These certainly are fighting words.
Hopefully this doesn’t turn into another petty rivalry like the one we tried to develop with Salford City at the start of the season.
In the lead up to the game at Griffin Park, Brentford boss Thomas Frank had some rather choice words to say about Leeds United and their recent run of form compared to the host’s, saying that he was “100 percent sure they fear us going into this game”.
Well, one member of the Leeds United team certainly wasn’t going to take those comments lying down, as Kalvin Phillips responded to the German’s comments after the game. Speaking to the club website, the midfielder said:
“We had a lot of comments from the Brentford fans and the Brentford manager, saying that we were fearing them, but we never fear a team going into a game, and I think it showed today. We are a very good footballing side, and with the way they play, I think we put a lot of pressure on them. We let them talk before the game, and let our performance shut them up.”
However, it’s the last line that really concerns me personally.
I don’t think that Leeds did anything to shut anyone up based on that game. It was the same sort of game we’ve been seeing all season, dominate possession, take plenty of shots but fail to convert the vast majority of them, there was nothing there that made me think that Leeds had stepped up a level or did anything spectacular.
If you really want to shut people up Kalvin, then start turning these performances into wins and put the fan’s fears to rest, that’s the quickest and easiest way to go about things. If you aren’t scared of teams, then start showing a little bit of ruthlessness in games and kill teams off early rather than having to scrape victories.
Do you feel the first-team are playing with fear?
Yes
No
Show not only the fans, but the rest of the league that this little wobble that we’ve had in recent weeks is just that, and that the game against Brentford was the turning point that you believe it was.