We shouldn't get too disheartened by that result. We had the chances. The game just seemed to get away from us. It wasn't our night.

Would broadly agree with that. The highlights on SS are a fair reflection of the game

The basis of a good team is there - just needs some fine tuning.

Quinn is very unlucky not to be starting imo, and Beerens needs a rest - he looked very lethargic

This must be the first time that I have got back from the game first. Usually I'm one of the last to get back from the game. But I live in West London so tonight was my turn to get back from the game first.

As I said above, I think we were a little bit unlucky tonight. We did our usual thing, trying to keep the ball, and then we gave away a silly goal. Brentford seemed to outnumber us and have men over. It looked like they opened us up too easily and got the goal. then a minute later they got the second, again it looked far too easy. Scott Hogan showed good composure though to play in Vibe and he did the rest.

But we had chances as well. We hit the post a couple of times, Swift forced a great save out of their keeper and we were unlucky that it came off a Brentford player and landed on the wrong side of the post for a corner rather than the right side for a goal. If any of these chances had gone in it would have been game on. It just wasn't to be our night.

We are not so dominant that we will be able to win a high percentage of our games and we are not yet such a great attacking force that we can recover when we go behind in games. There is a lot of work that Stam needs to do to get us where we need to be, but the progress up to now has been fantastic and Stam is doing a great job.

Brentford were good going forward and deserved their win.

Well that was just a bit of an omnishambles, especially first half. We kept the ball in patches, but didnt create anything, with Yann hugely isolated up front. Hit the post and then conceded quickly twice In Succession, with both Moore at fault for the first and McShane for the second as both overcommitted. Thought the centre halves were too
Far apart all game and the midfield three were anonymous first half with VDB having an absolute mare and deservadly subbed at half time.

Created a few chances, hit the post twice and a header off the line, but you cannot defend like that and hope to win games.

Motm - hard one to give but though Harriott did ok

Not sure why Stam didn't change it earlier, gave Mendes and Samuel no chance to influence the game when it was crying out for a change.

Oh and the trains are screwed to cap off a marvellous evening

i may as well kick off the player ratings as I'm one of the first back.

Al Habsi - 9 Probably our man of the match. We created most of our own problems this evening giving the ball away so often and getting caught out at the back and Al Habsi bailed us out every time. He even had to show flashes of Messi in a couple of situations when under pressure. He didn't let us down.

Gunter 6 - Not his best game. Did alright but guilty of giving the ball to the opposition a few too many times tonight.

CB: McShane 6 - Won everything in the air but we let in four goals. Put others under pressure with some wayward passes and others put him under pressure with bad passes to him as well

CB: Moore - Looked alright, but we did let in four goals. Something can't have been right

Obita - 6 same as Gunter a six.

Swift 7 - Good player, did well.

Evans - 6

Joey 6 - Got booked, got subbed at half time. Stam taking no risks.

Harriott - 6 poor first half, looked more dangerous in the 2nd half

Kermorgant 5 - Gunter put a great cross in to him, all he had to do was head it in. Why did he head it back across goal? Then put through in second half near the end, poor effort on goal. He did convert the penalty which saves him from a 4 rating

Beerens - 6 Did alright, not at his best.

Quinn - Man of the match when he came on. Worked his socks off. 8

Who did I forget? Samuel and Mendes, came on, did nothing. Didn't have long to make an impact anyway.

I just watched the highlights on SS, so obviously can't give much of a view but from what I watched,

Brentford seemed that bit more clinical going forward and infront of goal, and also took adavantage of a couple of errors from us.

We certainly had our chances too, Evans headed against the post at 0-0, perhaps if that gone in it could have been a different story, then we had a Kermy header cleared off the line at 2-0 down and Harriott also struck a post with the score at 3-0.

Looks like our luck just wasn't in tonight, nothing to be too worried about, this is only one game and we will move on from this and keep progressing.

The fact we are doing as well as we our with our side nowhere near at its full potential yet is encouraging.

