Excellent work and Brentford's reputation will only be growing. Many top players will now be looking to be a part of the project going on here, only made greater with the European football on offer.
A Swarm Of Bees - Season 21/22 Review (EP 37)
Securing 5th place in the PL!

Our second season in the top flight of English football has ended and we can be pretty happy about it as just 2 years after getting promoted Brentford FC will play in the European competitions! We finished 5th, having some great upsets over the big dogs in the division, leaving Arsenal out of top 6 and even for a small amount of time were in top 4, just a couple of points behind the leaders.
I count that season as a successful one even though we could have been more constant and don't let another mini crisis in the Spring to trouble us. We were killing it in December & January. Everton threw us out from both cups as once again we didn't do anything special in them (4th round in EFL, 5th in FA). This year with Europe League on the horizon we will try to stay in all competition as our team will be strong enough.
We finished the year with €50M in the bank which is one of the things that I'm aiming for in the beginning. Not letting the market change our policy and spend absurd money on average players. Other financial part of my journey to not let anyone from the club for less the sum he was bough also was success.
Now that we have so many rejects from the big clubs in our B team, and we have solid players that can give us big transfer money I think the next step is finally to have a U23 team and thus an youth intake, because stealing talents is great, but if we can breed them ourselves it will be better.
We had an 11 match unbeaten streak in the Winter, also some memorable wins over Arsenal, Manchester United & Chelsea. On the other hand we still have some troubles when facing Crystal Palace & Norwich.
Here are all the results through the year:


Season Awards:

Mathias Jensen wins this year Fan Award, Lovro Majer is the Signing of the Season and Dominick Thompson wins Young Player of the Season!

Ollie Watkins finishes the season with 17 goals in the league and is 3rd, nowhere near to the 31 goals from Greenwood, but massive achievement. Alexander Isak 13 goals are enough for the 6th place in the rankings.

Goalkeepers:
1. David Raya - For third straight year Raya was sensational for us! He got 8 clean sheets (1 less than last year), saved a lot of penalties and generally was stable in most of the matches. In the beginning of the year he was wanted by Tottenham.
21. Christian Fruchtl - Turning into our Sergio Romero as he played 8 matches (5 in cups) and allowed only 2 goals in them, keeping 6 clean sheets! Absolute monster!
25. Dean Henderson- Came in the winter and played only 1 match.
Overall: It will be tough choice who will be our main goalkeeper next year as all 3 (+ Gunnarsson who is on loan) are great! Maybe we will need to sell one of our goalkeepers in the summer.

Defenders:
18. Pontus Jansson (c) - Another great season for our captain! Superb defending, always in position, not letting the attackers any chances! He also contributed with 2 goals & 2 assists! True leader. Always wanted by Chinese teams. As he is now 31 years old maybe we will have to let him go if the right offer comes.
16. Thilo Kehrer - His partner in crime, German international Kehrer had second great season for the Bees! Rock solid! He scored 1 goal in the league, but mainly covered all the spaces before our goal. With his great speed and overall qualities he will be our perfect defender for the time to come.
40. Jesus Vallejo - Mainly used when we were playing with 3 at the back, I expected much more from him. He will get another chance next year but must show us something good. Of course he cost us nothing so we can always sell him for a profit.
5. Ethan Pinnock & 30. Andrew Gravillon - Solid effort from Pinnock as he always performs good when he is used, perfect cover for the main defenders, team player! After great pre-season Gravillon was the least used defender. He had good performances, however it's not ready to be first choice.
Overall: We are really solid at the back and we don't need big investments there. I think we could sell only Pontus but only if we get serious offer in the range of €25-30M.

