It’s romantic to overstate the importance of a building and a crowd of onlookers in a football team’s win, but there is simply no question that the people inside of Brentford Community Stadium were more than a minor subplot in Brentford’s 2-0 win over Arsenal on Friday.
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Yes, the Bees’ return to the top flight after almost 75 years was victorious despite the highly-favored opposition.
Brentford’s loud, proud crowd delivered the goods almost as much as the goals from Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard.
Whether judged by the reactions of pundits in the building or the mere aesthetics on the NBC broadcast, there was no room for doubt.
“It was electric,” said Brentford boss Thomas Frank, who amped up the crowd before, during, and after the game.
“I promised the fans the players would run themselves in the ground but we need the fans as well. We can’t do anything alone. And they were absolutely amazing. They must be so proud and hopefully they can push us forward.”
Frank was asked how he’ll keep his Bees from getting too high after a memorable and historic London derby win over Arsenal.
“I constantly, as a principle, show the players hard work, togetherness, performance, and attitude,” Frank said. “And when I talk about attitude, I mean confident but humble. The confidence to know we could beat Arsenal but also [that we have to work hard].”
Brentford now meets Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park before returning home for a League Cup visit from Forest Green Rovers. It’ll be a trip to Aston Villa after that, and Brentford won’t be thinking a loss is certain or even probable in any of those cases.
What will the Bees record be after three Premier League matches? Brighton, Wolves, and Liverpool follow after that.
