Brentford Manager Mark Warburton said he was “amazed” his team lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday.
The Bees were beaten 2-1 at Molineux in the festive fixture and Mark, speaking after the match, said he couldn’t see how they were defeated.
Brentford fell behind early on when Nouha Dicko – yards offside – raced clear to score and then conceded a second after half time, against the run of play.
A Jake Bidwell cross deflected in to reduce the arrears after Wolves had been reduced to ten men but Brentford couldn’t find a leveller.
They hit the woodwork twice – through Jota in the first half and Andre Gray in the dying seconds – and dominated possession, territory and chances, but could not get the goals.
Mark said there were lots of positives and admitted his side needed to be more clinical but said The Bees would play worse and win.
“I can’t see how we have lost that game of football,” said the Brentford boss.
“There are so many positives to take, we will play a lot worse and win.
“We dominated long parts of the play.
“We had some good balls in but we have to be more clinical and score more goals.
“I haven’t seen the stats yet but we dominated posession, passed forward, created chance after chance and I am amazed we lost.”
Mark said the first Wolves goal cost his side the game.
A long ball from defence released Dicko in behind and he raced on to score.
Mark said he could see at the time the Wolves striker was offside and it was even clearer on the replay.
“It was offside by three yards and I could see that at the time,” he said.
“We have the luxury of seeing the replay, we appreciate match officials are not allowed to have that luxury.
“But it was three yards offside.
“At this level that is not good enough and it has cost us the game.”
Bidwell may try and claim Brentford’s goal at Molineux, officially given as a Danny Batth own goal.
“Jake got forward, both our full backs did,” said Mark.
“They were attacking at will almost and caused all sorts of problems.
“I am pleased for Jake but we have not taken any points from a game that I feel we should have got something from mind.”
Mark made two changes from the Brentford team beaten by Ipswich Town on Boxing Day.
James Tarkowski returned to the centre of defence alongside Tony Craig with Harlee Dean named as a substitute while Toumani Diagouraga was also on the bench with Stuart Dallas coming in.
Mark said he could have played Tarkowski alongside Dean or Craig but wanted to go with a naturally left footed player in Craig.
He added he wanted to return to the midfield that started the season – Jonathan Douglas in behind Alan Judge and Alex Pritchard – and get Dallas back in.
Diagouraga, Jon Toral and Sam Saunders all came off the bench to good effect and Mark said he wanted to use his squad.
“I wanted to keep it fresh,” said the Brentford boss.
“The boys have had lots of demands placed on them.
“Harlee has done really well, alongside Tony Craig, but James Tarkowski needs game time.
“If we have to call upon players they need match legs.
“It was no reflection on Harlee’s form.
“I could have rested Tony or Harlee but thought it would be best for Tarky to play on the right with Tony naturally left sided.
“Tarky did really well.
“We have to use the squad; we can’t talk about using the squad and then not use it.
“Toums has done great, been a pivotal player for us.
“The original midfield was Dougie behind Judge and Pritchard.
“It allowed us to get Stuart Dallas back in, who was almost first choice before his injury.
“Stuart did well.
“Jota played 90 minutes on Boxing Day and it would have been easy to rest him but he was too good against Ipswich, as he was here for the first hour.
“The subs made a difference and there are others who can come on.
“There are so many positives but we haven’t got the result.”
With The Bees also losing to Ipswich they have picked up no points over the festive period.
But Brentford end 2014 sixth in the Sky Bet Championship and Mark said they would continue in the same way in 2015.
“We just have to keep doing what we are doing,” he said.
“Two, three, four years ago for Brentford to come to Molineux would have been a daunting prospect.
“Today from the outset we showed our intention.
“We dominated and I think Wolves will be thankful to get the win.
“We lost the game and we have to look at why we lost, we need to be more clinical in front of goal but we will play a lot worse than that and win.
“We were very, very good.
“I can’t think of a game we have dominated and not got something.”
Bees Player subscribers can see full post-match reaction from Mark Warburton here.