Brentford manager Thomas Frank was left frustrated after his side could only draw at home to Everton. The Bee’s spurned several good chances and many will agree that they deserved to come away with the win.
Frank was bewildered at how his side managed only to take one point from the meeting, he questioned, “How did we not win? That will be an unknown mystery forever”. During his post match interview he was right to observe that “In many ways it was better than the Manchester United game. It's a game we should win nine out of 10 times, we created seven big chances and hit the woodwork three times. There were so many positives. If we had those chances again we win that 3-0 or 4-0.’’
For Everton, the search for their first win of the season continues. Chelsea target Anthony Gordon put aside continued transfer speculation to put in an excellent performance, capped off with the opening goal to put the Toffee’s ahead. Though Frank Lampard will be disappointed not to have held on for the victory, there are positive signs his side are beginning to move in the right direction.
Brentford need to get their main centre-backs back from injury
Captain Pontus Jansson, Ethan Pinnock and Kristoffer Ajer are currently on the Brentford injury list. They have been defensively solid in the main so far but after shipping three last week against Fulham and conceding softly on Saturday, they will be glad to get their main defenders back.
Before the visit of Arsenal on September 18th, three winnable games against Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Southampton are coming up. Getting at least one of those back from the injury list will be a priority for Frank in the battle against relegation.
New signings Ben Mee and Aaron Hickey have settled in effortlessly so far, though there appears to be a slight struggle to find the right equilibrium between their defence and attack. With other new signings still bedding in, getting the experience of Jansson, a bedrock of much of Brentford’s recent success, back into the side will go a long way to improving the team’s collective performance.
Everton need to keep Anthony Gordon
In recent seasons, Everton have been wasteful in the transfer market. Since owner Farhad Moshiri took over in 2016, the club have spent over £500m without any significant return on their investment and secured qualification to Europe only once in this period. The club have lurched from manager to manager without nailing down a playing identity on the pitch. As well as this, the club have struggled to blood new talent from their academy.
Everton narrowly avoided relegation last season and we’ve yet to see any significant improvement in the Goodison Park side, evident in the poor start to their 22/23 campaign. Youngster Anthony Gordon however has continued to impress, despite the team’s struggles. His well taken goal on Saturday shows that the Toffee’s could struggle without his creativity and energy on the pitch. A graduate of the Everton Academy, Gordon has quickly become a fan favourite and will no doubt be a key player in Lampard’s plans moving forward.
Though Gordon is not the entire solution to Everton’s attacking woes, he has the power to unite all at the club during a challenging time where there are calls for the board to go from the supporters. A decision to allow the transfer to go ahead would be a devastating blow for Everton’s chances to turn this season around and for the board’s support among fans.
Brentford can’t afford to be as wasteful in front of goal
Brentford will be kicking themselves that they did not win this game. They created the better of the opportunities and should have been celebrating a second home win on the bounce. With the relegation battle expected to be much closer than previous years, Thomas Frank’s side need to be more ruthless to avoid getting sucked in.
The performances in the opening games have been very encouraging for the West London side. Scoring nine goals in the opening games has been impressive but the worry will be as the season progresses can the Bees continue to score enough goals to finish teams off. Striker Ivan Toney has started the season well scoring twice but outside of that it is a struggle to see where a consistent supply of goals will come from.
Thomas Frank will hope that Ivan Tony can maintain his current form as the season progresses or at the very least, some of his other attacking players can step up to shoulder some of the burden.
Everton needed to win this game
Four games and no wins does not make for good reading for all involved at Everton. With a tough run of fixtures coming up against Leeds, Liverpool and Arsenal; the Toffees could be in a world of trouble. Frank Lampard has a lot of credit in the bank after keeping the club up last season but if results aren’t produced soon, things could turn sour very quickly.
Despite being outplayed in the second half by Brentford, Lampard will be disappointed not to have held out to earn the three points. Getting a victory on the board would have eased some of the pressure around Goodison Park and helped the confidence going into the next few games.