Wingbacks:
2. Dominick Thompson - One of our best players this year! After winning his spot in the starting XI, he never stopped improving! Running up and down the left wing, superb wingback! Delivering 2 goals and 7 assists, winning 1 Player of the Month award and winning our Young Player of the Year, Dominick has his greatest season so far! He also had the best average rating in our squad and finished the campaign with most assist!
3. Rico Henry - Living in the shadow of Thompson, our other wingback has good season! 1 goal and 3 assists and if he got more chances I'm sure he would deliver more. Still has great future ahead of him in our club, our left wing is secured for sure!
6. Felix Beijmo - Great first season for the Swedish national! Finally we got solid player in the right wingback position! 1 goal & 5 assists for him. I'm really happy that we got him only for €4.2M from Werder, bargain!
35. Oskar Buur - The Danish player didn't play so big part in our matches as last year, mainly because of Felix, however I'm pretty happy with his displays. 3 assists for him, always can be trusted!
Overall: Wingbacks are one of our most important players as in attack we play really narrow and we depend on their passing and crosses a lot! I always look for additions in these positions and would be no surprise if we get one in the summer.

Midfielders:
8. Mathias Jensen - Mathias was once again vital player for our team! Upgrading his average rating in the Premier League since last year and proving to be our most important player! Jensen finishes the campaign with 4 goals & 5 assists, also winning record for the club 4th Player of the Month award! Favorite player in my stay at Brentford FC!
20. Lovro Majer - Our best signing this year, the young Croatian had tremendous second half of the season winning 2 Player of the Month awards in the final 3 months! Lovro is becoming one of the leaders for the team and we need to build around him. 7 goals, 4 assists, 2 POTM - SUPERB PLAYER!
26. Shandon Baptiste - He keeps on improving every year! Playing a lot more and turning everywhere in midfield Baptiste is our great box-to-box player! With 2 goals and 5 assists he is getting more and more attention to him, however I want to keep him for us!
14. Josh Dasilva - Again he wasn't on top of his game and I expected much more from him. Played only 21 games in all competitions in which he got 1 goal and 2 assists. In the end of the season we had a talk that he is not performing well and that's why he has not guaranteed place in the starting XI, he didn't like that and maybe he will leave in the summer.
7. Pedro Chirivella - Nothing close to last year as he was injured for a long period of time. Played just 12 matches in which he got 1 assist and nothing more. After winning Young Player of the Year last year he was expected to shine even brighter this year, but that wasn't the case. Hopefully next year he will show his potential again!
17. Ben Pearson - Had okay season until he came into my office demanding more playing time or he will leave. I showed him the door right away. However he got more chances and can contribute more for the team if he doesn't leave. Just 1 assist for him, probably will leave.
23. Yousseff Bennasser - Okay for first season, can expect more from him next time as he played mostly as substitute or in cups. 1 goal & 1 assist, but need to improve.
24. Amine Harit - Came in the winter becoming our most expensive player, yet he didn't show why. Really poor performances plus injury for the last few matches. Need big improvement next year, but I believe in him.
12. Alfa Semedo - Meh player, using him only when we want to brake opponents legs. Scored in the final game against Chelsea, he is not important to the team and if we get an offer probably will seek for a substitute.
88. Flynn Downes - Didn't get a lot of time in the first half of the season and was loaned to Genoa. Will use him next year.
Overall: We have a lot of potential in this zone as Majer & Harit are yet to show their true qualities, also we have already got a new player in the face of Vitinha (from Porto) who will join us but we always try to find great players to add. Also we will have probably some of these player leaving the club. It's important to have equally good players as we will enter one more tournament this year and need to be balanced.

