Brentford (Away) 22.08.2026

This was my first visit to Brentford since they moved into the Lego built ground that is located in the middle of a Housing Development and squeezed in alongside a railway line.  Characterless and badly constructed to prevent the sun beating down on the fans in the stands, it holds 17,000+, indicating the level of their support and ambition.  In such clinical conditions, it is necessary to whip up the fan-base, with fans at one end handed flags to wave, although the announcer having said, “Lets keep the atmosphere going for the 90 minutes” then qualified this in a typically Brentford family-friendly way by advising something like, “making sure that you don’t inconvenience other fans”.  Although they portray themselves as a Community club for all, the foul language coming from their supporters is nothing different to other stadiums across the country.  I was waved through the security searches – obviously looking harmless enough – but others were subjected to wallet searches and drug sniffer dogs.  Maybe that is a problem here as they try to get the fans hyped up.

The view from the away section wasn’t too bad, but the other end seemed very distant from a low position and being right next to the Brentford fans (who it was best to ignore) was like being at a tuneless singing contest with some of the oddest comments I have ever heard at a football ground.  It did give a good view of the Spurs players warming up right in front of us, looking good in the new away kit, but, unfortunately, that was as good as they were to look all day.  The way that De Zerbi wants to play requires a lot of movement off the ball and that wasn’t what we saw today.  Brentford tore into Tottenham from the start.  Their energy proved too much for the Spurs midfield and defence, as they found ways of getting past them far too easily and only poor heading prevented Spurs going behind before the first goal eventually came. 

Forming moves down their left, the Bees took advantage of Archie Gray, who was constantly exposed and left marking two players, as the right sided midfielder in front of him went missing leaving a large amount of grass between him and winger Mikey Moore.  And that was where the early chances came from.  Lewis-Potter was at the heart of them and he had the first effort on target when a corner was cleared in the third minute that he volleyed back at goal, bring blocked by Andy Robertson.  A minute later, Jensen made the most when Spurs lost the ball (not for the last time) and his cross was headed wide by Collins with the goal at his mercy a couple of yards out.   

Spurs did get forward to have a shot at goal, but Conor Gallagher’s 25 yard effort went a couple of yards wide after ten minutes, but, a couple of minutes later, Tottenham were behind and it came too easily.  A build up on the right ended with Sangare and Outtara playing a one-two and in space, their new signing had time to square the ball into the middle of the box where Lewis-Potter had acres of space to thump the ball into the net.  12 minutes into the season and the cries of discontent came from the some of the Spurs fans.

Thiago crashed a header against the bar but Ajer had been offside int he build-up, then a ball out of the midfield was played forward for Outtara in the middle of the box, but his first touch was too heavy and as Toni came out to meet him, he had to readjust to kick the ball away.  It was a pre-cursor to the second goal arriving when the ball was played up to Richi but he was bumped over from behind, with Brentford moving forward although that broke down.  Bergvall took possession, tried a little drag-back 30 yards out that Jensen read and won the ball, advancing and taking a shot as no Spurs player closed him down.  Kinsky beat it out, but it dropped in front of goal six yards out and Janelt had the simple task of passing it into the net to double the lead.  Could Kinsky have done better ?  Well he was left open to the shot which had a lot of power and might have moved on him, but unfortunately for him it dropped for the Brentford midfielder and not a Spurs shirt.

Sandro Tonali smashed a cleared ball on the volley but miles over the bar five minutes before the break, which saw De Zerbi remove Gallagher and Bergvall to make room for Bentancur and Fernandes.  The change did seem to stiffen up the midfield, but not until we had gone three behind.  A long throw from the Bees left brought mayhem in the box as Senesi had a good handful of Collins’ shirt, but VAR deemed there to be insufficient interference.  For a few years Brentford have had a set-piece tactic of playing the ball beyond the far post to be headed back in front of goal.  It is not rocket science to pick up the man at the back stick (usually Collins) and at least challenge him to stop the ball reaching the danger area, although time and time again, Spurs failed to do so.  The third goal came from this move and they could have had a few others from similar corners and free-kicks.  Following the penalty appeals, the ball had gone out for a corner and when that came in, you guessed it, the ball went to the back of the goal, Collins headed it back, Sangare shot and Toni got down quickly to save it, but again, it dropped to a striped shirt and Kayode fired in from inside the six-yard box.  A kind of route one goal the Brentford Way.  

