Alan McCormack completes fluent Brentford win against Leeds United
Guardian 27/9/14
Brentford 2 Leeds 0
In theory, the technique is pretty simple: rap the outside with your knuckles and listen for a deep, hollow sound. That is how you spot a good watermelon. But Massimo Cellino is far too eccentric for that.
Known as il mangiatore di direttore, the manager eater, in his native Italy after a tumultuous 22-year stint at the helm of Cagliari, Cellino, the Leeds owner, reckons finding a decent manager is like picking a ripe watermelon: a matter of luck more than judgment, where the only fail-safe approach is to dive in and try several out. Having already sacked David Hockaday and Brian McDermott since taking charge in April, he hired the former Slovenia defender Darko Milanic this week in his latest attempt to build a promotion-winning side.
This was Milanic’s opening bow and Cellino watched events unfold from pitchside, surrounded by Leeds supporters, having been ushered from his original seat by the stewards. He must have been horrified by what he saw as Leeds were torn apart by a wonderfully fluent home side. The only player to escape with credit was the keeper, Marco Silvestri, who somehow kept the score down to 2-0.
“I’ve had three sessions,” said Milanic afterwards, deflecting any hint of blame. “This is a better experience for me than anything. This is real. I saw my players, how they move, how they think.”
Chances in the early exchanges were limited, but when Silvestri made a fine double save, first denying Alan Judge’s curling free-kick, that was bound for the far corner, before springing up to turn away the rebound effort from Andre Gray, the tone was set.
The home side’s growing momentum resulted in a penalty after 27 minutes. A gallivanting run from deep by Jonathan Douglas went untracked by Leeds and his slide-rule pass to the onrushing Gray forced Jason Pearce into a desperate and ultimately bungled attempt to clear the danger.
Douglas declined to watch the spot-kick, instead turning to face the home fans at the opposite end as James Tarkowski did the duty from 12 yards. Douglas was visibly despondent as he heard a loud thud and realised Tarkowski had leathered his penalty so far over the bar it had rebounded back off the second tier of the stand.
Brentford still attacked and Leeds struggled to resist. Douglas might have scored himself with a stooping far-post header that was brilliantly turned around a post by Silvestri.
Leeds looked top-heavy and their formation lacked a capable anchor-man – Lewis Cook was meant to occupy that role but deserted his duties too often. Inevitably, Jota punished them seconds from the interval when he twisted intelligently in the box, left several defenders on the floor and smashed his shot high into the net.
The second half mirrored the first; Brentford ran riot but were denied the glut of goals their intelligent play deserved. Gray wrong-footed the keeper at one point but Silvestri still got his trailing leg to the ball to keep it out. Then a diving header from Moses Odubajo was brilliantly kept out by the Italian.
Eventually, McCormack’s deflected shot found the net in the 77th minute and cries of “We’re just too good for you” rung around the stadium. What an understatement that was.
“The players spoke about needing a Plan B or a Plan C after last week, but we don’t need those,” said the Brentford manager, Mark Warburton. “We should just do Plan A well, like we did today. We created chance after chance after chance, and my only criticism is that we didn’t pick them off more in front of goal.”
Brentford 2 Leeds 0
In theory, the technique is pretty simple: rap the outside with your knuckles and listen for a deep, hollow sound. That is how you spot a good watermelon. But Massimo Cellino is far too eccentric for that.
Known as il mangiatore di direttore, the manager eater, in his native Italy after a tumultuous 22-year stint at the helm of Cagliari, Cellino, the Leeds owner, reckons finding a decent manager is like picking a ripe watermelon: a matter of luck more than judgment, where the only fail-safe approach is to dive in and try several out. Having already sacked David Hockaday and Brian McDermott since taking charge in April, he hired the former Slovenia defender Darko Milanic this week in his latest attempt to build a promotion-winning side.
This was Milanic’s opening bow and Cellino watched events unfold from pitchside, surrounded by Leeds supporters, having been ushered from his original seat by the stewards. He must have been horrified by what he saw as Leeds were torn apart by a wonderfully fluent home side. The only player to escape with credit was the keeper, Marco Silvestri, who somehow kept the score down to 2-0.
“I’ve had three sessions,” said Milanic afterwards, deflecting any hint of blame. “This is a better experience for me than anything. This is real. I saw my players, how they move, how they think.”
Chances in the early exchanges were limited, but when Silvestri made a fine double save, first denying Alan Judge’s curling free-kick, that was bound for the far corner, before springing up to turn away the rebound effort from Andre Gray, the tone was set.
The home side’s growing momentum resulted in a penalty after 27 minutes. A gallivanting run from deep by Jonathan Douglas went untracked by Leeds and his slide-rule pass to the onrushing Gray forced Jason Pearce into a desperate and ultimately bungled attempt to clear the danger.
Douglas declined to watch the spot-kick, instead turning to face the home fans at the opposite end as James Tarkowski did the duty from 12 yards. Douglas was visibly despondent as he heard a loud thud and realised Tarkowski had leathered his penalty so far over the bar it had rebounded back off the second tier of the stand.
Brentford still attacked and Leeds struggled to resist. Douglas might have scored himself with a stooping far-post header that was brilliantly turned around a post by Silvestri.
Leeds looked top-heavy and their formation lacked a capable anchor-man – Lewis Cook was meant to occupy that role but deserted his duties too often. Inevitably, Jota punished them seconds from the interval when he twisted intelligently in the box, left several defenders on the floor and smashed his shot high into the net.
The second half mirrored the first; Brentford ran riot but were denied the glut of goals their intelligent play deserved. Gray wrong-footed the keeper at one point but Silvestri still got his trailing leg to the ball to keep it out. Then a diving header from Moses Odubajo was brilliantly kept out by the Italian.
Eventually, McCormack’s deflected shot found the net in the 77th minute and cries of “We’re just too good for you” rung around the stadium. What an understatement that was.
“The players spoke about needing a Plan B or a Plan C after last week, but we don’t need those,” said the Brentford manager, Mark Warburton. “We should just do Plan A well, like we did today. We created chance after chance after chance, and my only criticism is that we didn’t pick them off more in front of goal.”