Brentford’s resurgence under Rosler shows that it’s good to talk

Four wins from four games and suddenly it’s all smiles again down at Griffin Park. But what has been behind the remarkable transformation in Brentford’s form?

It was less than three weeks ago that internet forums were full of speculation over the future of manager Uwe Rosler, with some fans calling for him to go.

And halfway through the second half of the home game against Colchester there were some rumblings on the terraces, with a small minority of supporters suggesting that the end was nigh.

But three goals in the last 20 minutes of that match earned Brentford their first home win in four league games and suddenly everything was all right again.

Three days later the side ground out a 2-1 win at struggling Bristol City and followed that with a 1-0 defeat of Shrewsbury before repeating that scoreline at Crawley last Saturday.

This run of fixtures followed the disappointing defeat at Stevenage – and it appears that what happened after that match has had the desired effect.

Rosler kept his players locked in the dressing room for 90 minutes after they came off the pitch and during that time every player and member of the management had their say as to what was not working.

Reports suggested that there was a frank heart-to-heart and afterwards Adam Forshaw told West London Sport: “It was good and we needed it – the problems we’ve had have been really hard to put your finger on. Everyone got things off their chest.”

The other contributing factor to this winning sequence – the first time the Bees have won four in a row since reeling off five victories near the end of the 2011/12 season – has been the fact they have had a settled side.

Eight outfield players have started all four matches – Alan McCormack, Jake Bidwell, Harlee Dean, Tony Craig, Jonathan Douglas, Forshaw, George Saville and Clayton Donaldson – with Kadeem Harris starting three and Will Grigg and Marcello Trotta two each.

McCormack was moved to right-back after the Stevenage game, replacing Shaleum Logan, who had been ever-present in the league before that and Craig returned to replace on-loan Martin Taylor at centre-half.

Douglas’ comeback after injury has also helped and the optimism has flooded back.

We will soon learn how good Brentford are, as at the end of the month they play title-chasing Wolves and Peterborough within four days – sandwiched between games against teams in the bottom four in Crewe and Notts County.

Before that, however, is the local derby FA Cup tie with Staines Town – the clubs’ first-ever competitive meeting and a match which should produce a decent crowd for this stage of the competition.

Lots of Bees fans live in the Staines area, while the Swans are managed by former Brentford winger Marcus Gayle, who in 1992 played a big part in the side’s promotion to what is now the Championship.

It will be interesting to see whether Rosler decides to make wholesale changes to the team as he did in the Capital One Cup at Derby or if only two or three alterations are made to give some players a rest and others some game time.

As usual, things are never dull at Griffin Park!

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