25 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Just a shambles of management. Amateur.

Maresca seems almost as unpopular as Benitez.

Almost

Sad to lose all 3 points to a Tony Pulis tactic. Least didn’t lose the match bc at 0-1 it seemed a strong possibility with all the fruitless possessionso 🍺 1/2 FULL imo. VIVA Maresca 😅

4 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Maresca seems almost as unpopular as Benitez.

Almost

Also remember that Avram Grant fella ?

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Maresca seems almost as unpopular as Benitez.

Almost

But apart from making a disparaging remark about our support whilst at Liverpool, he was actually quite a good coach.

I’d take Scolari over Maresca.

6 minutes ago, fun2sh said:

Also remember that Avram Grant fella ?

Lovely bloke. Almost single handedly won us our first CL...

10 minutes ago, Snedger said:

That’s not true though. These points were dropped unnecessarily. As PSG proved last season, you don’t have to do very much at all to get out of the group stage and scraping through doesn’t have any effect on the difficulty of your future fixtures.

It's the Champions league and you need experienced players. James and Cucurella have also been playing for their country.

While we have a big squad we are still struggling with injuries and the international break.

We've had next to no pre season and the CWC so I'm prepared to give Maresca an easy ride this early in the season.

I do think we can make top 4 but we probably have a better chance of winning or going deep in the Champions league. We're too inexperienced to win the Premier league so let's prioritise the Champions league at this point.

34 minutes ago, Andy North said:

All we need to do is beat Bayern to justify this team selection.

Not for me, that selection was pants, and we didn’t even win today.

Let’s face it Brentford are a poor team with some of their best players and their manager gone.

We should have taken this game more seriously today and then after this match worry about Bayern.

I don’t like it when managers underestimate the match right in front of them to prioritise for a match that’s still a few days away.

1 minute ago, Andy North said:

I do think we can make top 4 but we probably have a better chance of winning or going deep in the Champions league. We're too inexperienced to win the Premier league so let's prioritise the Champions league at this point.

we have spent nearly 2billion and you want to be like Arsenal supporters under Wenger?

We should be winning the CL or PL, we will win neither under Coco the clown 🤡

We won the Farmers league and a cup where some of the best teams weren’t even in it, we did well to finish top four but would have finished third or even second if Maresca stopped talking us down, PLAY YOUR BEST AVAILABLE PLAYERS AND STOP ROTATING FOR NO REASON

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

2 wins and 2 draws at the start of the season against mediocre opposition. Not good enough. Maresca is a bang average coach that is holding there players back. You don't start an away game with makeshift defence and stick Fofana at RB when he has barely played any football. That completely f**ked up the rhythm of our defence and we never recovered. The whole performance was a mess, and that Brentford team should not be coming away with anything from it, they were awful.

It's surprising, or not, that a number of those that went into the season saying what a nice comfortable start that we've got. Four games in London against average opposition. Now the same people are trying to justify that no game is easy, it's a solid enough start, Still unbeaten, etc.

Dont understand why we have to fear Bayern when we destroyed PSG just few weeks back who destroyed Bayern ? Its them who need to be worried. They played first team in todays game and won 5-0. This is what is expected from top teams like Chelsea.

5 hours ago, fun2sh said:

Same here ...this site is whitelisted but Shed End force to disable it everywhere 😡

Yes.. It's driving me mad, I get a million adverts and it still blocks me

The defending on that throw was a joke. Sunday league players would be embarrassed by that.

Useless bums.

Just watched the game. Should have won from the position we were in, but not surprised the shortcomings were exposed.

To begin, the starting 11 were weak. In sure Maresca has his excuses but they looked so average. It comes down to the manager for me.

From there, the CBs aren’t good enough. They’ve carried us well, but that’s the second game in a row Tosin has showed he isn’t good 1-1 going back to goal. He got away with it vs Fulham, but he’s too easy to turn. Next Trev - love the guy, but he’s not the quality we need. Then Fofana, albeit at RB - I’m not sure he has it anymore. Just flaps around on and off the ball.

Forwards look much improved when subs were made. Gittens - he needs to start offering something asap - I’m just not seeing it at all with him, but hope I’m wrong. He looks downgrade on George, let alone Noni.

Then the crap Brentford tactics. The time wasting with multiple takers per throw in is pathetic. And every throw in they stole 5-8 yards, including for the equalizer. We still should have defended jt though.

Not good enough for me. But when your two starting CBs and backup striker cost a total of £0, well, the results don’t lie.

Edited September 14, 2025Sep 14 by PhilH930

Brentford lost to Forest, who west ham battered, and Sunderland. They are rubbish. This seasons 2024 Everton. They are in trouble if one, or more, of the promoted sides stay up.

Just watched the game again...

They really need to find another Captain... why Enzo is first name on the team sheet beats me...

