2 weeks ago
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If Antoine Semenyo is in his final days as a Bournemouth player, he departs a club with problems. Andoni Iraola’s status as a hot property has chilled amid difficult winter months. Bournemouth are the latest club to struggle after selling players to offset harsh financial winds. Of the Premier League’s set of “well-run”, smaller clubs, perhaps Brentford now provide the best example of how to stay afloat after losing key personnel.
Igor Thiago and hat-trick hero Kevin Schade positively ravaged Bournemouth’s defenders, suggesting if the Semenyo money can be reinvested, the place to start is at the back. Semenyo, said to be Manchester-bound, got on the scoresheet but by then, his team were three goals down. There would be no comeback.
A year that began with high promise ebbs into dust, from missing out on Europe to a recent run of form where the last Premier League victory came two months ago. If Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi and Milos Kerkez have had struggles at their elite destinations, losing them is now taking a heavy toll; their replacements are struggling awfully. Equally problematic is a lack of goals; Bournemouth kicked off seventh in the table on chance creation but with a negative goal difference.
Brentford’s pre-Christmas win at Wolves had been vital, timely, lifting them 10 points clear of the bottom three. Such a cushion clearly lends them confidence. Yehor Yarmolyuk had fired wide even before Schade was sent away by Igor Thiago to score his first. Bafodé Diakité’s loss of balance made the task yet easier.
Semenyo was starved of his chance to sign off in style. Michael Kayode’s physical prowess was difficult to shake, as Brentford staged the type of early blitz trademarked in the Thomas Frank era. Keith Andrews has his own ideas on the game, including repurposing the excellent Keane Lewis-Potter as a raider off the right, but his team retain the same qualities of being flinty, ornery opponents.
Diakité’s partner at the back, Marcos Senesi, had equal struggles when chased down by Andrews’ pack of hunting dogs. Both were on the crime scene for Brentford’s second, high farce following Thiago springing the offside trap. The ball ended in the net via both hapless central defenders and a flap from Djordje Petrovic. It had taken until the 28th minute for Semenyo to get a clear run on Kayode and if his feint momentarily wrong-footed his shadow for the afternoon, his pass inside to Lewis Cook was wasted.
Iraola’s three changes at the break, including the removal of the unfortunate Diakité, and Cook repurposed at centre-back, looked for vital signs from a lifeless Bournemouth. On came David Brooks, Evanilson and Justin Kluivert but that would not close the aching gap in midfield that Brentford continued to exploit. Schade’s second came via another breakneck counter. After Thiago’s pass came Yarmolyuk’s cutback and a drilled finish.
Bournemouth at least rallied, and Kluivert was guilty of an incredible miss when hitting the post from inches out. Within seconds, Brentford poked from their defensive shell for another counter from which Schade blazed wide. Semenyo’s goal was scored from inches out, a back heel after Alejandro Jiménez’s bullocking run to the byline.
Another might have come within seconds, Kayode twice denying Semenyo, though Alex Scott had to make a desperate goalline clearance to deny another Schade escape. In an all-action finish Caoimhín Kelleher was increasingly busy, though Petrovic was still being asked to make the more difficult saves, tipping a Vitaly Janelt long-ranger on to the bar. In a microcosm of their year, Bournemouth gassed out and hopes were extinguished by Schade nodding in his third with the last kick of the game.
