Boro 1 - 4 Brentford was utterly crazy, wasn’t it? Point blank double Goalkeeper saves, an own goal, whacked woodwork and all without Josh Dasilva on the pitch.
It certainly didn’t feel as though a 4-1 win was representative of the flow of the game or what went on on the pitch but a 4-1 win is the hand we were dealt.
Defensively, both teams looked solid from front to back and sometimes you have to compliment how effective the attackers are and that individual mistakes are disproportionately punished.
In goal for Brentford, Raya was again at the heart of the drama. Admittedly, one or two shots hit him from close range and his positioning helped him out as he went on to more than make up for his own goal non-punched attempted clearance after only 3 minutes.
We’re keeping a watchful eye on how teams are boxing him in and blocking his routes to the ball when we’re defending open play and set piece crosses.
Referees study hours of games and know players and squads intimately. Officials will be tuned into the fact Raya is having a hard time of it of late. How that impacts their decision making process is what we’re watching out for because goalkeepers usually get ultra protected in busy box situations like the ones we’ve recently seen Raya fall on the wrong side of. Rightly or wrongly or good or bad calls, if referees continue being comfortable with giving the attackers the benefit in these instances, Brentford’s defenders and the wider team need to be switched on and stronger than ever in these deep crossing and set piece phases.
As competitive as the league is and with small fractions of quality the only differences between teams at the top and bottom it doesn’t take much to exploit and benefit from in game situations.
Nobody ever said the route to the Premier League is easy.