Brentford’s Danish star Christian Nørgaard insists the 2-0 win in the curtain raiser with Arsenal was just “one very small achievement” in a long season. The midfielder, who secured the Bees’ opening day win with a second half header, said the squad will not veer from the ‘one game at a time’ mentality that served them so well last season.
“It’s about not looking too much into it because as players we will stay calm and keep the noise out of our group because you can easily get ahead of yourself if you listen to too many journalists and people analysing the game,” he added, speaking to the written press after the match. “It was up there as one of the best games I’ve ever played… but it was just one game in season and we have 37 games left and so many tough tests in front of us.”
The Bees’ confident approach will have been boosted ahead of Saturday’s derby at Crystal Palace, but Christian says the group will remain humble and work hard.
“It’s one very small achievement if you look at the whole season, but it was a really good start. We were already confident and that got boosted a lot – confidence is a key thing in football as a team and individually, and we have to keep working on it,” he said.
“We played a good game against Arsenal but could have played even better so it was a good start. Our approach will be the same at Palace. It’s a different crowd and more hostile than here but if we go out with same mentality and same approach we will create another great result.”
Christian also paid tribute to the fans as Brentford took their Premier League bow: “They were superb today and pleasure to play in front of. We try to make people happy and entertain them as much as possible, but that game was so much more than just football there were so many emotions attached to it. The supporters were really loud and gave us so much encouragement, so it’s vital we keep that going no matter what happens this season.”