Dean Smith was left unimpressed by Brentford’s performance against Millwall this afternoon as the two sides cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw at The Den. Yoann Barbet curled The Bees into an early lead with a 25 yard free-kick but the Sky Bet League One Lions roared back to level, Steve Morison powering home a header just before the half-hour. The match was arranged as a testimonial for Millwall defender Tony Craig, who spent three years in West London, and Dean felt that The Bees treated the game like a testimonial rather than their final pre-season workout.
“It was distinctly below average,” said Dean, speaking to Bees Player after the draw. “We didn’t play well and I thought we treated it, especially in the first-half, like a testimonial and we were found wanting. We didn’t cope with their physicality. I told the lads before the match that they would be competitive and we didn’t deal with their competitive nature. We made some poor decisions on the back of that. The positive is that we are through pre-season because I hate pre-season. Callum Elder got through 80 minutes, Scott Hogan got through 90 minutes, and Yoann Barbet scored a good free-kick. That is the positives done. Pre-season is hard work, it always is, but we looked flat today and they looked brighter than us. We got an awakening today with the physicality of it and the game against Huddersfield will be very different.”
With just seven days to go until the new Sky Bet Championship season begins with a trip to Huddersfield Town, Dean is still sweating on the fitness of a number of his squad. Nico Yennaris, Alan McCormack, and Andreas Bjelland all missed the trip to South London but The Bees Head Coach was however buoyed to see Scott Hogan come through his first 90 minutes in a Brentford shirt.
“The plan was to get Scott 90 minutes before next week,” said Dean. “Scott hasn’t been happy coming off in some of the games but it has all been geared towards playing 90 minutes today and 90 minutes next week, if selected against Huddersfield Town. We have a few guys who have had niggles. Nico Yennaris will train Monday but he has been out. Josh McEachran couldn’t play until Wycombe Wanderers so he is fighting for fitness. There are a few others as well. Josh Clarke has only trained a couple of days but he got 45 minutes today which is good.”
The Bees were able to add to their ranks this morning as Callum Elder joined on a season-long loan deal from Leicester City. Dean revealed that The Bees are close to adding another player to their squad ahead of the new season and admitted that the abolition of the emergency loans system will add extra importance to squad depth this campaign.
“We have been looking for wide players and we are hoping that we can get one,” said Dean. “Things go slow at this period because the Premier League don’t start for a couple of weeks. If it is a loan that might be delayed but we are looking to add. Squads will become important this year because there is no emergency loan window this season. The B Team will be able to supply us with players, it supplied us with Reece Cole today as well as Bradley Clayton and Chris Mepham before that. It is something we might have to use dependant on injuries this season.”
This pre-season has seen The Bees pick up one win from their six matches with three draws and two defeats. While Dean has been happy with the workrate from his squad ahead of the new campaign he admits he would have liked to see more quality on the ball.
“For work and effort I might give the boys seven or eight out of ten,” said Dean. “In terms of quality on the ball it is a six. There is still room for improvement but it is about getting through to that first game. We have six or seven games in August and we have to be ready for them.”