That might be it ..

[AnOldBrownie]

Forget automatic promotion it is going to be a struggle to make the play offs.
Really we started where we left off in that we are struggling to score a goal or even to get into the opposing penalty area.

It's a loss.  We can still win promotion.   Hell, West Brom lost 0-1 to Wigan before the break, and Leeds had a heck of a time figuring out how to score more than 1 goal per game for like 6 games.

Let's not make more out of the loss than it is.   We KNOW how we play.    Brentford is a poor matchup for the squad and Scott Parker's style of play.

[os5889 mkII]

It's frustrating.

We were in the game for 70 minutes, and the game could have gone either way. Both teams had, in the main, a comparable level of fitness with some exceptions. For us, Kebano, Odoi, and TC looked gone at 70 minutes, and for Brentford, the same in Jensen, Dasilva, and Fosu-Henry.

Brentford made three changes, and Marcondes changes the game. We make one change for injury in Reed for Arter and one for fitness, Cav for Kebano.

Arter looked off the pace, Cav looked like he was still ill but regardless, with five changes allowable why wait until after Brentford take the lead in the 88th
minute to make a change?

If Odoi is replaced, you potentially don't get their goal as both mental and physical fatigue has likely played a part. If you bring on a fit player - Cav was no way fit - Bryan isn't made to look a mug after, what I thought, was a decent game on his part.

And if we only had a player capable of replacing Cairney like Johansen or Matt O'Riley, we might not have spent 20 minutes shrinking towards our net.

Beyond incensed! Our club is a mess. Fair play to Brentford, who seized the day.

 

[LittleErn]

Let's not make more out of the loss than it is.   We KNOW how we play.    Brentford is a poor matchup for the squad and Scott Parker's style of play.

We know how we play - so does every other manager. If Scott Parker's style of play doesn't "match-up" with Brentford's then why did we persist with it?

[cottage expat]

After a fairly even 1st half the writing was on the wall in the 2nd, especially after an hour. Our game got slower & sloppier. This was the time for subs & a change with our defensive formation especially on our left. Bryan was so often caught in no mans land.
What have our players been doing in the last 10 weeks? The Club have provided all the fitness equipment the players needed. Brentford were fitter, faster, were quicker breaking forward. Parker has to take a lot of blame for being out managed.
Brentford´s use of their subs made the difference, ours made things worse.
Automatic promotion has gone. It is now up to Parker & the squad to cement a 3rd spot & at worse 6th.

Fully agree, Grandad. They were sharper than us and at times in the second half we looked lackadaisical.