Not even half an hour into this match, with teammate João Palhinha dawdling in possession while surveying a total absence of attacking options at his disposal, the Fulham centre-back Calvin Bassey began gesticulating wildly in a desperate attempt to summon some semblance of life from proceedings; a plea to make something happen. Anything.
It would unfair to suggest neither side wanted to win. There were just about enough visible moments of endeavour not to feel entirely short-changed. But games like this can happen in May, when any sense of jeopardy has passed and the stakes are almost nonexistent. Fears of relegation and hopes of challenging for Europe have been forgotten.
If all derbies – and it might be stretching things to describe this genial encounter between two west London neighbours as such – were played with such little intensity, this football malarkey would soon find itself dropping down a few notches in the sporting hierarchy, outdone by the visual feasts of artistic swimming and archery.
Thomas Frank had bluntly described Brentford’s 1-0 defeat at Everton last time out as boring. His verdict on this goalless draw was equally derisory: “Marginally better.”
So what did happen? Well, Bryan Mbeumo went closest for Brentford, dinking on to the crossbar early on with Bernd Leno beaten after a swift break. Raúl Jiménez came off the bench to waste the best chance of the game for Fulham, blazing wildly over when totally unmarked 10 yards from goal. And the sun emerged in the second half, allowing the few spectators not in the shadow of an overhanging stand to remove their jackets, which was pleasant.
Judged as a whole, the draw felt fair, with neither side doing more than the other to warrant a larger share of the spoils, even if Marco Silva saw things differently. His side did provide a greater threat than their impotent hosts the longer the game wore on and Adama Traoré forced a strong save from Mark Flekken with a low drive 10 minutes from time.
“The team that created the most clear chances was Fulham,” said Silva. “When you have the chances we created you expect to win the match. Unfortunately for us, the only thing we can regret is the composure in the final third. “We need to be more clinical and ruthless there. I would like to see us score.”
Shorn of any immediate interest, both sets of fans may well have found their thoughts drifting to the future; contemplating potential incomings and outgoings that they can dream could propel their team into the top half next year.
The two managers chose contrasting methods for dealing with their high-profile wantaway player. For the second successive game, Silva left Tosin Adarabioyo out of his matchday squad, after saying this week that the centre-back’s future will probably not be at Fulham.
Ignoring suggestions to the contrary from some sections of the Brentford support, Frank stuck with Ivan Toney as his central forward despite expectations he will head for new pastures this summer.
The case for his inclusion was not exactly compelling after a nine-game goalless streak heading into this match and he never came close to preventing that barren run from reaching double figures – his longest spell without a goal since early 2019 when at Peterborough. He will hope no potential admirers were forced to watch this.
“I guess he’s not overly happy, knowing Ivan,” said Frank. “He is one of our best players, if not the best player, but everyone in the team needs to click. I don’t think it’s only down to one player.”
Two more games and then both of these sides can be spared having to do it again.
