31 August 2024
Brentford 3 Southampton 1
The Bees welcomed Southampton to the Gtech Community Stadium looking to kick-start life after Ivan Toney. The Brentford striker had opted to move to Saudi Arabia for £40m where he will earn a gross weekly salary of £800k per week and a meagre £403k per week after tax. Some pay increase from his £80k per week wage with Thomas Frank’s side.
Southampton have added 19 players to their squad since winning the Championship play-off final. They had lost their opening two games in the top-flight without scoring a single goal. That transfer policy could come back to bite them if their stay in the Premier League is a short one and they have all these new players on long contracts and wages more suited to the league above.
The team in red and white stripes dominated from the start. The travelling fans would have been happy to see this until the realisation that Southampton were in their change strip. Mbuemo played Damsgaard in but his shot was well blocked by Ramsdale in The Saints’ goal. The former Arsenal man was making his debut for Russel Martin’s side.
Southampton came forward for the first time and Walker-Peters forced an early save from Flekken. As the corner came in, it seemed to come off the back of Aribo as he tried to head it, only to see the ball bounce back into play off the crossbar. It would not have been a goal of the month contender but would have broke the visitors duck in the Premier League so far.
Frank’s side started to pile the pressure on the visitors. They managed to scrappily clear their lines but could not stop Brentford coming back at them. Finally the deadlock was broken when Schade’s shot hit the base of the post, with the rebound falling kindly to Mbuemo. He made no mistake as he struck the ball into the bottom corner with Ramsdale nowhere to be seen.
Toney was in the ground to watch this one before his flight to pastures new and applauded his ex-teammate as he gave The Bees the lead. Southampton are on a winless streak of 15 games in the Premier League and currently you could not see this ending anytime soon. However, despite the pressure they had been put under, they went in at the interval only a goal down.
Sadly for the travelling fans, the second-half continued as the first had ended. Norgaard had a shot in the box blocked when it seemed to be heading in. The ball came out to Mbuemo but his effort was comfortably saved by Ramsdale. What a baptism of fire this was proving to be. He has gone from the Arsenal bench to feeling like one of the British soldiers facing the Zulu onslaught at Rorke’s Drift.
The Saints got themselves into trouble just outside their own penalty area. Thomas Frank’s side made them pay as some slick one-touch passes set Mbuemo clear. He steered the ball into the bottom corner of the goal, giving the Southampton keeper no chance. It was no more than The Bees had deserved on this performance in the capital.
Four minutes later, a long throw-in to the near post was flicked on by Roerslev. The ball was then bundled over the line by Wissa to make the scoreline that much more convincing. Russell Martin looked troubled on the touchline while Toney was checking out the odds for the first managerial sacking in the Premier League on his phone in the stands.
Southampton created their first chance of the second-half with only minutes remaining in the game. Substitute Lallana was heavily involved before the ball broke to Fernandes. His shot at goal from close range was well parried by Flekken and his defenders hacked the ball clear. It made you wonder why it had taken this long for the visitors to come alive in the final third of the pitch.
As a ball was clipped into the box, Lallana headed it down to Sugawara. He hit a first-time shot with the outside of his left boot and it clipped the inside of the far post before nestling into the net. This was never going to be anything more than a mere consolation for The Saints. It did however give their long-suffering fans something to celebrate before the long trip back home.
Brentford go into the international break in sixth place in the Premier League. It seems a world away from last season when they were almost dragged into a relegation dogfight. Keeping their key players fit will be integral to their season, but if they can, you would not bet against Thomas Frank’s side achieving a top half finish this campaign.
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