Wingers:
19. Bryan Mbeumo - His performances were not the best through the season, but better than last year. However he can be a lot more lethal in front of the goal. Now with the more competition for the starting place we need everybody to show their 100%. Mbeumo finishes with 4 goals & 5 assist!
10. Said Benrahma - Said is improving with every year! He was really good this time, constantly threatening oppositions goalkeepers or providing deadly passes! Shining bright with 8 goals & 6 assist the Algerian had really good season.
22. Patrick Roberts - Started really well his career and won Player of the Month award in September. However his performance dropped and he lost himself in the battle for the right winger position. He was okay, but with this kind of a start I expected much more. 3 goals, 4 assist, 1 POTM and big expectations for next year.
28. Ebere Eze - Came in the winter, has some problems with injuries and played only 5 matches in which he got 1 assist. Next year will be the big test for him.
77. Jeong Woo-Yeong - Really poor start of the season after which he was loaned to Tenerife.
SOLD. Ayoze Perez - As last year expected much more from him, yet he got 1 goal & 2 assist before we sold him for €18M to Udinese. Making double the money is okay for me even tough I could have been happier if he just played well.

Strikers:
11. Ollie Watkins - Player of the Season for sure! Absolutely phenomenal! He was one of the main reasons that we finished 5th! With his 17 goals he became the 3rd goalscorer in the league, also gave 3 assists and won Player of the Month 2 times! Big time player, moving from the wing to the striker position and still was the best. I'm sure that we will have troubles keeping him but he is vital for the team!
9. Alexander Isak - The biggest improvement since last year as he almost doubled his scoring account and did a lot better! The Swedish international scored 14 goals and assisted once, winning Player of the Month award 2 times and score 2 hattricks. If he continue like that next year he can lead us to even bigger achievements!
99. Amine Gouiri - Really good first season for him! He was used mostly as substitute and yet again he scored 8 goals and provided 2 assists. Bright future for him at the club!
Overall: All 3 strikers performed really well and I won't bring anyone new if we don't sell first. Also Fross is returning from loan next year so the competition for places will be great!
We have a lot of players and need to offload some of them, but this is normal when we don't buy big price players sometimes it won't work out, sometimes it will be great transfer for almost no money.

We are described as biggest overachievers for a second year in a row as we were predicted to finish 17th. Btw, look at the best match in the competition, LOL!
Around The World
England - Chelsea (2) wins domestic treble! They win the league for the second time from my appointment, also FA Cup for second time and EFL for the 3rd time! They are bossing the English football. Tottenham played in 3 straight FA finals, 1 win, 2 losses. Leicester are relegated after second awful season. Newcastle, Fulham & Nottm Forest are the three new members from the Championship!
Spain - Barcelona (2) won with 11 points the league for a second straight time. No massive surprises in the league. Barca won their third straight Copa Del Ray after beating Real Madrid in the extra time in the final. Celta Vigo finally returns to the La Liga.
Italy - Inter (2) win back the Schudetto and Juventus (1) wins back TIM Cup so they have 2 from the past 3 years. Genoa & Udinese are going to Serie B after poor seasons.
Germany - Borussia Dortmund (1) dethrones Bayern (2) and Germany has new champion for the first time since 2013! The drama is full as Dortmund beat their rivals by just 1 point! However Bayern wins their 3rd straight DFB-Pokal! Hertha back in the top flight!
France - PSG (3) of course wins here, they do the double after lifting the cup, nothing interesting again. 21 points away from the 2nd team in the league.
Champions League - Manchester City (1) win their first CL after beating Liverpool in the final! They also eliminated the past two champions - Bayern & Barcelona on the way of becoming the best European team. 2 days after winning the CL, Man City fired Diego Simeone as their manager.
Europa League - Atletico Madrid (1) are the champions! They reach the final for a second straight time, this time winning it against the 19/20 champions Benfica (1). They also eliminated Lazio, Napoli & Arsenal from the tournament.
Conference League - Tottenham (1) are the first champions of the new tournament beating Milan in the final! Beating Olympiakos, Utrecht & Athletic Bilbao on the road to the final.
Thanks for reading once again & hope you enjoy it.
-
TheLFCFan - It's really hard not to use our enormous amount of money when all big players are willing to come, I'm not sure I can keep it that way for next season

ScottT - Thanks, top 4 was close this season, lets take it next!
Aaron - Welcome on board, we will try our best in EL!