36 min Begovic takes the opportunity to receive treatment and use up a bit more time. He also had the effrontery to appeal for a foul after bouncing off his own team-mate Kelly.
35 min: What a clearance from Rico! Pinnock hurled in a long throw from the left towards the six-yard box. Begovic came for it, ran straight into the back of Kelly and fell over comically, as if he’d charged straight into a lamppost in a silent film. Dalsgaard guided a backheader towards the empty net, but Rico - facing his own goal - did brilliantly to boot it clear from under the crossbar.
33 min: Toney misses a great chance! Brentford should be level on aggregate. Dalsgaard sprayed a terrific pass to Canos, who cut inside and floated an angled beyond the far post. Toney, unmarked four yards out, headed wide.
30 min Bournemouth make a necessary substitution: Diego Rico comes on for David Brooks, which means Lloyd Kelly will move to centre-back.
30 min The resulting free-kick leads to a huge Brentford penalty appeal when Toney misses an attempted volley on the turn and falls over. He thought he was knocked off balance by an unwitting ankle tap from Dominic Solanke; it’s hard to be certain but I think he had a case. The referee disagreed.
Chris Mepham, once of Brentford, has been sent off for a professional foul. He miscontrolled a long clearance and was robbed by Mbuemo, who was about to run through on goal. Mepham fell over and grabbed Mbeumo by the leg, bringing him down as well. There were no complaints from anyone connected with Bournemouth, which tells its own story.
28 min: MEPHAM SENT OFF FOR BOURNEMOUTH! Oh my goodness, it has all changed now.
25 min The Sky Sports summariser Don Goodman thinks Bournemouth were hard bone by with the penalty. I don’t think it should be a penalty, but I think it was the right decision based on the current interpretation of the law. He was sliding and his hand was at head height.
24 min There’s a febrile atmosphere at the Brentford Community Stadium, and I’ll be very surprised if this doesn’t kick off at some stage. Brentford are possibly a bit too pumped up, and Bournemouth look the smoother side on the ball. Brooks wins a corner with a dangerous run, and then Bournemouth take an age to take it. Thomas Frank spends the whole time tapping his watch.
21 min “When my boys were younger, I used to help out ‘coaching’ the primary school football team,” says Adam Roberts. “If they had defended like Brentford on that B’mouth goal, I would have been livid. My main job was shouting at defenders and the goalkeeper where to stand and to pay attention. It’s astonishing that not one of the Bees’ players or coaching staff noticed that no Brentford player was within 20 metres of the halfway line.”
It looks like it’s a deliberate tactic, which is fascinating and funky and just plain wrong. Surely the pros don’t outweigh the one big, potentially season-ruining con.
Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto)
⚽️ Most goals in @SkyBetChamp & play-offs since Feb 27
May 22, 2021
11 ARNAUT DANJUMA
9 Adam Armstrong, Teemu Pukki
8 Andre Ayew, Daryl Dike pic.twitter.com/V8tOePXlsk
20 min Bournemouth break five on four, only for Brooks of all people to overrun the ball. They look so menacing on the counter-attack.
18 min If you’re a neutral, this is all sorts of fun - drama, controversy, farce, needle. And we’ve got at least another 75 minutes to come.
Toney walks up slowly and sidefoots an emphatic penalty to Begovic’s left. He went the right way but couldn’t reach it. Toney grabs the ball and runs back to the halfway line, but then Begovic chases after him and pushes the ball out of his hands. Toney responds by pushing Begovic, and both players are booked. That was a bit weird from Begovic, though, as Don Goodman says on Sky, it may have been designed to get Toney in trouble.
Emiliano’s cross hit the raised arm of Kelly. It probably is a penalty under the current interpretation of the law, though I’m not sure it would have been given but for an almighty appeal from the Brentford supporters.
15 min: PENALTY TO BRENTFORD! It’s been given for handball against Kelly, though he is fuming and there’s pushing and shoving on both sides.
13 min Another corner for Brentford, who again have everybody within 20 yards of goal. They didn’t forget to leave somebody back, it’s a deliberate tactic. Nothing comes of this corner, for Brentford or Bournemouth.
12 min A whole season of intense, high-quality work, 48 games, and then you forget to leave anyone back at a corner. I’m at Jack’s flabbered gast.
11 min Brentford are always getting frustrated, and Toney has a word with the referee after being fouled by Mepham.
8 min Brooks stays down after an awkward fall and then ssshhhhes one of the Brentford players encouraging him to get up. He’s fine to continue.
Brentford won the first corner of the game, and for some reason all their outfield players were within 20 yards of the Bournemouth goal when it was taken. A simple lobbed clearance found Danjuma near the halfway line. He charged to the edge of the penalty area and, just as in the first leg, slid the ball coolly to the left of David Raya.
That’s a stunning cock-up from Brentford - or, more specifically, from whoever is supposed to stay back on corners. It might have been the injured Jensen, but either way it’s a shocker.
Arnaut Danjuma has doubled Bournemouth’s lead in the tie!
4 min Jensen is still on the field, but Saman Ghoddos is getting ready to replace him if necessary.
2 min Yet another injury problem for Brentford - Mathias Jensen is limping heavily after going down off the ball. This doesn’t look good.
2 min Brentford are playing with a back three, which means their official website told a big smelly lie.
