When Brentford missed their first couple of probabilities, Thomas Frank applauded his approval and encouragement. However they saved missing them: by the tip of the primary half his head was in his palms; by the point Yoane Wissa someway shot into Nathan Aké with the aim at his mercy and 20 minutes remaining he was prostrate, brow pressed into the turf in supplication. Perhaps somebody was listening.
Phil Foden had opened the scoring moments earlier, and shortly afterwards he tapped within the rebound after Savinho’s shot was saved to apparently make the sport secure. As an alternative the pendulum swung: Mads Roerslev’s volleyed centre discovered Wissa on their lonesome on the sting of the six-yard field to tug a aim again, and in stoppage time Christian Nørgaard headed in from Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross. In the long run it took Aké’s goalline clearance from Bryan Mbeumo’s shot to make sure Metropolis ended this wildly entertaining encounter with some extent.
A month in the past Brentford had been unbeaten right here in all competitions and nursing the second-best residence file within the division, however since then their aura of invincibility had been misplaced together with successive league video games towards Nottingham Forest and Arsenal, in addition to an FA Cup tie towards the Championship strugglers Plymouth.
Metropolis know all about misplaced auras given their travails this season, although Frank used his programme notes to remind readers that they “stay among the best groups on this planet regardless of not being at their standard stage not too long ago, filled with high quality and depth”.
Neither of these qualities was instantly obvious as the house facet began the sport a lot the stronger, not giving Metropolis time to settle in any space of the pitch whereas finding pockets of area once they had the ball, usually down the correct the place Mbeumo always troubled Josko Gvardiol, or within the area in entrance of Wissa.
Their file with Kyle Walker of their staff this season is notably dismal, however there might have been moments right here when Pep Guardiola regretted his absence. This will likely or will not be the tip of the street for Walker at Metropolis however he didn’t even embark on the one which led to the Gtech Group Stadium, the 34-year-old unnoticed of the squad as he makes an attempt to engineer a transfer overseas and with Guardiola concluding his providers aren’t required even earlier than the approaching arrival of the 19-year-old Palmeiras defender Vitor Reis, for whom a deal valued at round £30m has apparently been agreed.
It was Wissa who had the sport’s first couple of probabilities, however for the primary he shot huge and the second, as he reached Mbeumo’s beautiful go from the correct with the goalkeeper uncovered, perhaps 10 yards out, he missed his kick utterly.
Mbeumo was performed into area down the correct, teased Gvardiol as he dribbled into the realm, however Stefan Ortega turned his mis‑hit shot around the publish. Within the twentieth minute Mikkel Damsgaard’s glorious go launched Wissa, who ignored Manuel Akanji’s ineffective try to police him however dragged his shot huge. Then 5 minutes later Lewis-Potter was performed into an empty left half of the penalty space however as an alternative of utilizing that area to vogue a taking pictures likelihood he tried, with little conviction, to slip the ball throughout to Mbeumo and located the primary defender.
It was at round this level, somewhat over halfway by way of the primary half, that Metropolis awoke. For the primary time they began to work the ball ahead shortly and precisely once they had alternatives to interrupt, frightening moments of panic within the residence defence. Kevin de Bruyne discovered Matheus Nunes sprinting into area on the counter, however the Portuguese lower inside and into Nathan Collins, then Savinho led one other break earlier than belting a shot over the bar from the sting of the realm.
The final 10 minutes of the half had been virtually solely performed in Brentford’s defensive third, and in that point Metropolis created and wasted three good probabilities. Mateo Kovacic despatched a weak shot bobbling huge from the sting of the realm earlier than Erling Haaland hit straight at Mark Flekken from simply inside it. And eventually, simply earlier than the break, Kovacic handed to De Bruyne, whose first-time shot from the left of aim, taken beneath no stress, cleared the aim, the stand behind it, and really practically the roof above that.
If the sport by no means lacked probabilities, it had not but had a interval when either side had been creating them. That got here after the interval, and inside 10 minutes of the restart Collins headed a free-kick simply huge, Savinho clattered a shot towards the publish, Haaland despatched a free header straight at Flekken from eight yards and Vitaly Janelt’s 20-yard bouncer was gathered by Ortega on the second try. So it continued, from one finish to the opposite, till the ball lastly discovered the web at each inside a minute. Brentford managed it first however Damsgaard, the scorer, had been emphatically offside within the build-up, then Metropolis attacked down the correct, De Bruyne despatched in a scrumptious centre and Foden side-footed a volley into the far nook.
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