New signing by end of the week…

Brentford fans may happy to know that Brentford have sucured the services of Pim Balkestien on a 3 year contract according to very strong rumours and Pim himself. Pim was vital in the strong run of performances by the Bees at the end of last season. It has also been suggested that Brentford fans will see a new trialist on Friday against Palace from a conference club, most likely to be Luton.

Here is Pim at his best …..

Woking match report

Brentford breezed to a comfortable 4-0 win against a poor Woking side tonight at Kingfield. Trialist Izale Mcleod started the game upfront with Nicky Forster. Brentford started brightly from the off with most of their attacks coming from Weston who breezed passed his marker several times to whip a few balls in. The first goal came from a long ball from Osborne over the top of the Woking defence; Forster beat the offside trap, controlled the ball exceptionally and slotted the ball home past Worner in goal for the cards. The Bees then had a few more chances; Spillane, Forster, Weston and McCracken all saw their shots saved though. Then the pressure told and the Bees grabbed their second. Forster beat Aswad Thomas and cut the ball back for Spillane to slot home the second. As the half drew to the close Woking had a couple of chances, one of which was superbly saved by Simon Moore who tipped the ball over the cross bar.

            Brentford started brightly again in the second half and put the pressure on Woking once again. Mcleod had a good chance blocked and Forster had a chance parried away to a defender. The third came when Wood broke down the left and managed to get the ball across for Weston to tap home. Bean then had a chance from 20 yards which he put over the bar. Then Woking brought on a new Keeper who was about 5”5 and looked about 14 years old. Shame there was only 8 minutes to go at this point as im sure the goals would have flowed, well more than they did anyway. The fourth came via a nice flick by Forster who found Weston who slotted home past the Keeper.  Hunt had a free kick late on that went straight at the keeper.

Had it not been for Woking’s centre back Thomas it could have been a lot more. Very impressive.

            Players that really stood out for me were Forster, Spillane and Weston. On another day Nicky could have scored a handful and was unlucky to only get one. Spillane looks dangerous, quick and reads the games very well. Myles was probably flattered by Woking’s right back who was very slow and never really stood a chance. At one point Myles gained nearly 5 yards on him going for a through ball.

            The big question on most fans lips is probably how well Mcleod did. Well he looked quick and had a good touch about him. Although it was clear he’s lacking match fitness and probably a bit of confidence at the moment. Still would be a great signing though in my opinion.

            My man of the match is going to be Simon Moore. Strange choice given the performance of others I suppose but he organised the defence well, made some good saves and was commanding in the air catching every ball he went up for. He reminds me a lot of Ben Hamer, not spectacular but very solid, good organiser and doesn’t make to many mistakes (Based on the 3 games I have seen him in pre season so far).

            Former Bee Moses Ademola looked sharp through out and was probably the cards most dangerous player when going forward, still a future in the game for the lad im sure.

Player ratings

Moore – 9

Woodman – 7

Osborne – 8

McCracken – 7

O’Connor – 7

Weston – 9

Bean – 7

Dave – 8

Spillane – 9

Forster – 9

Mcleod – 7

Wood – 7

Saunders – 7

Hudson – 6

Legge – 7

Hunt – 7

Quick poll…

Cheer up!

As the new season approaches fast we here at TalkBrentford have noticed a cloud of uncertainty and doubt has been cast by a large amount of supporters over Brentford’s chances this season. Well we thought we would bring you a little piece from gold from mad dog back in pre season 2004 when it seemed even the bookies didn’t even rate our chances to much. Okay in the end they were right, but it could have been oh so different…

A little update for everybody

I was supposed to be away on a management course this week at Warwick University. But due to the workload which has included meeting several players’ agents, I have been unable to complete the full five days. Therefore I have cancelled ‘til next year.

