Saturday marked the first game of the season that I have attended. Marinus Dijkhuizen`s new look Brentford side made a fantastic first impression for me. It was a comfortable 2-0 win for the Bees against the top flight side, Stoke City. The goals were scored by new signing Akaki Gogia, from German third league side Hallescher FC, and substitute Stuart Dallas. I say comfortable, but I would go further and call it a dominant performance, against an established Premier League side. Of course it`s just a pre-season match, so I won`t come to conclusions, especially as the Stoke side were only coasting through it, but it wasn`t like we were going at a ferocious pace either, so the whole game has got me very excited and positive for the next season.
In terms of play style, it was reassuring to see that Dijkhuizen will carry on implementing the lovely football that Warburton brought to Brentford. A nice attacking style of play. However, what also impressed me about Dijkhuizen is the balance between attack and defence. The four defenders that we played, Jack O`Connell, Harlee Dean, Andreas Bjelland and Yoann Barbet, all looked very comfortable and solid, protected nicely by the improving Toumani Diagouraga. Too many times last season did Warburton go too attacking, and left the defence a bit stranded. A simple long ball over the top was enough to beat the defence, purely because he had so many men forward, going very attacking. I feel like this season, with Matthew Benham`s correct emphasis on defence, Dijkhuizen will balance the attack and the defence nicely, which was demonstrated against Stoke.
There were a lot of players that impressed me on Saturday. Most notably, Konstantin Kerschbaumer, who was mightily impressive, and was my personal man of the match. He played for the full 90, and there wasn`t one moment in the game where I felt he stopped running. He was chasing every ball he could, piling on the pressure on Stoke`s back line. That was just a bonus to his fantastic ball work. Although he`s a bit lacking on his control of the ball, often having to stretch to keep hold of it, his pass and move style, his pace, his off the ball movement, his dribbling technique and fantastic vision are reasons as to why I rate him so highly, and why he was so effective against Stoke. I also saw him deliver one of the most textbook, but most effective corner that I`ve seen at Brentford for a while, mainly because we`ve always been useless at them. I would definitely consider him as a corner taker in the future. In addition, Jota was his usual self, terrorising the opposition left-back, especially Geoff Cameron, of whom he nearly sent into the conference with his cheeky step overs.
Jota is building his confidence in english football, and I can see him being one of our best players this season, easily. I was impressed by all the defenders that played in that game. None of them allowed Stoke to have a proper clear cut chance. I was most impressed by Yoann Barbet. Not only was he very defensively solid and composed, he looked quick, and was very aware about the players around him, had a nice touch with the ball and was particularly impressive at corners, where he was very close to scoring one near the end of the match. Either way, all the defenders were solid, but I would probably send O`Connell on loan to gain more experience, rather than have him on the bench, and I`d definitely consider Dean, Bjelland and Barbet to a starting place come Ipswich. Toumani Diagouraga is just getting better and better. He was consistent, composed and was feeding the ball around nicely. In terms of other new signings, Akaki Gogia also looked sharp, was pacey, good with the ball, maybe got a bit lucky with the deflection, but the shot looked like one that would trouble the Stoke keeper, Jack Butland. I feel like he will do well in that left-wing position, and he would definitely be a starter for me, especially as he can whip in some good crosses, and can also score a few free-kicks. Our very recent signings, Lasse Vibe and Philipp Hoffmann, didn`t do much in the game, or have much time, but I saw a flicker of quality in Hoffmann. I felt he was good with the ball, and despite his height, I saw some nice one-two exchanges with Stuart Dallas which showed some classiness about him. I was a bit disappointed that no one crossed it into him, because I was sure that the 6`4 German would like a few of them, and it`s fairly obvious that heading is a strong area for him.
As for Vibe, I didn`t really like the fact that he was on the wing, he looked uncomfortable and was fairly ineffective, and the moment he drifted into the middle, his pace and off the ball running was shown, and he was instantly put through by Kerschbaumer, but he dragged the shot just wide. Either way, both those players had only arrived a day or two before the game, so obviously they need time to settle in, and it will be interesting to see what they can do at Luton.
Placing emphasis on some of our players from last season, I was impressed by the majority of them. I felt Moses Odubajo looked very good, better than I`ve seen him before at right back. He attacked a lot more, which is exactly what a player of his quality needs to do, but I also felt he stuck well with defensive duties, and he tackled well, and made it very difficult for Bojan Krcic, of Stoke, to make it past him. Stuart Dallas is improving day by day, he looked explosive and fast down that wing, created one or two opportunities for Hoffmann, and of course, scored a goal, something that has been ingrained into his system for the last few games he`s played. Andre Gray didn`t have too much of an impact in the game, I wasn`t really expecting much from him, I think he massively struggles with 4-3-3 and as a lone striker, he needs someone with him up front, and it was shown last season, for the majority of a game he would be silent and fairly ineffective.
Other strikers like Vibe and Hoffmann could be better on their own as they may be positioned more accurately in the box, and play like poachers. Especially Vibe, who`s stats show that most of his goals come in the six yard box, as opposed to Gray who is always a bit further out, and rarely seems to be in there for a loose ball or low cross. Similarly, Hoffmann will be guaranteed to win a few headers from crosses, which Gray quite literally could never do. David Button wasn`t really tested, made a solid save from an Odemwingie free-kick, but that was it.
If I was to have any negative impressions of any players that played, it would have to be Alan Judge. I`ve been a big Judge fan since he joined, and he`s been absolutely quality for us since he joined from Notts County last january, but I feel that his abilities are starting to become limited. His passing was decent as per usual, but I feel that there are more players in our club that can offer more than he does. He`s very small and weak, and although looks quick due to his little legs, the Stoke players had his pace covered, and so did many Championship sides last season.
Overall, I was contempt by what I saw on Saturday, and I am looking forward to watching the team at Luton. It`s only pre-season, so I won`t come to the conclusion that we`ll win the league or anything, but that performance has made me very confident for the up and coming season. On a little side note, after pretty much all the players we have, bar Josh McEachran and James Tarkowski, had played the game, I feel like there should be a clear out of players. I feel like Jack O`Connell should go out on loan and get some experience. Sam Saunders is injured but I`d definitely stick him on loan. As for Marcos Tebar, I can`t see where he fits in, but whether Dijkhuizen chooses to play him as cover of Josh McEachran, who broke his toe and will be out for three months, or sells him and brings in a new centre-mid, it is firmly up to him to get that right.
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