We looked half decent until the goal, which looked to be the result of diving in in the centre of the park( couldn't see who) which left an overload on their right. Second goal just before the break knocked the stuffing out of us and we never really recovered, save a 7/8 minute period leading up to the penalty.

Home crowd we awful, even after the goals. Reading were in quite good voice... Bit much with the peado stuff IMO, but otherwise good value.

4/10

Just didn't come off today, quite a few sloppy passages of play, but it was more down to Brentford being clinical and having a good day at the office.

Agree with the comment about the home fans, awful, they were struggling to muster anything even at 4-1.

Let's hope for a quick response against vydra and friends on Saturday

It was pretty poor. Lacked composure on the ball in key areas and were short of any kind of options in front of us and rarely had any decent outlets until we were 3-0 down. Yann just doesn't have the legs to run in behind so we were pretty pedestrian. Once Brentford figured out they could pressure us into a mistake they were set. Having said that, they looked a good outfit and played some very tidy stuff.

Still on the train back due to signalling failure too

Id just like to say that I have noticed that Topflight was one of the first back this game
Don't know if it's been mentioned

Agreed on the home fans.

Also wtf was up with the goals being sponsored?

First of all great support from all the fans loud throughout the entire game.

I think any other night those chances go in off the post and the game has a completely different outcome. It's important we bounce back this Saturday and don't start to crumble like we did last year.

Glad Kermogant stepped up to tuck away the penalty, that was a much needed goal for him. He worked hard with what he had.

Negative points

Van Den Berg - Hasn't been himself on the ball the last two games, I thought he was very robotic tonight along with Evans. Poor passing again and wouldn't surprise me to see him dropped to the bench for Derby.

Subs - Echo the comments about Samuel and Mendes getting their opportunity earlier.

Beerens - Seems as though he is burnt out and in need of a rest. From what I've seen only looks like a 60/70 min player.

I was thinking it must be nice to be a Brentford fan. 9 goals in 2 games. We will be lucky to get 9 goals by Christmas. Make no mistake 4-1 flattered us 6-0 would have flattered us! For a club with half our budget I thought Brentford were superb. Passing,movement, pace teamwork organisation they were a class above us. Whoever does there manager/player recruitment is doing a brilliant job.
Considering our game is based on keeping the ball tonight was a master class on how to give it away, when not under pressure and did there midfield lap it up creating chance after chance. That's now 4 out of the last 5 they have taken us apart and if Stam has learnt anything from tonights game it should be how Brentford went about there game and not the boring going nowhere dross we are serving up.

I really don't feel too down about last night, which is odd after a 4-1 loss. I would say that about an hour of the game combined our performance was more than adequate, however some periods of headless football and some misfortune was ruthlessly utilised by Brentford.

We lost the game on a handful of key moments rather than our 90 minutes. We have a reasonably new and young side, and this will happen from time to time, it will be up to Stam to pick them up now and bounce back against Derby.

Quite.

Evening the pa bloke was taking the pi55 when being made to say it for the 4th time.

Can't add too much to what has already been said.

I agree it wasn't our night and we lost, that's it, just one game. Reading twitter anyone would have thought we were on a slump, in a losing streak and in a relegation fight at the bottom of the league. I read comments such as "unacceptable", "stam needs to sort this out"... probably just a handful of absolute m0ng tards but still annoying reading that drivel.

Train to Brentford from Bracknell took only around 40 minutes (changing at Virginia Water). Short walk to ground and went to The Griffin before the game - was OK. Had a lovely burger there and 4 pints. All set for a decent evening. Was unimpressed with no beer available in the ground - why why why do clubs do this? It's hardly the type of game that could kick off, there's others where we take a full away allocation. I've only ever been to one ground before that didn't have alcohol at half time - can't remember which... was it Watford?

Result obviously disappointing, just looked off pace and Brentford another level. Home fans were appalling, make our home support look superb. Away fans good, I quite enjoyed the bantz with their home keeper and he laughed a few times so I hope he understood the humour.

