Snak

Tre røde og to gule kort i overtiden mellem Southend og Charlton. Der bliver gået til den i League One.

Så er topopgør i League 1, skal vi have barberet puljen på pt 5 ubsejrede hold ned i 8. runde?

@vicham

Jeg tror ikke at hverken Sunderland, Barnsley eller Walsall taber i dag, så det kommer i sidste ende sandsynligvis an på, hvad der sker på London Road i Peterborough. En remis er bestemt ikke urealistisk, men personligt tror jeg at vi, Portsmouth, taber. Vi har ikke spillet godt på det seneste og har pt. nok 2-3 point mere end vi burde vurderet på vores spil i diverse kampe. Den slags har det med at vende på et tidspunkt.

Nu har Sunderland lagt ud i vanlig stil med at komme bagud inden for 20 minutter.
Overraskende nok stadig ingen mål i topkampen, så dine Pompey holder da fast endnu.

@vicham

Jep. Med nederlag til jer, Peterborough, Walsall og Barnsley er vi nu eneste ubesejrede hold i rækken. Så må vi se, hvor længe det holder. Personligt er det lidt rystende at vi er i stand til at strikke en sådan stime sammen. Det er vi ikke vandt til på sydkysten. For at finde noget lignende skal vi tilbage til 2002-03 sæsonen, der endte med oprykning til PL.

Maupay, en FM-klassiker, fortsætter takterne i Brentford med 8 mål og 3 assist i 6 kampe. Det er lidt en surrealistisk størrelse, hvor virkelighed møder fantasi for mig. Jeg har flere gange selv hentet ham til Griffin Park i ældre versioner af spillet, hvor han ender med at rive ligaen i stykker.

Det er et pænt snit. I rækken nedenunder har Ronan Curtis 5 mål og 5 assists i 7 kampe (han spillede ikke i forrige runde da han var udtaget til det irske U-21 landshold).

West Ham - Macclesfield 8-0.

Macclesfield manager Mark Yates: “It wasn’t the result we were looking for.”

Det må blive et af sæsonens citater. :-)

Keith Wade skrev sidste år dette, da Dean Smith var på tale til at blive manager i WBA:

Fra Keith Wade´s nyhedsbrev (engelsk pundit og Brentfordfan)

I was going to go big on goals (3.5 or 4.5) in the Palace-WBA game and might still personally, but interim Albion head coach Darren Moore is said to be 50/50 with the board in terms of getting the job on a permanent basis and a result today could seal the deal and he will be asking the players for a performance. He is quoted at joint favourite with Brentford head coach Dean Smith.
Smith could go I guess, money talks in football and he would be offered 3 times his current salary, but with maybe 10% of the job security and Brentford are possibly the only team in the top two divisions who will not sack a coach solely because of results and Smith knows where the club are ultimately heading. However, he is a Midlands lad and grew up close to Albion, albeit as a Villa fan, but his #2 who would be part of the package is/was a Baggie.
Having said that, Smith told two supporters I know well and who are respected that he had no plans or desire to leave and his family have just bought a new house in the SE and I mean in the last month, which his mother also moved into (maybe that is a reason to escape !) and both she and his wife and daughter were involved in Bees end of season celebrations, so it would all seem odd were he to move. But as I say, money usually talks.
I would prefer that he stayed and Brentford had the continuity going forward, but the other (joint) #2 Thomas Frank would almost certainly step up (I would say that was 95% certain) , so, if odds became available on next manager if Smith were to depart, get in quick ! Some of you will know Frank, especially Danish readers, he was head coach of Brondby for three years and the Denmark U16-17-19 teams before that and he has been increasingly influential at the Bees in the last year or so, where much is done by committee. The more I think about it 95% seems low !

I dag skriver han dette efter Dean Smith er blevet ny manager i Aston Villa:

Brentford head coach Dean Smith has left the mighty Bees to join the club he and his family support in Aston Villa, they are a massive club, the biggest in England´s second city and with the family connection (his father was a senior steward at Villa Park for over 25 years), the draw and salary was too great ! I wish him well(ish) and am assuming that Thomas Frank will take charge of the Bees and I wrote in preseason ............

Should Smith opt to leave, assistant coach Richard O´Kelly would move too, Thomas Frank would almost certainly step into the role, he is former head coach of the Denmark U16/17/19 teams and Brondby. Frank has been with the Bees for 20 months, has extended his contract recently and with a MA in Sports Psychology fits the Brentford mould and he has been increasingly active on the touchline with Smith during games ( I sit just behind the dug outs).

Brentford have a history of improving after losing players/coaches, there is always a Plan B, which I have long felt was Frank in this instance and I expect them to continue to push for top 6 as a minimum.

Sjovt så mange som skyder efter Thomas Frank for hans tid i Brøndby. Det var ikke alt sammen godt og havde klaret sin udfordringer med transitionen til seniorfodbold, men han opfyldt mig bekendt de målsætninger der blev sat af bestyrelsen ift. placeringer.