Brentford B head coach Neil MacFarlane labelled the 4-1 win over Monaco a sensational result after they came away from the AS Monaco Training Centre with an impressive victory.
There were goals aplenty and they came in style as Michael Olakigbe struck two stunning goals whilst Yehor Yarmoliuk grabbed his second goal in as many games following some relentless pressing. Ryan Trevitt then scored after some wonderful skill to confirm the score line in what will be a memorable win for the young Bees.
“I think it’s a sensational result,” smiled MacFarlane. “We know that it’s not always about the result and it’s about the performances but through the course of the 90 minutes some of the football was breath taking, no more so with our goals. Some of it we’ve worked on at the training ground in terms of the press for Yehor’s first goal, but the individual quality, the expression that you have to deliver in these big games. Michael’s goal before half-time was an unbelievable finish into the top corner to make it 2-0.
MacFarlane on Monaco win
“We said to them at half-time that there would be a response from Monaco and there certainly was as they got an early goal, but as has been the case over the recent period of time our response again was magnificent and we steadied ourselves, built our way back into the game, and again Michael scored another amazing goal on the transition. It was then capped off by one of the most sensational finishes for a long time, including my time with the B Team, from Ryan with an unbelievable bit of brilliance in the box to cap off what was an outstanding performance.”
As has been the case throughout the season the hard work from the B Team helped them get their goals, seen clearly when Yarmoliuk chased down a Monaco player to win the ball high before he fired home in a similar way to his goal against Aston Villa in the Premier League Cup last week.
On the press, MacFarlane says his side were effective at it throughout the game. He continued: “It’s an important part of our game when we jump up on the press to steal the ball. We identified that they would play that ball in there and they could potentially make mistakes and they did do that. We had opportunities to score a couple more. It was quite an even first half because I felt that they had good chances to score as well. We wanted to keep that clean sheet desperately today, we didn’t, but we know we have such an attacking element to the team at the moment. If we can keep honing in on these clean sheets, then we can have a successful ending to the season.”
On Olakigbe’s goals, MacFarlane believes we’re starting to see the best of the youngster who recovered from injury in the first part of the season and has now hit some fantastic form. The B Team head coach says the youngster is benefiting on the ball from his hard work off it.
He explained: “Out of possession we were outstanding because we’re really well drilled. They’ve all bought into it, and they know their roles and responsibilities within the team. If you look at Michael individually and the night where he first came in against Aston Villa (October 2022) in the Premier League Cup to where he is now. It’s from the platform of out of possession to in possession and it’s been breath taking to see what he’s done on the transition and he’s produced two outstanding finishes.
“We showed the belief that we showed towards the remainder of the game at the start. The boys need to keep believing in that self-confidence and never dipping below the line of complacency. We have really good quality, once we got into the first half, I felt we grew into the game and on the transition we were deadly.”
On what the win means when considering the side have come up against a club in Monaco who are well renowned for producing some fantastic talent in recent years, MacFarlane credited his players who continue to push expectations.
He said: “Monaco have got some brilliant young players and have developed a lot of players over the last 10 years. It’s a brilliant place to come and play and another top game within the fixture programme. I said to the group that’s what it’s all about. We’ve been at Erith a week ago, we played Aston Villa in the Premier League Cup and now we come here for another great occasion. The boys just keep delivering in terms of the level of performances and that’s what happens, as you perform, you go on a really good run of results so it’s our job to go back to Jersey Road and keep pushing them. I know that we can get better, that’s the thing, we can get better than we were today because we turned the ball over too many times it seems, but when we did take care of it some of our finishing was outstanding.”