NewBee

Considering only 3 teams have conceded fewer goals than Brentford so far this season (i.e. the top 3), then maybe it's not happening that often?

Yep, a Brentford fan on the Post-Match Leicester v Brentford thread, along with a load of Leicester fans. But thanks for your concern,

Well can you tell me how many "Worldies" he's scored for Anderlecht/Monaco/Belgium in how many games then? I see that he's scored a total of 61 goals in 362 games in his career to date. Assuming that even (a generous) half of those were worldies like on Sunday, that equates to c.1 in 10, or 4 a season. Which is pretty much conforms with his Leicester tally, and so confirms the point I am making, rather than contradicting it.

For one thing, literally no-one ever said it was a "battering". And for another, if you'd watched BFC over the last few seasons, you'd know that we've never been a team to have loads of shots, especially from distance, since statistically, the number of successes are outwieghed by the number of misses, which only loses you possession. Ditto attempts from direct free kicks: we very rarely bother with those either, for the same reason. (See eg Ronaldo's appalling conversion rate!). Which is pretty much simliar to teams like Barcelona and Man. City and actually explains why our xG rating is generally higher than our opponents, including in Sunday's game. Of course trying to manoeuvre our way into "easy" scoring positions, close in and in front of goal, is harder than ever in the PL, especially against teams like Leicester who will defend deep and hope to hit teams on the break. Which in turn explains why BFC have made a conscious decision to work on corners and long throws as a means of augmenting their goal tally from conventional xG positions, which was again evidenced by the fact that we had a lot more of those than you, including managing to get our goal from one. Which is not to say that Leiocester didn't didn't defend very well (I suspect the returning Jonny Evans had a lot to do with that). But rather than looking to a simple "3 shots on target after the goal", or even 5 during the whole game, plus another 5 attempts blocked (which you conveniently omit to mention), I've no doubt the people at Brentford will employ a much more sophisticated statistical analysis. And if that analysis tells them that we actually played pretty well and would normally have got something from such a game, then the message will be "carry on", since these things invariably revert to the mean over time. Similarly, if we somehow snatch a draw or a victory out of a game which statistically we might have expected to lose, there will be no complacency along the lines of "Only the result counts", rather we will look to see what went wrong with the plan and look to rectify it.

I did watch the reel and I counted 5 (possibly 6?) scored in Leicester's colours. Even bearing in mind that that reel might have missed some more, nonetheless a tally of 8 or 10(?) in 122 Leicester games whilst actually highly impressive, is also pretty infrequent. Which makes us a bit unlucky that he plucked one of of the bag against us, and especially in a game which would otherwise have finished level.. But I can see that some people in here are never going to accept that clear, statistical fact, sio I'll leave it there.

Once again, I'm not claiming he was "lucky", since he's clearly got it in him to produce a goal like that every now and again. What I'm saying - and I think TF was trying to say - was that it was unlucky for Brentford that he produced one in our game, since not only does it not happen very often, but it was also enough to make the difference between a draw and a defeat. (That is, had the final margin been 2 goals or more, the goal would have just as special, but not so significant.)

Fair enough. Obviously it's not a "one-off", but once again I ask, how many such worldies has he scored for you? Peoples reluctance to provide an estimate suggests to me that it must be pretty infrequent. Which, I hasten to add, should in no way detract from what a fine player he is, since no-one else really scores that kind of goal very frequently.

Simple question: How many 'worldies' of that standard do you reckon YT has scored in his Leicester career? (Don't need the exact figure, an approximation will do) You say yourself that: "I dont know Franks and I dont know what his credentials are..." Yet on the evidence of one game and one off-the-cuff post-match remark, you talk like you have the mark of the man and give him advice, including on his "problem"? (Note that nowhere in my posts have I once commented on your club, players or manager, only Brentford's, since it would be arrogant of me to believe I know more about Leicester than fans like you.)