Mathys Tel did well to get away from Janelt in midfield and moved the ball right to Fernandes, who he knocked it to his right for Mikey Moore to have a shooting opportunity, but his side-foot was weak and straight at Kelleher.  The fortune was with the home side as Lewis-Potter’s cross was met with an attempted over-head shot by Schade, but he got half a contact on it and Janelt shot at goal hitting van Hecke at close range bringing howls for a penalty for handball.  The ball was in the air and before it could come down to Schade, he had been bundled in the back by Rodrigo Bentancur.  Oliver pointed straight to the spot giving a foul for the same sort of contact he had been letting go everywhere else on the pitch.  Having been praised for his performances at the World Cup, we perhaps hoped that would translate to the Premier League, but when once the golden boy of refereeing, his stock has fallen and this performance was inconsistent and ridden with mis-interpretation of the laws of the game.  Anyway, it looked a foregone conclusion when Thiago stepped up to take the spot-kick, but, as Kinsky dived to his left, the Brentford centre-forward out it the other way, hitting the base of the post with the ball bouncing across goal and away.

Finally, the Tottenham midfield started breaking forward, with Bentancur and Fernandes linking well before the latter played a pass that took out Lewis-Potter for Moore to run onto and strike a clean effort on goal that Kelleher pushed wide.  Mikey had another good chance when Robertson pulled a ball across the six yard box for the youngster to come onto it at the far post, but again, he was denied by the keeper.  Kinsky got down to grab an Ajer header a foot in front of his line from a corner, then Tonali had a shot that took a deflection straight to Kelleher, before both Tel fired a shot wide.  In the 70th minute, Oliver excelled himself, when Schade jumped two footed out of control off the floor and touched the ball but then carried his momentum into substitute James Maddison, leaving him in pain on the ground.  You know the sort of challenge that Romero used to get sent off for, but because he wasn’t wearing a cockerel on his shirt nothing was done … not even a free-kick.  When Richi was having his shirt wrenched off his back by Collins before he was substituted, nothing was given and then when Janelt turned Maddison around by pulling his shirt it was a free-kick and a booking !  I know Richarlison does go down easy sometimes, but not every one can be a fair challenge, as he gets fouled more than most.  And in the last minute when Udogie stood Hickey up just outside the left edge of the Brentford box, the defender had arms around our left wing-back and they both crashed to the floor.  That was a foul by Destiny apparently, so the ref wasn’t willing to give us anything today.

We didn’t really deserve too much, but on another day, Mikey could have had a couple of goals, but when players were too easily pulled out of position and thus left spaces for Brentford to play into, it wasn’t going to end well.  Not that there were many Spurs fans still there at the final whistle to see that end.  The players were prevented by the coaching staff from coming too close to the fans to show their appreciation in case the lack of appreciation was shown to them by the fans.

At the start of every season, fans are filled with hope, but that deserted some of them after half an hour and the “supporters” who left after the third goal are just an embarrassment to those who remain to try and get behind the team, however dire things are.  Allowing a fanbase of the likes of Brentford to bring out the ‘fire drill’ song is shameful.  People must have travelled across London at the very least and for them to go because things aren’t going our way doesn’t really show how behind the team they are.  We all want them to be winning games and trophies, but you surely are there to give the side ‘support’.  There are no guaranteed outcomes, so if all you want is to see Tottenham win, then pick the games where that is more likely (although that might not be too many these days).

Seeming like a team of strangers, the media will attack Spurs for their big spending.  Spending large sums on players is all well and good if they are on the right players that we need.  Stocking up on midfielders and wingers is fine, as long as they add something to the team and we do not ignore other sections of the team, such as defensive cover and a 20 goal a season striker.  But perhaps more worrying was the lack of drive and determination. There seemed to be no pattern or cohesive play, with the players straying out of position, being viciously exploited by Brentford.  There wasn’t enough hunger in our play and because of injuries (already) and players not being in the right physical condition, it has meant that come the first game of the season the team were disorganised and lacking dynamism.  All this should have been sorted out in pre-season, but absences meant that the side hadn’t played together that much.  Without European football this season, it should give the management more time on the training pitch to drill things into the team that at least make them harder to beat.  That is the bare minimum.

Without five nailed on starters for various reasons and with players to come in things can turn around (we hope) and with new signings promised before the end of the transfer window they could give the side a boost, although assimilating them into the team and getting a style that suits the players we have might still take time.  As it is, hardly anyone came out with much credit and with this defeat and Charlton beating Wet Spam, the League Cup tie on Wednesday doesn’t look so straightforward.

• Archie Gray becomes Tottenham’s youngest captain in a competitive match in the club’s history.
• Both teams wore black armbands for former players who had died recently.  For Tottenham they paid tribute to Terry Dyson and for the home team Bobby Ross.