On this subject it has been brought to my attention that a certain bookmaker has placed us at 40/1! At these prices it makes us one of the favourites for relegation. How interesting! I am not personally a betting man and after tomorrow (TalkBrentford: MA signed 3 players the next day) who knows we may be the new clear favourites for relegation! Therefore if you are a betting man I am giving you 24 hours to make your decision.

I must also let you know that an interesting situation I found myself in a couple of days ago while driving along the A4 after helping at the training ground. A policemen pulled me over and informed me that the big England flag across the back window of my car was illegal and to remove it immediately. I informed the gentleman that this was not an England flag but a Brentford flag. I told him that it had come off the front of a Brentford shirt and it was a show of support for Brentford. I still had to remove it!

My days are currently spent with my new plants getting constant attention whist weeding out the rubbish for my garden and trying to improve my garden with seedlings for the future and a few more established bushes. Hopefully over the next year my garden will be tidy, good to look at and a mixture of emerging plants to go along side my ready grown and recently acquired sturdy bushes.

Parts of this message may be cryptic but in black and white my advice would be if you are a betting man you’ve got 24 hours to get the prices I mentioned.

Take care.

Martin Allen

Currently Brentford are around 30/1 at most bookmakers. With prices as strong as 48/1 on Betfair and the squad still incomplete, make of it what you will. With new signings still to come from Scott just like Allen things can change in an instance. So just a reminder to fans to remember what we achieved that year and the possibility we could surpass that this year. Its now time more than ever to support Andy and the lads. You never know, this time next year we could be favourites for relegation once again.

 TalkBrentford

Featuring…

Later today we will start one of our regular features were we will publish an article (hopefully that you will find interesting) from a Brentford programme of old. We have programmes from the 30′s all the way up to the present day so it shouldn’t be too hard to find something worth reminiscing about. And remember to come here for reactions and views to all the latest news from the club, as well as idle gossip!

Cheers

The TalkBrentford team

New week, new signings???

So Andy has promised the conclusion of a couple of deals this week. We here at TalkBrentford, like any football fan, love the mystery and hysteria surrounding the discussion, gossip and expectations of new signings for their club, even if it is in league 1!  So after discussing it with ourselves, browsing through internet forums and looking at every out of contract player desperately searching for a new club in time for the start of the season we have put a list of our top 7 candidates that could be wearing the famous red and white stripes come the 8th August.

1. Number one has to be Pim Balkestein. The lovable Dutchman who played half a season on loan last year is on the tip of everyone’s tongue when it comes to transfer rumours. It’s widely known Andy has been in constant negotiations with Pim for most of the summer and having recently failed a trial in Germany it now looks more likely than ever.

2. Izale Mcleod. Having heard back from our mole, we can half confirm he may have been spotted at the training ground during the week. Here’s hoping anyway. Decent striker at this level.

3.  Ben Hamer. Why not?  He’s not going to play at Reading this year (or ever perhaps) so why don’t we just offer a few quid and bring him back to TW8. If only it was that easy, hmmm….

4.  Ade Akinbiyi. We need that big scary target man to protect the OAP’s up top. So after being released by County Ade looks the perfect man to come in and do the job. Or maybe not, perhaps …

5. Maybe another Ade could do a job. Adebayo Akinfenwa perchance? Having scored over 30 goals in around 80 appearances for Northampton Town over the last couple of seasons, 28 year old Adebayo doesn’t look a bad shout.

6. Kasper Ankergren. Solid Leeds shot stopper from last season. Could do a job at this level. Wages may be an issue though.

7. Etienne Esajas. The solution to rightmidfieldgate? Possibly. Wednesdays top assist man in their 08/09 season despite missing a large amount of the season through injury. Scored their goal of the season last year and had a few memorable games on the way to. Recently failed to impress on trial at Charlton.

First post!

Welcome to TalkBrentford. This is our first post of hopefully what will be many! The idea of TalkBrentford is to provide regular news, fans views, features and match reports from Brentford football club. The TalkBrentford team have suffered many, many decades of supporting The Bees! So please feel free to leave any comments and we will try and respond. Enjoy!