After game - a nightmare journey as all trains delayed. Ended up on a train to Twickenham, then on a train towards Windsor but got off at Staines. In the end got a lift from GF, but I know others stayed and waited, eventually getting home quite a bit later than expected. Really not in the mood for the delay - got home around 1145 so not too late I suppose.

Got to just bounce back against Derby and treat it as it is - just another game but one we lost.

Edit: also really surprised at how many Police they have around the ground. Came out the away end to around 20 of them and a couple of vans, then at the station there were quite a few more.

I expect the police were mainly due to it being stuck right in the middle of a residential area. Proper old school ground, equally surprised the home fans were so quiet. There's a lot to admire about Brentford (can we ask them nicely to be our new rivals, rather than dismal Swindon who we have very little in common with?) but not their home support.

Brentford have a method, and stick with it. They've been top half/play offs in this division for the last couple of years and we matched them for large periods. Up front we do have an issue, that we are both over reliant on Yann's heading and strength at set pieces, but he doesn't offer enough in open play and the ball isn't sticking enough. Tricky one to sort out that. Sam clearly hasn't a huge amount of faith in the other forward options.

Trains were a nightmare - ended up slogging up to Ealing to get home.

Love Brentford away. Great ground, great pubs, great away end.

Not our night though. If Evans chance hits the post then goes in its a totally different game. It didn't go in and they went up the other end and scored 2 goals before half time which kicked the stuffing out of the lads. Seen us play a lot worse over the years and get something from games like this.

Brentford fans beyond poor. People complain about the Madejski but so many grounds across thew Championship have a lot worse atmospheres at home than us. Thought our fans were in good voice, especially 1st half when there was something to play for.

AAH - 6 - Not a great deal he could have done about goals. Distribution wasn't great though. Still want Jaakkola to get a chance.

Gunter - 4 - Our best right back was sat on the bench tonight.

McShane - 6 - Came up against a good striker in Hogan. Not as solid and resolute as Saturday.

Moore - 6 - See above.

Obita - 5 - Got done a few times by their winger & didn't get forward well enough. Prefer Blackett away from home as he is more solid defensively.

VDB - 6 - 1st touch was off tonight. Cracking tackle in the penalty box. Right decision to take him off at HT because he was on a yellow.

Evans - 5 - Didn't really contribute at either end of the pitch.

Swift - 5 - Not his night. Could see he was trying to link up play in the final third but nothing came off.

Harriott - 6 - Was very tightly marked. Got away from his man a couple of times. Doesn't stop running and helps out a lot defensively for the team though.

Beerens - 6 - Looks tired and in need of a break. Didn't run at his man enough tonight and cause problems.

Yann - 5 - For his usual self didn't win much in the air. Needs someone to play off him. Good penalty but apart from that never looked threatening.

Quinn - Should have started over Evans. Links up play well and always look like he could create something.

Samuel/Mendes - N/A - Not enough time to contribute.

Jaap - Got it wrong in starting Evans over Quinn. SHOULD have made a sub quicker. Not bringing on a striker until the 83rd minute when 3-1 down? Should have made those subs 20 mins earlier.

Overall bit disappointing but we've had a great start to the season. It's how we react against Derby now and hope that unlike last season we don't crumble after 1 loss.

You realise we hit the post twice and had 1 cleared off the line? Whereas AAH made how many saves?

How did you work this one out? Based on their stadium/facilities? Or actual facts about their budget?

Brentford were just far more clinical up front than us.

Good atmosphere in the away end, with a few old player songs getting an outing, but the home fans are the quietest I have seen for a while, even when 3-0 up.

Agree about the policing, there were loads of them outside at the end of the game, massive overkill.

Left 5 minutes early and was back in Crowthorne by 10.15

Left on the 4th goal, ran to the station for the 9:39 train to find it had been cancelled and had to wait for the 9:55 train instead.

Home in Andover by 11:45 after being picked up at B'stoke by the gf

A rare team board post.

