I positively hate these international breaks, which effectively ruin the domestic programmes for two weeks, thankfully that will be it until March, but it has made a mockery of the first couple of months of the season. The Spanish and Italian league's started in late August and some seven weeks later, will have completed just six rounds. The world champions have also played friendly games in Mexico and Argentina, with one domestic round inbetween, which is about as greedy as it gets, with the Spanish FA chasing the dollar with little consideration for either their players ,who had very little off season, or their clubs.
This past weekend also saw the postponement of second flight football in England, Germany and France and that all seems a step too far . Italy and Spain managed to play at that level and I see no reason why everyone else cannot follow suit. In Brazil it requires a national disaster for any of the top flight games to be postponed and three of the top five teams in Serie A are playing three times in a seven day period, whilst the national team plays two friendlies.
By the way, their 22 man squad which beat Iran 3-0 on Thursday and is now in England, where they will face Ukraine tonight, doesn't contain a single player older than 27. Daniel Alves is the old man of the party and only reached that milestone in May, they are clearly looking to build a team that will grow and mature for 2014............ Fabio and the clueless buggers at the FA please take note !
One step forward one step back for my beloved Bees who remain rooted at the foot of Division 1 after losing 3-1 to Oldham Athletic at my second home, Griffin Park, on saturday. I do not know what to say about this really, Brentford have looked good on the very odd occasion this season, like in the first half against Charlton just seven days earlier when they could have been four up at the break and in the end were holding on for the three points ! They play without any consistency, not just from match to match either, but half to half !
This is something for you "in running" guys, Brentford have played 16 matches this season and scored ONE second half goal, none in their last eleven starts. So, one goal in 12 hours of second half football, goodness knows what they are doing in that 15 minute break, but it sure ain't working !
Pressure is now mounting on boss Andy Scott and so fickle is the beautiful game, that "the promising young coach", who was being tipped for any non EPL job that became available last season, is now clinging on by his fingertips. I already told you earlier in the campaign that the rumour was that "owner"and benefactor Matthew Benham, who is one of the biggest and most successful gamblers in europe and used to winning, always wanting a higher profile coach at the helm and his patience must now be wearing very thin. The Bees are operating on a significantly higher playing budget nowadays and the truth is that this has not been reflected in league results. People do strange things under pressure and some of Scott's recent decisions are very hard to comprehend. The fans have never really loved Scott, who is a little more aloof than they are used to at what is a small, tight knit club and for him to publicly announce with 35 games to go, that Brentford are in a relegation fight (however honest that might be) has further alienated supporters who had high hopes for this season.
If Scott "leaves" my own choice as replacement would be Paul Tisdale, but only if the blog and GQ favourite promised to wear his cravat to every game, sales of which in the club shop would almost reach double figures ! Anyway, watch this space !
Good Luck.
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