Tag Archives: Brentford

Dubai return, Injuries, Ivan Toney and more

1 Reply

Dubai return

I am not a fan of the winter break. It feels pointless. But it also came at a good time for The Arsenal.

We felt like a club under pressure. Struggling for positive results with a missfiring forward line. Spending 10 days in Dubai has been an opportunity for players to unwind – both physically and mentally.

Tomorrow we need to get behind the lads. They would have shaken the negativity off, so it will be important that we the fans do not pile it straight back on.

A big enough win tomorrow (8 goals!) and we go second…

Injuries

With the team out in Dubai, we have not had the usual thursday pre-match Mikel Arteta press conference. That means we have no idea if any of our walking wounded will be back fit.

The lads out long-term – Jurrien Timber, Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey – will almost certainly not be back.

Some were hopeful that Timber would return in February, but with the type of injury he had this was always optimistic. I would be surprised if we see him until April.

Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey were both out in Dubai training, but the Crystal Palace game will come a little early whilst they continue to rebuild their fitness. With another 10-day break before our next game, expect both to be held back.

Olexsandr Zinchenko is currently 50/50 to start against Palace. The expectation earlier in the week was that he would be back, but the Evening Standard are now reporting that he might not be fit enough.

It is better news for Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian has looked fit, sharp and ready in Dubai. Expect him to be straight back in the first XI tomorrow.

Ivan Toney

I have always been concerned about Ivan Toney’s attitude.

Those Snapchats from a couple of years ago where he abused Brentford never sat well to me. Then you had the gambling ban. And more recent the interview where he openly discussed leaving the West London club.

Btrentford recruited Toney from League One. They supported him during the gambling issues and his ban. He has shown them so little respect and clerarly believes he is destined for bigger things than them.

Compare Toney to Ollie Watkins (who Toney replaced at Brentford). Watkins gets his head down, scores goals, and is never in the press for the wrong reasons. There is a reason why Watkins has now become an England squad regular, whilst Gareth southgate was always reluctant to pick Toney.

I am not sure that I would want someone with Toney’s attitude at the club, despite the goals he might score.

Tottenham transfers

Spurs fans are all a little giddy right now after news broke that they will (potentially) be signing 18-year-old Norwegian forward Antonio Nusa.

“Ange has transformed us”
“Paratici doing bits”
“Levy backing Ange”
“So exciting to be a Spurs fan right now”
“We are back as a serious club”
“Ange success rewarded”

Let’s get a few things right.

They have signed a Romanian central defender that no-one had heard of 6 months ago.
They have signed (on loan) a past-it forward who was dumped by Chelsea, and has now been dumped by RB Leipzig
They are potentially going to sign an 18-year-old forward with 5 goals in 52 games that no one had heard of yesterday morning

This will not be the first transfer window Tottenham have “won”. Infact, by my math they have won more transfer windows than league titles.

As for Spurs being back and brilliant Ange, Tottenham are 5th, behind “found out Mikel Arteta” and “struggling Arsenal”.

Give it 18 months and the tactically inept Australian will be at Fulham.

Jordan Henderson

Joke of a man.

Went to Saudi Arabia for the money, pretended he was going to “achieve something special and build a club and build the league”, and then within 6-months he is out of there.

Everyone knew that the Saudi Pro League was a huge sports washing experiment, and all those players that took the money to promote the nation in a positive light are complicit in the Human Rights atrocities that are carried out at the demands of their pay masters.

One reason I chuckle when football wear rainbow laces or take the knee is because you know the majority of them can be bought. They will all go to Saudi Arabia for ÂŁ500k a week, despite the “Kingdoms” stance on slavery and sexuality.

Henderson was one of the most prominent voices during the “we will promote any cause” era of the Premier League. He then showed his true self by going to Saudi for the money.

He should never play for England again.

Keenos

Brentford Community Stadium: No Beer, No Atmosphere – Ground Review

63 Replies

The writing is on the wall when you need to walk under a motorway to get to the ground.

