Brentford 0-3 Wolves
By Tom Bason
February 22 2014
Wolves today won a crucial game away at Brentford thanks to goals from James Henry and another Michael Jacobs brace. The victory moved Wolves above Brentford in League One, and behind Leyton Orient on only goals scored despite having two games in hand.
- Before the game, I was a little worried that Leon Clarke would be fit. Not that I was worried he'd be able to play, more that Kenny Jackett would feel the need to include him and breakup the attacking triumvirate that is surely part of our most exciting starting line-up. While James Henry has possibly gone off the boil in recent weeks, he is still easily our best option on the right hand side. For me there is no question in who should be on the right between Henry and Jacobs. Jacobs is a strange player, who looks nowhere near the same player when played on the flank as he does when played down the middle. When he's on the wing, his delivery is poor, he doesn't offer any width and runs down far too many blind alleys. But when unleashed as the second striker, he seems to undergo a transformation, and his drive and ability to commit defenders makes him a frightening proposition, along with a new found nose for goal. With the possible exception of a now fit again Matt Doherty, the starting XI today is our strongest line-up; it will be very interesting to see how Kenny Jackett chooses to use Leon Clarke over the remaining 15 games.
- I got the feeling watching the game that both sides were aware of the importance of the match, and as a result neither team really played as well as they can do. A very poor pitch that didn’t allow either team to get the ball down and play it certainly didn’t help the players. This was the sort of game that we expected to get in League One; full of flying challenges, and probably more tackles than completed passes. Possibly due to the pitch, both teams were very direct and for some reason we played an awful lot of balls for Nouha Dicko to challenge in the air with 5 & 6. Given that both defenders have about six inches on Dicko, it shouldn't be a surprise that he barely won a header. He was more effective when we managed to play an angled ball in behind the Brentford defence and he could use his pace in the channels.
- The scrappiness of the game was characterised by two bust ups between players. Firstly Bakary Sako went on a cross-field run from left to right with Alan McCormack niggling at him all the way. Sako played the ball out to Henry, but reacted to McCormack's challenges, with a chest-to-chest confrontation ensuing. A little later in the first half, James Henry was slightly late in a challenge on Alan Judge as he tried to clear the ball. It wasn't the most sensible of challenges from Henry - it wasn't unlike Ronaldinho's on Danny Mills in the 2002 World Cup quarter final, and Judge didn't like it, gaining a yellow card for his reaction.
- Wolves took the lead just before half time, through James Henry. The goal came after an excellent Bakary Sako run, straight through the middle of Brentford's defence. Just as everyone was expecting him to fire past David Button in the Brentford goal, he decided to square to Henry, but the defender managed to clear (incidentally, Sako was not happy that Henry failed to score and told him so). From the resulting throw-in, Kevin McDonald (I think - there was a pillar blocking my view) got to the by-line, and pulled the ball back to Henry, maybe about level with the penalty spot but out on the right hand edge of the penalty area. Henry clipped an effort first time to the far post, and saw the ball hit the post and nestle in the back of the net. Did Henry mean it? If so, it was a stunning finish, but having seen him play today I doubt it. Pre-match, he spent a little time practising similar efforts from the right hand corner of the penalty area and over hit all of them. He then had a free kick from a similar position, which was over hit, straight to the keeper. I like to think he meant to score, but I suspect it was an attempted cross.
- Part of me wondered whether Kenny Jackett would make a half-time substitution; it wasn't the sort of game that Kevin McDonald and Jack Price could control with their calculated possession play. With us being 1-0 up, I thought we might see one of those two replaced by David Davis or David Edwards to give us an extra physical presence in the centre. I also wouldn't have been surprised if Michael Jacobs had been taken off as for the first hour he didn't really get into the game. He never really got the ball in positions where he could hurt Brentford, probably because McDonald and Price weren't able to play their normal games. I half thought that Lee Evans might come on to play that slightly deeper attacking midfield position, but giving us the extra solidity that Jacobs doesn't provide.
- But obviously I was wrong with thinking Jacobs should be taken off, as he scored goals two and three. Brentford had, unsurprisingly considering they were losing at home, a large period of pressure without ever really creating any chances (while the game was in the balance, Carl Ikeme only had one real save to make, from a first half free kick). I wouldn't say we were defending well at this point, it was slightly too frantic and too reliant on last-ditch tackles for my liking, but it was effective. The problem was that we couldn't get the ball out of our half, and every time we cleared the ball it came back. But on this occasion, Scott Golbourne made a really good interception on the edge of our penalty area, and the ball found its way to Sako on the left. He played a lovely through ball to Jacobs running from deep, all on his own one-on-one with Button in Brentford's goal. I actually thought Jacobs's touch was poor and Button would get to the ball first, but Jacobs managed to get there first, and poke the ball past the goalkeeper. I wrote in last weeks report that it was frustrating how when Nouha Dicko dropped deep, it was frustrating not to see someone run in behind, but Jacobs did this to aplomb in this instance.
- Going 2-0 down deflated the Brentford players and crowd, and they didn't attack with the same verve they had earlier. Jacobs again scored to make it 3-0, and again Sako and Golbourne were involved. This time we won a throw-in, high up the left flank, level with the Brentford penalty area. Golbourne played a delightful one-two with Sako, progressing into the penalty area before picking out Jacobs. I actually thought Liam McAlinden, just on for Dicko, was going to shoot, but he left it for Jacobs behind him who had the composure to take a touch and bend a lovely finish back past the keeper into the far post. Jacobs now has four goals in two games from the role behind Dicko, and I think the variance in these goals is very pleasing. One was a superb header after arriving late into the box, two were efforts from the edge of the area and one was finished after being sent through on goal. At 3-0, the game was well and truly over, although Brentford did have their best opportunity, Carl Ikeme blocking well from former Walsall striker Will Grigg when through on goal.
- I have to say, considering the run they've been on, I was a little disappointed with Brentford who seemed to have no real idea how to break us down. While we relied on a little fortune to open the scoring, we did have opportunities before this, notably when Sako ran at the defence, slipped a ball through to Dicko whose effort was smothered by the onrushing keeper. I actually thought that Dicko would try and take it around Button, and if he had tried would almost certainly have won a penalty and potentially got the keeper sent off, as he would have been clattered. Brentford played the infamous Marcello Trotter upfront by himself, but this seemed to marginalise Clayton Donaldson who never got into the game from the right wing. Brentford's standout player was George Saville (on loan from Chelsea) who was extremely comfortable on the ball and looked most likely to make something happen.
- Was this our best result of the season? Well it definitely wasn't the best performance, but to come away from a scrap like that with three points and a goal difference swing of six was superb. Everyone knows about Brentford's recent form, and to go to Griffin Park and win 3-0 was a stunning result. This was evident from the way the players celebrated afterwards, they were well aware how much this result means in the context of the season, and also what message it sends to the rest of the league.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:03:15:18:30:51 by toomb.
We seem to have good strength in depth in midfield now too.
Quote:jamwolf
Good report Tom. Great to see Jacobs turning into a match winner - thats 4 in 2 games which must give him enormous confidence.
We seem to have good strength in depth in midfield now too.
Thanks - I was low down behind the goal, so it was difficult to get a proper grasp on the way the two teams were playing - not like my home seat in the Steve Bull upper on the half way line!
I do like the different way Jacobs is scoring, and I really hope that these goals give him a proper run of games in this position and we don't shoehorn Leon Clarke into this role
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