When Thomas Frank acknowledged, poetically, on Saturday evening that Brentford had so far only “danced well one summer” he was referring not to the way they had just Cha Cha’d all over a dismal Manchester United, but rather last season’s eventual waltz to safety at the end of their maiden Premier League campaign.
Though none of them were quite as staggering as Saturday’s 4-0 blowout against Erik ten Hag’s crisis-laden mess, that debut season was punctuated with marquee results and performances against the division’s top-six sides.
There was the famous opening night against Arsenal and the historic 4-1 triumph at Stamford Bridge in the spring, but also the rock ’n’ roll 3-3 thriller with Liverpool at home and a blistering display in the reverse against Chelsea, which somehow ended in a 1-0 defeat.
“Of course it’s very important,” Frank said, when asked about the significance of such occasions. “We’ve had one good season. We danced well one summer.
“We need to continue going forward and wins and performances like this are important and reinforce the message to the five new players and the three young players, buying into everything we said and [thinking]: ‘Wow, it’s actually true’.
“This just reinforces that we can make it difficult for every single team in this league. That’s a great confidence boost.”
Certainly, Saturday’s victory felt about more than three points, just as, for United, the manner of defeat had greater consequences than simply leaving west London without any.
As Cristiano Ronaldo dashed for the tunnel in a strop, Frank led his team on a lap of honour in the glow of the setting evening sun, the stadium DJ able to go through the post-match celebratory repertoire that became so ritualistically familiar last year.
“You see a lot of happy faces and proud faces and in a way you are filled with joy and you don’t know what to do with it,” Frank said. “It’s important we celebrate every win. Sometimes you take winning for granted and you can’t do that.”
Carrying the feel-good factor of last term into this campaign will be vital for Brentford. But perhaps even more so, and somewhat lost in the hoo-ha around Christian Eriksen’s swift return in a United shirt, is that as well as making five strong additions, the Bees — for so long a selling club — have retained virtually their entire first-team squad, too and on Saturday, the contrast between a team with established clarity and belief in their manager’s ideas and their opponents could hardly have been more stark.
The transfer window remains open and it is perhaps a good job that, for instance, Ivan Toney did not find the net in his terrific all-round display: knowing the way United’s scouting works, there would likely have been a bid on the table by 8pm if he had.
The Bees, Frank says, are well aware of their “place on the food chain”. On this form, though, they are set for another season of munching up.