For those that don’t know London well, Brentford’s new ground is next to the Chiswick Roundabout which signifys the end of the M4 as it comes into the capital.

The walk to the stadium is not an inspiring one.

As we exited Gunnersbury station, there was no murmur of fans exited for the home teams first top flight game in god knows how long. Infact there were no fans around at all. The only noise was from the cars on the dual carriageway.

The walk to the ground was soulless. No burger vans, flag or scarf sellers. Not single pub bar the one directly opposite the station. Not even a tout.

You cross under the motorway and head to the ground. And what a soulless place it is.

Surrounded by a new build housing estate still under construction; there is not a soul to be seen bar Arsenal fans.

And then you get to the turnstile.

A 30 minute queue to get into the stadium as there were only 5 turnstiles available to away fans. This will only cause problems later in the season and is an accident waiting to happen.

The inside of the ground is no better.

The best way to describe it is “a little bit shit”. And that is probably an understatement.

God knows what the architects were thinking when they designed this for awful stadium.

With the huge TVs in the roof and a corner that just collapses; it is one of the worst grounds I have been too.

At least Fulham is on the edge of a beautiful park, next to the river and is a cracking ground.

And the atmosphere. You wouldn’t think it was Brentford’s first top flight on god knows how long (the second time I have said that).

The crowd was a bit like what you get at Fulham. Bunch of students and locals who probably didn’t realise Brentford had a team until they got promoted.

But what can you expect from a team that are basically Leyton Orient of South and West London.

With Chelsea, Fulham and QPR drawing in fans, Brentford have never had much of a following.

I imagine they will hope to draw in a new fan base from the thousands of new build flats rising in and around the area. A bunch of key workers who fancy a day out. They will probably try and take Fulham’s tag of being “London’s friendly club” and have “neutral end” for most games.

Brentford’s fan base looked like they were there were at the game for an appetiser before a night out. Not their first football game in 18 months.

Any ground that “doesn’t serve beer at half time to away fans” can immediately get in the bin. And Brentford is in that bin.

Not only was alcohol a big NO in the away end, but there was no pies, burgers or anything; bar coke, sprite or water.

And to top it all off, Gunnersbury station – the nearest to away fans – is shut after the game leading you with a 10 minute trek to Chiswick Park where you have to head West to Acton before heading back East.

No beer, no atmosphere, a ground under a motorway. I won’t be itching to return.

Keenos

5 hours from Blackburn all for a 0-0

Leave a reply

Following the legends match at the Emirates where I was part of the prawn sandwich brigade, next match was an U21 match away to Coventry City in the Checkatrade Trophy.

This was a good test as it was against Coventry’s first team. We won 3-0 with over 200 Gooners in attendance made it a satisfying evening.

Next stop was a trip to St James’s Park, Newcastle; always a decent place to watch football with the city centre stadium with walking distance of plenty of pubs. For a reason that still makes no sense to me, we were booked on the 6:12am train from Kings Cross meaning that my alarm was set for 3:30am!

What with my other half being away on Saturday night and 10 hours of drinking, this trip was only going one way and it did……

The match was uninspiring but a 2-1 win, but it meant that for the first time in an age, we won two away on the bounce!

Following a heavy head on Sunday, Monday saw me venturing up to Blackburn for an U23 match. There was a bad accident on the M6 which meant diversions and missing the first 13 minutes. On the way home, I counted 18 different sets of road works, therefore arriving home over 5 hours after our departure; the match itself finished 0-0, not a great day all round!

The only thing I took back with me from Blackburn was a stinking cold which was to stop me going to a few youth & academy matches.

Following this seasons Europa League debut with a easy win against Ukrainian side Vorsla Poltava, I saw our U23s thrash Liverpool 4-0 at Borehamwood.

Next up was a 2-0 home win against Everton where the highlight was keeping our first clean sheet of the season followed by a home Carabao Cup versus Brentford, a team we’ve not played in a competitive match since the 1940’s which we won 3-1.

Next up is the last match of a run of 4 home matches against Watford followed by a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan. Lots of sun and cheap alcohol, what could possibly go wrong?

JW