there was a lovely arrogance about the goal. It wasn’t flashy per se, it was more the simplistic perfection which gave it that sense of hubris. Danjuma poked the ball under a sliding challenge deep in his own half, Dominic Solanke spread it wide for Brooks, who picked the perfect pass back into the path of Danjuma, who took one touch with the outside of his foot, before passing into the corner with his instep and saying “what were you worried about?”
Brentford had 58% possession and eleven shots to Bournemouth’s nine, but they consistently failed to make the most of crucial moments: crosses were wayward having beaten a man; the final pass was just out of reach; just one of the eleven shots was on target. They didn’t really create chances, save for one which Bryan Mbeumo will lose a hell of a lot of sleep over: a tap-in from five yards out.
This is far from a terrible result for Brentford – they’ll fancy themselves to turn it around at home – but they’ll need the collective to turn up to a man, to create more for their goalscoring master, because the Bournemouth star quality can and will shine through if they’re given another sniff.