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“I was trying to calm down my players,” argued Emery. “Emiliano was a little bit absent. Tomorrow we will speak to the players about what happened when we lost control.”
“I didn’t like what happened at the end of the game,” lamented Frank. “Head coaches, fans and players need to show more class.
Alongside the wrestling, there was a splendid football match. Defeating Manchester City and Arsenal in four head-spinning days was an obvious statement of Villa’s intent, yet titles and Champions League slots are mainly secured by felling more mundane trees such as Brentford. Brentford seemed to have answers to the questions which proved too difficult for Arsenal and City.
Villa arrived with the understandable swagger of a team unbeaten since Bonfire Night and they were in a hurry, winning a succession of early corners down their left where Roerslev struggled to contain Moreno’s fast and furious overlaps.
Unlike so many of their peers, Brentford found a way to contain Villa. They defended deeply and in the face of Villa’s urgent press, gently reshuffled, turning their back three into a quintet, while the excellent Christian Norgaard and Mikkel Damsgaard plugged the midfield holes Villa love to exploit more adroitly than Arsenal and Manchester City.
The game soon turned rollercoaster. Long before Martinez and Maupay’s coming together, Brentford might have had a early penalty when John McGinn wrestled Mee to the ground.
Then, as the first-half added time board was being hoisted by fourth official Simon Hooper, Brentford squeezed ahead. Saman Ghoddos slung in a corner from the left. It deflected away from goal off the arm of Watkins. Moreno seemed ready to clear, but as he swung his left foot, Keane Lewis-Potter nipped in from behind to guide home his first league goal since joining from Hull City at the start of last season.
Until Mee’s dismissal Brentford looked, if not secure, then increasingly comfortable as the minutes rolled on, but with Mee gone, the game would turn on its head.
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