There is no denying that Brentford have endured a sticky start to their third Premier League season, but there are reasons for the Bees to be optimistic they will turn a corner.
On the face of it, the situation does not look pretty.
No Premier League team has dropped more points from winning positions this season than 15th-place Brentford, who have taken the lead in five of their eight matches so far but held on for victory just once.
Only Luton boast a worse shooting accuracy across the first two months of the campaign, with 27 per cent of the Bees’ shots having hit the target.
Their most crushing result to date came last weekend, when they lost 2-1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford despite leading 1-0 with three minutes and 13 seconds left of added time.
Yet a spate of injuries has made continuity within Thomas Frank’s starting line-up impossible.
Goalkeeper Mark Flekken missed the United defeat due to appendicitis and is on antibiotics, while Keane Lewis-Potter had a calf injury.
Ben Mee could return from a muscle strain to face his former club Burnley after the international break, yet fellow centre-back Ethan Pinnock is the newest concern with the Jamaican international staying with the club this month to treat a fresh achilles injury.
Shandon Baptiste could be available towards the end of the month after his return to training, but Josh Dasilva’s hamstring injury will keep him out until at least November.
Mikkel Damsgaard is at least three weeks away from playing after undergoing keyhole surgery for a niggling knee injury.
A spate of injuries has made continuity within Thomas Frank’s starting line-ups impossible.
New signing Kevin Schade, who was just hitting form up front, will not return from his abductor injury until the New Year at the earliest. And, worst of all, left-back Rico Henry is out for the season with a ruptured ACL.
Those fitness woes have no doubt impacted results, hitting a squad already limited by external factors.
Frank’s side were already having to do without Ivan Toney, whose ban only ends on January 16, and David Raya, now playing ahead of Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal.
They were also unable to convince summer targets Johan Bakayoko, Hugo Ekitike, Brennan Johnson or Nicolas Gonzalez to join the club.
Despite all that has been thrown at them, though, performances have remained consistent.
For instance, the Bees have been similarly dominant in aerial duels to last season, despite Toney’s absence.
And when Standard Sport asked Frank what he hoped Brentford would improve ahead of this season, he named possession as their key. Already, there is evidence of that — with the Bees averaging 43.8 per cent possession last season and 49 per cent thus far this term.
“What we are big believers in is that if the performances are good and we are going in the right direction, the points will come”, Frank said at the weekend. And he is right.
A slightly lower league position than ninth last season looks on the cards this term, but there is little evidence to suggest Brentford are a genuinely worse team. They must trust the process.
