'We need more bodies back - and quickly'

Ian Westbrook, Beesotted podcast, external

There was a sense of pride, but also frustration, among us Brentford fans at full-time against Arsenal on Saturday.

Pride at how well we had played against one of the biggest clubs in the country with a patched-up side, which because of injury featured no recognised full-backs and was missing its most creative midfielder.

Frustration that despite the best efforts of everyone, we had lost out on a deserved point thanks to a last-gasp goal.

One reason was our consistently long injury list, which has affected the matchday squad’s strength in depth.

While Shandon Baptiste and Keane Lewis-Potter both returned to the bench after injury, and came on as late substitutes, Mathias Jensen and Mads Roerslev were ruled out instead.

The last 10 minutes of the match felt like last month’s game at Manchester United, where having scored midway through the first half, we lost to goals in the 93rd and 97th minute.

On both occasions, it felt like we were running out of steam in the closing stages and that is clearly down to the lack of experienced options among the substitutes.

Thomas Frank is usually very good at bringing on the right players at the right time to give us fresh legs and to close out games, but for large parts of this campaign, his options have been severely restricted.

To be where we are after 13 games is a huge credit to both him and the players, but we need more bodies back and quickly for a busy December.