Brentford Head Coach Dean Smith has told his team that they must concentrate on playing their own game as they gear up for Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls come to Griffin Park as one of the promotion fancies, despite back to back league defeats last week to Burton Albion and Leeds United leaving Carlos Carvalhal’s 20th in the early Championship table. With no midweek match this week, Dean feels his squad are in good shape ahead of the game and he wants his men to impose their style of play on The Owls.
Speaking to Bees Player ahead of the match, Dean said: “It has been a good week and we have got some good work into the players. It is always nice to have a clear week to do a little bit of coaching and the lads have been really good this week. A few of the players who have a few knocks have had some extra recovery time and we are looking forward to the game now. Lewis Macleod has been training with us but Yoann Barbet is likely to start training with us after the Sheffield Wednesday game. Andreas Bjelland is looking very bright and has been on the bench the last couple of games. He has put himself into contention which is really good. We are also hoping to have Jack Bonham back in the next week or so. The week has allowed us to focus on Sheffield Wednesday more but I am very much concentrating on ourselves first and foremost. We will touch on Sheffield Wednesday and what their threats are but we are very much focussed on what we can do ourselves.”
After last season’s Play-Off Final disappointment Wednesday have added to their squad with the arrivals of Steven Fletcher, Almen Abdi, and David Jones among others as they gear up for another tilt at a promotion charge. Although Dean admits that The Owls’ squad is full of quality he wants his side to protect their perfect home record so far this season.
“You only have to look through their squad to see the array of players that they have got,” said Dean. “They have brought in Steven Fletcher in the summer and have Gary Hooper, Fernando Forestieri, and Barry Bannan. It is a list that just rolls off the tongue and they have real quality. I was really pleased with the performance at Rotherham United last Saturday and if we can play to that level then we have got a good chance of winning. We have had two tough home games against Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest and come out the victors in both of them, conceding no goals. It is a proud record to have so far and we want to continue that.”
Off-the-pitch this week speculation has been rife about the future of last season’s Player of the Year Alan Judge. The Irish midfielder has been linked with a move away from Griffin Park despite the fact he is yet to appear this season as he continues his recovery from a broken leg suffered in April. Dean thinks it is unlikely Alan will move before the end of this transfer window and said last season’s top scorer remains firmly in his plans.
“Alan’s injury is well known to everyone but there have been enquiries about him from a number of clubs,” said Dean. “With his injury at the moment I don’t think that anyone is going to take the plunge on him. He is still our player and still in our plans. I don’t think anything is going to happen this window as he only had two screws taken out of his leg last week. Let’s see where we are when the window opens in January. If there are clubs in our leagues who are interested in our players and we are fighting against them in the upper echelons of the league, we won’t be forced into doing anything. Alan knows he is a Brentford player and he is pleased with that. He wants to continue his rehab with us and get back to what he was doing before he got injured.”