Can Leeds sting the Bees?
Our opponents at a glance..
Brentford Football Club
Founded: 1889
Nickname: The Bees
Ground: Griffin Park (12,300)
Owner: Matthew Benham
Chairman: Cliff Crown
Head Coach: Marius Dijkhuizen
Last season: Championship 5th (Lost in PO semifinal)
EX Excelsior manager Marius Dijkhuizen was handed somewhat of a rebuilding job at Griffin Park, with Head Coach Mark Warburton and Key Players Andre Gray, Moses Odubajo and Stuart Dallas (cheers lads) all departing Griffin Park.
In an attempt to rebuild the squad, Brentford have signed strikers Philipp Hoffman and Lasse Vibe from Bundesliga 2 side Kaiserslautern and Swedish club Goteborg respectively, along with other players such as Akaki Gogia, Konstantin Kerschbaumer and Andreas Bjelland amongst others.
Brentford like to knock it around and despite losing Gray and Odubajo they are still a strong side who must not be underestimated.
So how should we line up? I'd go with this.
433
Silvestri
Berardi
Bamba
Cooper
Taylor
Adeyemi
Cook
Murphy
Botaka
Wood
Dallas
Mowatt didn't do too much last week for my liking and Byram has been poor so far, I think that Botaka should get his chance. I'd also like to see Dallas and Botaka swap wings, I think that could be really effective, Botaka on the left would be such a goal threat with his pace and dribbling ability, and Dallas is a good player on either side.
I'd go with this 433 and see how it goes, the three in midfield is important for me as Brentford like to knock it around and it'd be difficult for them if we pack midfield, if we start to look good without scoring then we can always bring Antenucci on for a midfield player in search of a goal.
PREDICTION:
Leeds 1-0 Brentford (Wood)
I think Brentford are still a strong team despite their somewhat underwhelming start, they showed their finishing ability in that 4-2 win over Bristol earlier in August. Philipp Hoffman is not a prolific striker by any means but he is physical and will look to rough defenders up. I've gone for a 1-0 Leeds, I think Chris Wood will keep up his good run of goalscoring form and I think we will just edge it with home advantage. It will be a close game, I'm sure of that, many Leeds fans however have written Brentford off but I believe they are still a strong team who can cause any team problems. This is why I'd start with a 433, to make it difficult for them to knock it around and create chances. This fixture of course sees Stuart Dallas and Uwe Rosler go up against their former employers and I'm sure both of them will be keen to get one over their old side.
Here's hoping for a good performance and result against what I believe is still a strong side.