Dean Smith and the Brentford squad are well aware of the importance of finishing above London rivals Queens Park Rangers and Fulham according to The Bees Head Coach. Brentford moved two points clear of Rangers with Saturday’s 4-1 win over Milton Keynes Dons after a run that has seen them pick up 16 points from a possible 18. Dean said that finishing top of the London clubs would be great for the fans but admits it won’t be easy, especially with a trip to Play-Off bound Hull City coming up on Tuesday.
Speaking to Bees Player ahead of the trip to the KC Stadium Dean said: “We would like to continue our run but they don’t come any more difficult than Hull City. You only have to look at their squad list to see the calibre of players that they have there. I don’t know what sort of team they will be putting out as they have cemented their place in the Play-Offs. It looks like it’s between them and Derby County to finish fourth or fifth so I don’t know if they will have a little play with personnel or systems, I don’t know. All we can concentrate on is ourselves but it would be nice to go on and remain undefeated in all our upcoming games. We are always aware of what the supporters' thoughts are and the local bias that they have in finishing above some of the local rivals. We know that would be lovely and we are above them all at the moment with a game in hand. Hopefully we can get the points to give us some breathing space in that regard.”
Tuesday’s trip to Humberside will be The Bees seventh match in 24 days this month and Dean admits the demands of the fixture schedule are starting to take their toll on his squad. With promotion and relegation both out of the question the Brentford boss is open to giving some of the younger first-team squad members and Development Squad players a chance but said that there are also players in the first-team squad who are in desperate need of game time.
“The squad is ok for tomorrow,” said Dean. “We just had a training session to look at some of the lads who started on Saturday to see if they came through it ok. Lasse Vibe is a little bit sore so he is one that I might have to manage. Scott Hogan is working well but I am thinking more about Saturday for Scott. I want to just move the squad around a little bit because we have had such a large amount of games in a small amount of time. Recovery has been important as we have not changed the team around too much so far. I would like to continue that to continue the run that we are in but you have to manage players differently.
“There’s a temptation to play the younger players but we are a young team and a lot of these players need experience themselves. Philipp Hofmann is back to full training and he will be back in the squad for the next few games as well. He is one that needs game time in the Championship. Andy Gogia got on on Saturday and Konstantin Kerschbaumber has played in the last couple of games and done well. There are a number of players who haven’t had as many minutes as they would like in the Championship and are still learning about it.”
After a run of seven defeats in eight in February and March, The Bees have bounced back in style so far this month with five wins and a draw from six matches. Despite being without a number of key players through injury during that spell Dean refused to make excuses for his side’s poor form earlier this year but instead called for his side to be more consistent next campaign to bridge the gap to the Play-Off teams.
“The next game is the most important one and we will see where we are after that and reflect at the end of the season,” said Dean. “Since I have been here we had a good run, a bad run, and now we are on a good run again. We want to get more consistency because that is what keeps you up there. We lost some key players and we had some injuries but I don’t want to make excuses because it is the same team of players that I have got now that I had against Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic, and Queens Park Rangers. I would like to think that we have been pretty consistent in the good runs and the bad runs and I am hopeful that will see us through next season.”
Bees Player subscribers can watch the full interview with Dean below