MEE AND EASY
Ben reveals how Bees’ simple steps stung City
IF there was any doubt how much of a shock this result was it was reinforced by the description of Brentford’s game plan as revealed by defender Ben Mee.
At meetings prior to Saturday’s match at the Etihad, Thomas Frank and his team had told the players how to beat Manchester City in three steps.
Step one? Stop Erling Haaland scoring, something achieved by only three teams out of 16 this season and by only one when he has been on for the full game.
Step two? Keep Kevin De Bruyne quiet, a player who has a goal or assist in 13 of his 17 games this season.
And step three? Hit one of the meanest defences in the league on the break, not once but a couple of times if you can.
That they pulled it off was down to a superbly disciplined display against a side who looked for long periods of a frustrating afternoon as if they were halfway to Qatar.
Two goals from Ivan Toney just days after his England World Cup snub may have been the headline act but a limpet-like man-marking job from Ethan Pinnock and Mee shut down Haaland brilliantly.
Further up the field, Mathias Jensen did such an annoying job on De Bruyne, shutting down passing channels, that the midfielder got little change for all but the last 15 minutes
Asked whether City had been flat and under par, Mee said: “Possibly they were. We created early chances and then we got the goal and you always worry if you score too early that it may wake them up a bit.
“We were disappointed to concede late in the first half but we regrouped and defended really well for the majority of the second half and got a goal late on.” Pep Guardiola insisted before that none of his players would be thinking about the World Cup. But it was hard to escape the feeling that their minds were simply not on it.
“A few of our lads are going to the World Cup as well so it works both ways I guess,” said Mee. “Coming here you expect them to create stuff but we just kept them down.
“We kept the big man quiet and kept De Bruyne quiet for most of it as well. Ethan was brilliant up against Haaland. That’s what we aimed to do.
“The connection between De Bruyne and Haaland you can see it so we needed to cut that off a little bit and we did that well most of the game.”
Toney, who might have had four goals on the afternoon, opened the scoring after 16 minutes, beating Ederson with a header after a Mee assist. He struck again in the 98th minute on a breakway.
In between Phil Foden had levelled in the shadow of half time with a whipcrack effort in to the top corner.
City can console themselves that while Brentford demonstrated the perfect game plan, pulling it off is another thing entirely.