James Tarkowski is targeting a return to the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off places, starting with a win against Fulham this Saturday in the West London derby at Craven Cottage.
The Bees, under new Head Coach Dean Smith, go down the A4 to SW6 full of confidence after a run that has seen them win six of their last nine matches and James wants to continue that run against a misfiring Fulham this weekend.
James was part of the side that won 4-1 at Craven Cottage last season and, although he would love a repeat of that scoreline, admits that the three points are all that matters.
“Dean has come with a really good reputation and we are excited to work with him but we have got a real momentum and confidence throughout the whole squad,” said James, speaking to Bees Player ahead of the match. “We are on a really good run, we have only lost one in the last nine, and we are feeling good and feeling confident. Hopefully going into Saturday we can keep the run going, put in a good performance and get the points that we need. You would like four goals like last year again but we will take a scrappy 1-0 win again.
“Last week’s performance against MK Dons was very good, offensively and defensively, so if we can build on that and improve then I don’t think we will have too many problems going into Saturday’s game. One or two of us mentioned how good last year was, especially as we won, so everybody is looking forward to it. We have an idea about who we might play against but they have got a few different options up front. Ross McCormack is a good player, Matt Smith is a real handful and Moussa Dembélé seems to be scoring the goals this year. It is our job to deal with them as a back four and as a team and keep a clean sheet. I am sure that we will score a goal at the weekend as we never have too many problems scoring goals.”
Brentford’s recent run of form has elevated them from the lower reaches of the Sky Bet Championship to the brink of the Play-Off places.
Despite a gap of five points between fifth placed Burnley and sixth placed Cardiff James doesn’t feel the top five are set in stone. James is targeting a place in the Play-Off places and from there The Bees attention will turn to the teams above them.
“We have got ourselves into a really good position from where we were earlier on in the season,” said James. “We can look at getting into the Play-Off spots on Saturday which will be a real turnaround from where we were at the start of the season. Saturday is a big game but then we have to keep building from there through until the end of the season. First of all we have to get ourselves in the Play-Off positions and then we can look to go from there. There are five teams who have run away a bit in the league but a few of them will slip up at some point and we have got to be there to take advantage of that. We have got to get into the top six and then look above to try and catch those teams ahead of us.”
After a slow start to the season, not helped by a number of injuries, James feels that individuals are starting to find their feet in the league and that is reflected in The Bees form.
With Jota, Josh McEachran and Maxime Colin also all due back from injury imminently James said there is intense competition for places throughout the Brentford squad.
“The lads who were here last year have got a year’s more playing experience at this level,” said James. “I am feeling a lot more comfortable this year at this level and if you speak to the other lads they will say the same. Some of the boys who are new to the league are starting to adapt. You look at Lasse Vibe who had a bit of a slow start but he is starting to score the goals now. Alan Judge was good last year but he has been another level this year. Lads like Ryan Woods, John Swift, Konstantin Kerschbaumer and Marco Djuricin have come in and done well. Last year our squad was a little bit small but this year we have got real competition for places so if you are not doing it on the pitch you won’t be playing the next Saturday.”
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