Brentford vs Borussia Monchengladbach
I fear for Brentford ahead of the new season, I really do. Since being promoted to the top-flight for the first time in 74 years in 2021, the club from West London has excelled all expectations on a shoestring, upsetting some of the big boys, and generally being a tough nut to crack with limited resources.
Yet there comes a time when, in a world of big spending power, that can only last so long and, ahead of this high-profile Club Friendly at the Gtech Community Stadium on Friday night, this SBOTOP writer confesses to thinking the Bees’ Premier League status will be seriously under threat during 2025-26.
Talking Points
There are so many obvious reasons why. For a start, the departure of Thomas Frank has removed the club’s public face. He was the man who made it all happen, someone who embodied and fronted the rise of one of London’s smaller concerns. As a former colleague of mine observed this week, without him, uncertainty is unavoidable.
Since being promoted in 2021, Brentford secured finishes of 13th, ninth, 16th,and 10th – always comfortable and never involved in a relegation battle – and the fact they finished ahead of both Manchester United and Spurs last term underlined just what a fine job Frank oversaw. Quite simply, he worked wonders since taking charge in 2018.
Now, as if the Dane being unable to resist the lure of Spurs wasn’t hard enough, three key members of staff have followed him.
Then there is the further loss of on-field leadership, most notably in club captain Christian Nørgaard, veteran centre-back Ben Mee, striker Bryan Mbeumo, and goalkeeper Mark Flekken. The future of Mbeumo’s former strike partner Yoane Wissa is also uncertain.
In my view – and there is still a fair few weeks remaining of the transfer window – they have only adequately replaced one of them with the signature of Caoimhin Kelleher.
What’s more, they have gone and replaced Frank with a rookie manager in the shape of Keith Andrews, appointed from within.
The whole combination I’ve just outlined is why many punters now fancy Brentford for the drop. It gives me no pleasure to say, I am one of them.
We will get a better look when this friendly pits them with the side which finished in 10th place in last season’s Bundesliga.
This is actually the final pre-season friendly for both Brentford and Borussia Monchengladbach before their respective league campaigns begin, so perhaps we will get a clearer steer on both clubs and a contest full of Club Friendly 2025 highlights.
Once a powerhouse of German football, Monchengladbach have been quiet for a number of campaigns and nowadays find it harder than ever to keep star names like these at the club, especially when they unearth goalscoring attackers like Alassane Pléa or Marcus Thuram.
To date, they have had a fairly positive pre-season, beginning with a 3-0 friendly win over Erzgebirge Aue before heading to Tegernsee for a training camp in the Bavarian Alps.
A friendly showing against Metalist 1925 Kharkiv was less impressive as they lost 3-1 but wins against Nurnberg and notably, La Liga side Valencia last time out means they travel to England in good spirits.
The victory against Valencia last Saturday marked the club’s 125th anniversary and was played at a sold-out Borussia Park with Robin Hack and Kevin Diks grabbing the goals in a 2-0 win in a contest watched by 51,125 fans.
Eyes will be on Haris Tabaković, a new signing from Hoffenheim, who the Foals hope he will add some experience to their attack and the 31-year-old has done well in pre-season so far, although more will be expected from Japanese attacker Shūto Machino, who joined from Holstein Kiel.
Machino, 25, spent two seasons in Germany’s north with Kiel after joining in summer 2023 from Japanese outfit Shonan Bellmare. During his time there, he helped propel them into the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history, before scoring 11 goals and providing four assists in the top-flight.
There is no doubt the German side will prove decent opposition for Brentford as a whole new era begins and my Club Friendly 2025 odds tip is: expect goals.
Brentford had the eighth-worst defencive record in the Premier League last season, conceding 57 goals, while Monchengladbach were the joint worst defensive team in the top 14 of the Bundesliga, also conceding 57 times.
History
This will be the first ever meeting between the Bees, who have drawn against Portuguese side Gil Vicente, and defeated Championship outfit QPR in their two friendlies so far, and the Foals.
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