Nico Yennaris felt Brentford were made to pay for their errors as they opened up the new Sky Bet Championship season with a 2-1 defeat at the John Smith’s Stadium against Huddersfield Town this afternoon. Second-half goals from Elias Kachunga and Kasey Palmer, either side on Nico’s smart finish, meant that the points would stay in West Yorkshire. Nico said that The Bees didn’t do enough with the ball and made bad mistakes defensively which led to the defeat.
“We always want to win our games, especially the first game of the season when we want to get off on the right foot, but there were too many errors today as a team,” said Nico, speaking to Bees Player after the match. “We didn’t switch on early enough from dead balls and we got punished for that and for individual mistakes. In the first-half we weren’t winning the second balls enough and they were getting out too easily. We weren’t switched on or on the front foot to win the ball back high up the pitch and they got out too easily. They created some problems via that but I thought that we were a lot better in the last half an hour. We knew how Huddersfield were going to play, especially after last season, and they were always going to try and play the same way. They closed down well in packs today but as soon as you beat the press and play through the lines then you are always going to get chances. We needed to be brighter at that today.”
Nico’s goal, his third in his last nine matches, came at the end of a fine team move with just under 15 minutes to go. The 23-year-old wants to add goals to his game this season and said he was pleased to get off the mark early on in the season.
“We had a free-kick, got it down, and played quickly,” said Nico. “As soon as it was punched into Lewis Macleod I saw the space open up to make the run. It was a lovely touch from Lewis and the good first touch meant I didn’t have to break stride so I just focussed on hitting the target. At the end of the day though it doesn’t really count for anything as we didn’t get the three points. I want to add more goals to my game this season, especially after the back end of last season. I felt confident off the end of last season and I have always said that I want to improve on my attacking. It is a good start for me personally but the main focus is on three points but we didn’t get that today.”
Injury meant that this afternoon’s match was Nico’s first appearance since the 1-0 win over FC Bochum more than three weeks ago. After coming through 40 minutes Nico said that he felt good and was looking forward to building up to full fitness and match sharpness in the coming days.
“It was my first game since Germany and I have missed a few of those games,” said Nico. “I am working hard in training and I feel quite good. The more minutes I get, the sharper I will get, and the better I will get. We are learning every day and every week. We are always trying to improve every day in training so there are always new tactics we are trying to learn. Sometimes they will take a bit longer to install but I am pretty sure, come the end of the season, we will look back at this result and think it will be a nothing result because we will have done very well this season.”