Yep. Particularly when I said to my mate before the game that while I thought our 1st XI could compete against Leicester, our bench was nothing like as good as yours - and so it proved. It's a tricky one. On the one hand, the club likes to plan its transfer strategy each summer and at least 12 months in advance. While the January window never offers value (we've occasionally sold for a good price then, but very rarely bought). And more generally, the club will continue to work within its budget, rather than panic and go on a splurge at the first sign of trouble. On the other hand, if we look to have been especially unlucky with injuries early on in the season, it might just be worth taking a punt in the market to tide us over temporarily? My guess is that they'll stick with the original plan for this season and trust that we'll get by with what we've got.

Which is another example of BFC having to do things differently from most other sides who enjoy greater resources etc (David vs Goliath again). Basically when the new Academy set-up was introduced, BFC's owners spent millions on a new facility and tie-up with a local college etc, such that it was one of only two Category B Academies outside the top two divisions. (We were in League One then). And initially it was looking very promising. Then in return for bunging a few quid to the EFL, the PL changed the Academy transfer riules so that the maximum they'd have to pay to sign a youngsterr from another Academy would be £50k. BFC immediately lost Poveda to Man City and Hardy to Liverpool for that amount, when previously they could reasonably have expected £500k for each one. So refusing, as ever, to succumb to the Sunken Cost Fallacy, out owner said "Fvck that, I'm not going to spend millions developing players for the big boys to poach" and so closed it down. Then looking around for a replacement, the club came up with the idea of the "B" Team. For they had seen that every year, even the top Academies release players at 17 or 18 before they know for certain whether they'll make it or not. And since different players develop at different rates, the club concluded that you need to see a player in at least 25 senior games before you can be certain that they'll make it or not. And unless they've been allowed to go out on loan, the vast majority of teenagers never get anything like that many games. Therefore the "B" team takes a second look at the pick of these "rejects", gives them top coaching and facilites and gives them regular games against a whole host of different opponents, at both home and abroad. Of course many of them still don't make it, but at least they've been given a proper chance, with a number stil going on to make a career in the lower leagues, or as semi-professionals. As for those that are kept on, the "B" team has been abig success, with over a dozen players going on to play for the 1st team in more than 5 games. As a result, other teams like Huddersfield and QPR have started to copy the idea.

Except that he didn't say it was "lucky", since everyone knows that YT has that sort of goal in his armoury. But we also know that he only brings it out 2 or 3 times a season. Meaning that it was unlucky for BFC that this happened to be one of those times, and in a game which was otherwise even. (That is, had either team been 2 or 3 goals ahead, the goal would have been appreciated solely on its own merits, outwith its significance on the result.) Anyhow, I fully understand why YT is such a favourite of yours, and why you want to support your guy. But from knowing how TF works, I genuinely believe some of you are seeing offence in his comment where none was intended.

Actually, it's nothing like Messi. Messi scored 672 goals for Barca in 778 games for Barca, many of them "wonderful". In other words, he did it all the time. Whereas fine player that he is, YT does not score his wonder goals all the time. TF hasn't "failed" or "succeeded" in the PL - he's managed 9 PL games, for goodness sake! But whether you like it or not, his demenour hasn't changed since he managed in the Champiomnship, one aspect of which is telling it as he sees it. We'll see.

Whether you like it or not, the point is that the design followed the constraints of the site, not the other way round. In simple terms, there was no other way they could fit in a 17-20k capacity stadium in that location, whilst still complying with all the different requirements for a PL stadium in 2020/21. And that location offered the only possible site for a stadium within Brentford TW8. Barring a possible few hundred extra seats, it is physically and legally impossible to expand the capacity beyond the present limit.

Watch it with the sound muted. Seriously. (I did because the missus was trying to watch the telly and I couldn't be bothered to look for the headphones). And the graphics tell the story very clearly.

Dunno where you got that figure. infogol had the xG as 1.31 to 1.01 in BFC's favour. fotmob had it 1.06 to 0.94 for BFC And eplanalysis had the xG as 1.69 to 0.72 to us. While from memory, MOTD also gave it to us.