1 min Peep peep! Bournemouth, in their turquoise blue away strip, kick off from right to left. Brentford are in red and white.
There’s a huge roar as the Brentford players stroll onto the field. Thomas Frank has already done a lap of the pitch to applaud and encourage the returning supporters. Those fans will leave the ground in a few hours’ time in a state of euphoria or in despair; there’s nothing inbetween.
Christian Norgaard has been injured in the warm-up, so Mads Roerslev comes into the side. That’s another blow to Brentford. These are the revised teams:
Brentford (possible 4-3-3) Raya; Dalsgaard, Jansson, Pinnock, Janelt; Roerslev, Jensen, Emiliano; Mbuemo, Toney, Canos.
Substitutes: Daniels, Goode, Forss, Ghoddos, Reid, Fosu, Roerslev, Stevens, Bidstrup.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Begovic; Smith, Carter-Vickers, Mepham, Kelly; Pearson, Lerma; Brooks, Billing, Danjuma; Solanke.
Substitutes: Travers, Stacey, Rico, Wilshere, Kilkenny, Riquelme, Anthony, Long, Surridge.
That Brentford formation is based on their official website, though it doesn’t quite look right and it might be a red herring. Most places list them in a 3-4-1-2 as follows: Raya; Dalsgaard, Jansson, Pinnock; Roerslev, Jensen, Janelt, Canos; Emiliano; Toney, Mbeumo.
Here’s Thomas Frank
“I wish we could just cut and paste [last year’s semi-final comeback], that’d be nice! But this is football, we’re working with human beings and we have a tough opponent who will do everything they can to win. I’m honestly extremely excited. Of course we’re all bit a nervous - if you’re not nervous, pttthht, we’re playing for so much - but the fans are back, we have everything to play for against another good football side. Hopefully it’s one of those occasions we will always remember.
“Rico has had a setback so he is out for today. Emiliano is perfect for a game like this and Bryan has been in form, so that’s why I changed it. Now Marcus [Forss] needs to be a gamechanger from the bench.”
Brentford (possible 4-3-3) Raya; Dalsgaard, Jansson, Pinnock, Janelt; Norgaard, Jensen, Emiliano; Mbuemo, Toney, Canos.
Substitutes: Daniels, Goode, Forss, Ghoddos, Reid, Fosu, Roerslev, Stevens, Bidstrup.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Begovic; Smith, Mepham, Carter-Vickers, Kelly; Pearson, Lerma; Brooks, Billing, Danjuma; Solanke.
Substitutes: Travers, Stacey, Rico, Wilshere, Kilkenny, Riquelme, Anthony, Long, Surridge.
Both teams are missing important players because of injury
Rico Henry, who returned as a substitute on Monday, must have had a relapse because he isn’t in the squad. That’s a blow for Brentford, who are also without Josh Dasilva, and it’s not yet clear how they will line up. I think Thomas Frank may switch to 4-3-3. What we know for sure is that he has made three changes from Monday’s first leg: Henrik Dalsgaard, Emiliano Marcondes and Bryan Mbeumo come in for Mads Roerslev, Tariqe Fosu and Marcus Forss.
Bournemouth coach Jonathan Woodgate makes one change, with Chris Mepham replacing the injured captain Steve Cook at centre-half.
Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC)
🚨 𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 🚨
➡ Dalsgaard, Emiliano, Mbeumo
⬅ Roerslev, Fosu, ForssYour Bees this afternoon 👊#BrentfordFC #BREBOU pic.twitter.com/j33rnHFJc5
May 22, 2021
AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth)
📝 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 📝
🔺 One change from Monday
🔺 Mepham in for Cook
🔺 Pearson fit to startHere's how we line up for today's play-off second leg. 𝗟𝗘𝗧'𝗦 𝗚𝗢, 𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗦! 🔥🔥#afcb 🍒 pic.twitter.com/JXYt6r7UVD
May 22, 2021
Pre-match scene-setter
This is really good as always from Ben Fisher.
Hello, good morning and welcome to live coverage of the Championship playoff semi-final second leg between Brentford and Bournemouth. The good news is that it one of these teams will be at Wembley a week today, with the chance to become £200m richer, win promotion to the Premier League and maybe even become £200m richer.
The bad news is that one of them will have played 48 games for nothing. All those third-man runs, all that zestful counter-pressing, all that willpower to resist the appreciable temptations of the Nando’s drive thru... it’ll all have amounted to nowt. The stakes are so high, too high in some ways, and for different reasons both teams are desperate to get promoted.
Brentford have not been in the top flight since 1947, and had their hearts broken by Fulham in last year’s final. Bournemouth had never been in the top division until 2015, but they enjoyed their five-year stay so much that they would really rather like to get back at the first attempt.
Bournemouth lead 1-0 from the first leg on Monday, when Arnaut Danjuma’s goal settled a tense game at the Vitality Stadium. Brentford overcame a similar deficit against Swansea in last year’s semi-final, and this year they will have 4,000 fans at their new stadium. But Bournemouth are terrific on the break - they almost played like the away team in the first leg - and will fancy their chances of scoring.
If they do, Brentford will need at least two: happily for them, given the first-leg score, the away-goals rule isn’t used in the playoffs, not even after extra-time. Few will be surprised if this goes the distance.
Kick off 12.30pm. The winners play Swansea or Barnsley at Wembley next weekend.
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