Very poor first half from us, not quick enough in moving the ball.

And a very poor goal defensively from us,for their first goal.

Much improved in the second half when the subs came on.

Great goals from both Palmer and Caicedo.

Thought we’d hold on for the win. Another poor goal to lose for their equaliser.

46 minutes ago, Bebe1980 said:

Just watched the game again...

They really need to find another Captain... why Enzo is first name on the team sheet beats me...

I actually thought that Fernandez was one of the few players that actually had a positive contribution to the game and played on the front foot

5 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I actually thought that Fernandez was one of the few players that actually had a positive contribution to the game and played on the front foot

Good point!

3 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I actually thought that Fernandez was one of the few players that actually had a positive contribution to the game and played on the front foot

There was certainly a number of players who were worse than Enzo last night but it was a low bar. He was still bang average against weak opposition. And I've seen more leadership from the Milky Bar kid at the MOBOs.

So explain this Maresca

“WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT BACK A STRIKER FROM HIS LOAN DEAL ONLY TO LEAVE HIM OUT OF THE MATCHDAY SQUAD ?”

Is he injured?

Especially when you hear this…….

Maresca said after the game that Joao Pedro had already told him that he wasn’t at full capacity before the game, however he still started him against Brentford.

9 hours ago, Andy North said:

It's the Champions league and you need experienced players. James and Cucurella have also been playing for their country.

While we have a big squad we are still struggling with injuries and the international break.

We've had next to no pre season and the CWC so I'm prepared to give Maresca an easy ride this early in the season.

I do think we can make top 4 but we probably have a better chance of winning or going deep in the Champions league. We're too inexperienced to win the Premier league so let's prioritise the Champions league at this point.

Spot on. Squad must be managed carefully otherwise we risk further damage and silly injuries like hamstring ones could pop up one after another.

There should have been something like a gentlemen's agreement between the clubs that went deep into the CWC and FIFA to give their players a rest at least during the first intl break. Or at least managed their minutes there.

For me it is absolutely stupid why would James have to play against Andorra, or Cucurella in Bulgaria, why would Caicedo have to be called up when Ecuador was already qualified to the WC, or why the Brazilians would also have to go to the heights of Bolivia and even play there in a totally meaningless match.

80% of the matches our players took part in this past intl break where either against dross opposition or totally useless ones. It's absolutely pathetic that a club manager has to manage minutes for his players and risk losing points for the club that actually pays their contract when the FAs and the managers of those countries should have been the ones to do so. You look at those matches and most of it they could have won with their "C" team.

I am not even mad about the result anymore, but my hatred for intl football went up 100 levels. Was big already, now I totally despise this sh*t.

Looking back at his defensive choice and its just utterly insane.

Right Back - Centre back coming back from loads of injuries.

RCB - makes sense.

LCB - a player hes consistently picked on the right.

RB - Centre back making his debut

Individual its ok ish....all together ans its just completely nuts, its the backbone of a team, it needs to be a coordinated unit yet Maresca is constantly swapping players in and out, shifting them around. The only constant is not picking the best RB in the league at RB. If any defensive unit needed its captain it was that one last night.

As much as I hate to give Sanchez an out, its not helping him either having a completely different defence every week.

Matescas a try hard idiot, trying to unnecessarily be a clever f**ker, show how amazing he is. Just pick the best 4, keep picking them to pay them gel as a team.

7 hours ago, guddy69 said:

Yes.. It's driving me mad, I get a million adverts and it still blocks me

Same here. I've tried Adblocker but no good. Saying that there are times when I need to how to get rid of fruit flies or take a 100 mile round trip to buy a pair of f***ING shoes 🤬

We would have won easily with Reece James, Cucurella and Palmer starting. Just secure the 3 points before you start experimenting..

2 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

I actually thought that Fernandez was one of the few players that actually had a positive contribution to the game and played on the front foot

Yep in agreement with this personally, particularly during a dreadful first half, couldn't really fault Enzo's performance.

As for Enzo the manager just frustrating that he seems to stubbornly return to things that didn't work (for weeks on end) last season, the kind of "banging your head against a brick wall " tactics/team set up/management that just does my head in.

Hate the way they play but a begrudging respect to Brentford who imo looked a limited side but whose manager set up them up in a formation /system that got the best out of those players by playing to their strengths. For us just don't get the Forfana at RB when you have James, Gusto and Acheampong available, play Forfana at CB or not all all.

Hato was disappointing, Gittens left me me actually pining for Mudryk , can't imagine when Guiu is ever going to get a start if it wasn't against Brentford given the limited options available negated further by international hangovers.

Totally wasted first half in my opinion, ok credit for the changes early enough to change things around but frustrating nethertheless.

With the long throw being the likely source of an equaliser surely would have been a good idea to add a bit of height (Acheampong) for the remaining minutes after we had gone 2-1 up to help our defence.