That was utter horse shit last night, before we hit the post in the first half we didn't have 1 chance, defensively we were a shambles, midfield creativity was non existent. Yes we hit the post twice but apart from that Bentley had 1 simple save to make the whole game from memory from Beerens in the whole game. You can spray it around the back as much as you like but it all flattered to deceive. George Evans was a total waste of space, Van Den Berg looked like he was totally out of control from the 1st minute, Moore is a nice player but cant defend that well, the only player who I thought was half decent was Obita, and that's saying something. Kermogant a nice player in the wrong system, Beerens marked out the game, Al Habsi didn't do much wrong apart from dice with death about 5 times, probably because hes been told to do that. Gunter was just Gunter, average, Harriot looked like he had promise, would stick with him in the team. McShane is a basic defender who thrives off basic football, im not sure this style is for him.

In summary im not quite sure how we went 8 unbeaten, totally uninspiring, boring, Brentford were far superior in system, speed, movement, and creativity. I certainly cant fault Reading's effort which is why I walked away without too much criticism. Some of the fans were creaming themselves about some of our passing in our own half in the 1st half, if that whats they want then fair enough but I wont be going again for a while, it was a total bore to watch.

Strange game. Didn't see 5 goals coming after the first half an hour. I guess Brentford showed what we aim to be in terms of passing and movement through the middle and final third. Hogan was excellent and the first goal in particular came from quick, sharp passing with a great deal of player awareness as to what was going on around them. The ball into a central area followed by a pass inside the full back got them in time and time again.
Player wise VDB and Obita had a mare whilst most of the side were average. VDB deservedly got the hook at half time having made one last gasp tackle that looked great but came from not tracking his man he then let Vibe go for the second goal. Obita kept getting the ball played inside him and then played them onside for the last goal by not getting out quickly enough.
Watching Hogan just reinforces our need for a forward with pace and movement given the way we play. He dragged players all over the place to make space for others and he scores goals himself. Kermorgant is a decent player but not what we need to make this system really work for us.
Aside from that, enjoyable time in Brentford as always and shame about the trains !

Brentford played a formation to nullify us. Concern must be that we are becoming too predictable to play against.

Come off it mate We weren't that bad. Brentford were the better team and we had a shit day at the office. 3 or 4-1 was about right.

Come off it mate We weren't that bad. Brentford were the better team and we had a shit day at the office. 3 or 4-1 was about right.
I think after the good patch of form, people have forgotten that we had previously accepted we are a team in transition and mid-table would be seen as a positive. Yes it was disappointing to lose as heavily as we did but so far this season there have been enough positives to suggest we could very well be challenging for promotion next season.

The theme that comes through from all posters is that Brentford's finishing was clinical-the goals I saw on Sky came about through pace.
We score so few goals that pressure is always on our defence and as long as that continues we will ship the number of goals that we have at Newcastle and Brentford from time to time.

The ball retention and passing strategy across our defence is fine as long as when we eventually attack we do so at pace.
We have that in the wide areas but through central midfield and central striker we don't have it.

There are many plusses about the Stam revolution , especially the signings of Swift and Moore, but our lack of pace both in thought and deed will hold us back from being challengers IMHO.

Think some people might have got a little carried away with our recent 'form'.

14pts from 6 games. All 6 of those games were basically 50/50 games, could have gone either way. Could easily have been 4 or 5 points. Lots of close call decisions seemingly going our way, missed chances by the opposition, last gasp winners. Standard Championship stuff, fine margins etc.

I was in the home (Ealing road) end with a few Brentford mates.

Thought we played really well - especially in the first half. Unlucky to hit the foot of the post with the keeper well beaten, and then have them go straight up the other end and score with their first shot of the game. Second one was a sucker punch and that was that.

Agree that kermorant is horribly isolated - combined with him having to come back and defend set pieces (which he does superbly), means that he's often not in the box when we counter attack.

Also though Harriot looked really tidy and promising.

Bonus: helped a struggling Danny Williams get let in the ground as he was trying to convince a steward that he was a player. Rewarded with a cheeky selfie and a handshake.

Since he wasn't in the matchday squad, I wonder if said steward looked at the teamsheet and thought you hoodwinked them.