In this winter of managerial discontent, Keith Andrews and Régis Le Bris are proving capable frontmen for stable, carefully structured football operations. The Irishman’s exemplary rookie season as a head coach continued with Brentford’s commanding win against Le Bris’s Sunderland. The visitors’ west London trip will undoubtedly be remembered for Enzo Le Fée’s failed attempt to dupe Caoimhín Kelleher from the penalty spot. Within minutes of that, the finishing of Igor Thiago took the game beyond reach.
Aside from their goalless New Year’s Day reunion with Thomas Frank, Brentford have been turning on the style. Bees fans dream of European travel next season. “I know I’m out here, the one speaking all the time, and the face, but it’s not all about me,” Andrews said. “It’s about the people that we have in the club, the talented individuals, staff, players and how hard we’ve worked – and how much we’ve stuck together because at different football clubs, I think I may well have struggled.”
This was heralded as the season of the big striker, and Thiago is proving the best of the new wave of No 9s, already enjoying the most prolific Premier League season ever for a Brazilian in taking his goal tally to 16. “I wasn’t expecting to score so much, but I just want to keep going,” he said.
“He’s a complete centre‑forward,” said Andrews. “I wouldn’t be swapping him for anybody. I don’t know how many have come from the Bulgarian league to the Belgian league, had a year out injured, and then affected the league like this.”
Before his first goal, Thiago was twice denied in an opening 30 minutes that concluded with Vitaly Janelt winning the ball from Nordi Mukiele. A perfectly weighted pass allowed Thiago to round Robin Roefs without breaking stride.
“It’s about duels, it’s about composure with the ball, and the duels we had were in favour of Brentford,” said Le Bris, who made two quick changes within moments of the second half’s resumption, swapping in Romaine Mundle and Eliezer Mayenda. His team had begun creating chances, Le Fée firing over, Omar Alderete and Mundle both denied before the fateful penalty was awarded after Kristoffer Ajer both manhandled and tripped Brian Brobbey.
Le Fée’s attempt to Panenka his penalty was risible, Kelleher staying stock still for a dolly catch. The guilty party had no chance of styling it out and home fans jeered the replay on the big screen. “When we win, we react as a team, when we lose, we react as a team,” Le Bris said. “When you don’t take risks you don’t make mistakes.”
Punishment was added to embarrassment when, after Kevin Schade hit the bar, the ball was recycled for Thiago to score. Another exchange with Schade might have resulted in Thiago’s second hat-trick in two games but Roefs saved. The treble never came, the striker departing as a precaution after an ankle knock.
From a corner, Yehor Yarmoliuk bundled in the third. The Ukrainian midfielder, scoring his first Brentford goal, is another player flourishing under Andrews’s tutelage. “He’s just insatiable the way he attacks the game. I think he’s relishing the players that he’s playing with, some really good experienced pros,” said the former set-piece specialist coach whose appointment now looks less a gamble than a masterstroke.
