Andre Gray said his ten Sky Bet Championship starts put him well ahead of where he expected to be less than four months in to his Brentford career.
The striker joined The Bees from Luton Town in the summer.
Before arriving at Griffin Park he had never started a Football League match and was jumping three divisions after finishing as top scorer in the Skrill Premier last season as Luton won promotion.
Andre has started ten of Brentford’s 11 Championship matches and scored twice, hitting three goals in 12 games in all competitions.
“It has been a massive step for me but I am enjoying it,” said the striker, speaking to Bees Player this week.
“I had never started a league game before this season.
“I have started ten this season and that is brilliant.
“I am way ahead of where I thought I would be.
“I am still adapting and learning every day.
“There is a jump in quality at this level.
“The game can be turned in a split second.
“Strength, fitness and pace is also massively different.
“We play against players looking to go to the Premier League or who have come from it.”
Andre said he had made a big improvement technically and in terms of fitness since he arrived.
He added he was still learning Brentford’s style of football and wanted to carry on improving.
“If the fans had seen me training in Florida when I first arrived they would probably have been wondering what the Club had done,” he said.
“I have come a long way both with technique and fitness.
“If I keep improving I will do alright.
“I still have things to learn, this style is different to what I have done before.
“I have adapted and I am watching my games back to adjust a bit more.”
Andre only scored once in his first 12 games for Luton last season and ended the campaign with 30 league goals in 44 matches.
“This time last year I had only scored two goals,” he continued.
“I have two in the Championship already.
“If I get half the goals I got last year I will be rally happy.
“When I was at Luton the manager there said you get better if you play with better players.
“The back room staff here have changed things to aid my development.
“It will take time but I will keep taking strides forward.”
Brentford did not have a match this week due to international fixtures and many of the players, including Andre, had four days off training.
They trained for three days before the break, finishing on Wednesday, having played six games in the previous three weeks.
When they return to action against Wigan Athletic next Saturday, October 18, The Bees will then enter another run of six games in three weeks.
Andre said he hoped this break would be as successful as the last when The Bees followed up four days off over the international period by beating Brighton and Hove Albion.
“It was good to get the fitness work in before the four-day break,” said Andre.
“Everyone needs to recharge the batteries.
“The break comes at a good time.
“It is only a few days off and back to work but it worked well last time and hopefully it will work the same again.”
Brentford have 17 points from their first 11 games and sit tenth in the Sky Bet Championship.
Andre said the squad had hit their targets so far and with a bit more luck with finishing and refereeing decisions, could be even higher up the table.
“We set targets for runs of games and we have got to them,” said the striker.
“We have missed out on a few points here and there too and if we had got them we would be even further up the table.
“Everyone is happy overall.
“The margins are different at this level.
“If you don’t take chances or a decision goes against you it can win or lose you a game.
“If we tweak a few things and adjust to those margins we can be up there at the end of the season.”
A full interview with Andre Gray is available here for Bees Player subscribers.