2023/24 season analysis: Brentford’s best performances | OneFootball

Much to head coach Thomas Frank's frustration, very good performances were sometimes not commensurate with their points tallies and our selected trio of games - a win, a draw and a loss - reflects that fact.

We begin with Brentford’s visit to Emirates Stadium on 9 March…

Arsenal 2 Brentford 1 | 9 March 2024

Despite coming away from the fixture empty-handed, our first ‘Match of the Season' takes us to north London and Emirates Stadium.

After a narrow 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at Gtech Community Stadium last November, the Bees were looking to throw a spanner in the works of Arsenal's title challenge, but they knew they would have their work cut out.

Mikel Arteta's side had scored a whopping 31 goals on their way to seven straight Premier League wins in 2024, hitting six past West Ham and Sheffield United, battering Burnley by five and netting four against Newcastle in their previous four outings.

As Brentford's captain Vitaly Janelt remarked afterwards "everyone expected that Arsenal would win by three, four, five", but the Bees' trademark resilience and ability to cause even the best sides problems underpinned one of their best performances of the season.

In midfield, Janelt snapped into tackles and distributed smartly, alongside the equally tenacious Mathias Jensen and Frank Onyeka; Ivan Toney and Yoane Wissa posed a threat up top, while Zanka, Kristoffer Ajer and Nathan Collins were colossal at the back.

That said, Arsenal had looked on course for a comfortable afternoon when Declan Rice headed home Ben White's cross from the right to put the hosts 1-0 up after just 15 minutes.

Brentford dug in, however, and their equaliser in added time at the end of the first half embodied their never-say-die attitude, as Wissa chased a seemingly lost cause and charged down Aaron Ramsdale's attempted clearance for a goal borne from sheer perseverance.

After the break, the Gunners had sustained spells of pressure, but it was Brentford who created the clearest opportunities, Ramsdale making amends for his earlier error to claw a wonderful snapshot from Toney and then a towering header from Collins away from his goal.

As was the case back in November, Kai Havertz swooped to score a late matchwinner for Arsenal to burst the Bees' hopes of securing precious Premier League points, but as their head coach observed afterwards: "The mentality, the effort, the shift, the personality this team is showing should make all the Brentford fans unbelievably proud."

Brentford 1 Manchester United 1 | 30 March 2024

Our next humdinger of a game can be used as a yardstick to measure just how far Brentford have come over recent years - as the Bees were left undeniably frustrated not to beat a Manchester United team that brought on substitutes signed for a combined £330 million.

The scoreline may have finished 1-1, but a high-octane affair saw the match finish 31-11 in Brentford's favour, in terms of shots taken over the duration of 102 incident-packed minutes.

Never short of a tasty soundbite, Thomas Frank afterwards stated that his side had "destroyed" their "unbelievably lucky" visitors and it was hard to question his logic given the Bees' dominance.

Over the course of their 2023/24 Premier League campaign, Brentford hit the woodwork on 11 occasions and four of those came in this one game against United: Ivan Toney, Zanka, Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo all hitting the frame of the Red Devils' goal.

As Brentford's head coach observed in his post-match interviews, the "football gods" appeared to be conspiring against the Bees and the home side were staring down the barrel of an undeserved defeat when United sub Mason Mount gave the visitors the lead with a clinical left-footed finish in the 96th minute.

True to character, however, the Bees plugged away and a fantastic cross from Toney allowed defender Kristoffer Ajer to gleefully score from close range in the 99th minute to earn the west Londoners a breathless point.

Goalscorer Ajer enjoyed an outstanding evening, the versatile Norwegian confining United striker Rasmus Højlund to the role of a bystander for the majority of the contest.

“Because we were so dominant, the fact that we didn't win that game irritated me", Frank admitted in his post-season interview - but the manner in which Brentford bossed the entire contest was impressive and positive proof that the Bees are an established top-flight outfit nowadays.

Luton Town 1 Brentford 5 | 20 April 2024

A season punctuated by injuries and 'what if' moments still saw Brentford kick into top gear on more than one occasion - and their 5-1 win at Luton Town was perhaps the best example of Frank’s side clicking as an attacking force.

The Bees swarmed all over their hosts and should have been a goal to the good even before Yoane Wissa gave them the lead with a fantastic strike from outside the box midway through the first half.

Razor sharp for Brentford in the latter part of the season, Wissa made it 2-0 just after the break when he prodded home an opportunistic effort from close range to showcase his predatory instincts.

Rather remarkably, all 12 of Wissa's Premier League goals for Brentford last season were from open play and the DR Congo international finished the campaign as the only player in the division with 10+ goals to score exclusively from live situations.

On loan from Tottenham Hotspur, Sergio Reguilón proved a fantastic addition to the Bees' ranks in January and he topped a wide range of stats at Kenilworth Road, the former Real Madrid man assisting Ethan Pinnock for the Bees' third of the afternoon.

Further strikes from wide men Keane Lewis-Potter and substitute Kevin Schade sealed Brentford's biggest win of the season and Frank was delighted with the display, despite the home side grabbing a late consolation through Luke Berry.

Despite the verve of their attacking play, the Bees boss highlighted the fact that victory had been built on the foundations of "defending well" and also pointed out that few teams had won so comfortably at Kenilworth Road.

Although they succumbed to relegation, Luton were a tough nut to crack all season on home turf and Brentford ended the campaign as the only team to beat them by more than two goals on their own patch.

"No team has done what we've done to them" said Frank afterwards - and he wasn't wrong!

A strong message communicated by Frank throughout Brentford's third straight season in the Premier League was that performance is paramount.

As even some of their best displays evidenced, the fine margins that decide games at the top level can go against you.

Win, lose or draw, however, the Bees' application levels were consistent during the 2023/24 campaign and their solid finish to the season bodes well for a positive 2024/25 campaign.