Uwe Rosler praised Mike Grella for his determination to succeed at Brentford after seeing the forward score four times in an incredible 6-0 win against Bournemouth.
Grella has struggled to establish himself since his move from Leeds and had not scored for the Bees before his goals in a one-sided Johnstone’s Paint Trophy southern section quarter-final.
And Rosler explained that the American’s response to initially finding the going tough in west London convinced him to give Grella a chance to shine.
“When Mike came to us he struggled a little bit with the way we want our strikers – and the team in general – to play. It took him a little bit longer than expected,” said the Bees boss.
“But after a lot of good talks we had together, he’s put in a lot of work in training and the development games to try to show me he’s ready to start games. That’s why I gave him a chance.
“He got his opportunity against Chesterfield and I thought played well. I then spoke to him about Sheffield Wednesday, which was a different type of game so we went with Gary Alexander.
“Now Mike has come back in and I’m very happy with him. His goals are the most important thing for a striker and will give him confidence.”
Rosler added: “I feel now he’s doing his trickery and showing the talent he has in the right areas. He’s not dropping too deep into the midfield and looks more dynamic.
“In some areas he plays it simple, releases the ball quickly, and sprints into the space in the final third. It was very effective.
“He works the channels, is more aggressive in certain areas and is a very talented player on the ball. You can see what he’s capable of doing.
“Mike naturally wants the ball into his feet all the time. Sometimes you have to create space and make a lot of unselfish runs without getting the ball. He’s doing that much better now.”
Sam Saunders and Shaleum Logan also scored against a Bournemouth side that almost took an early lead when Scott Malone’s header hit both posts.
But having been caused problems in the opening stages, Brentford took total control and could have won by an even bigger margin.
Rosler declared: “Obviously we have to praise Mike – it’s not always that you score four goals, and he deserved those goals – and I also thought there was great service to him from his team-mates.
“We were lucky not to go a goal behind in first couple of minutes but after that we were much better and the scoreline did not flatter us.”
This post was last modified on 12/11/2011