No Toney, no problem – after star striker left out over ‘transfer interest’

Ivan Toney’s potential move away from Brentford has been trailed for months, yet when news broke shortly before kick-off that he was not in the Brentford squad to play Crystal Palace, it still came as a shock.
How will Brentford do without him? Well, look to last season and there is evidence that they may just be OK — Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa scored 21 goals between them, even with their respective campaigns affected by injury and international commitments, and it was they who provided the key contributions at the Gtech Community Stadium either side of Ethan Pinnock’s own goal.
Thomas Frank, the Brentford head coach, said that he and the club had decided to omit Toney, 28, from the squad on Thursday, despite the striker’s willingness to feature.
“Ivan always wants to play,” he said. “A lot of things are going on with Ivan, especially with transfers, there’s a lot of transfer interest. Because of all that, we’ve decided not to include him in the squad.”
The Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli have shown interest in Toney, and Brentford expect the striker to move, with the club hoping to receive about £50million for the striker.
Before the summer, Brentford had hoped to extract a transfer fee of at least £70million for the striker, but a lack of interest in a relatively slow transfer window prompted them to reduce their asking price.
Wissa led the line on Sunday, but he, Mbeumo and Kevin Schade were relatively anonymous for the opening 20 minutes, with Palace impressing.
Their energetic pressing caused problems for Brentford, yet amid that throng of attacking energy and movement was an island of calmness in Eberechi Eze.
The midfielder strode around the pitch with authority — the sign of a man aware that, with Michael Olise now at Bayern Munich, this is his team and the pitch his canvas.
A smattering of artful flicks, in the form of nonchalant ball-rolls and drag-backs where he dared the Brentford players to try to tackle him, underlined his confidence. While the play around him was rushed at times, the 26-year-old looked at ease.
Pressing from his team-mate Daichi Kamada on Mark Flekken forced the Brentford goalkeeper into a mistake. Had it not been for a desperate lunging foul by Wissa on the edge of the area, Eze may have made him pay for it. His subsequent free kick narrowly missed the target, but with his next set piece he caught Flekken out and found the net via the post.
However, the match official Sam Barrott, the most recent addition to the refereeing Select Group roster, adjudged that a foul had been committed as Will Hughes grappled with Nathan Collins in the area and whistled while Eze’s strike was airborne and yet to cross the goalline.
The PGMOL are keen to penalise blocking or “holding” in set pieces this season, but Barrott admitted to Eze he should not have blown so early, which meant the VAR was unable to intervene.
“I was told [by Barrott] that he blew too early and made the mistake,” Eze said. “It could have changed the game but we have to deal with it. It wasn’t our only chance.”
Oliver Glasner, the Palace manager, seemed at ease with the decision at full-time when informed that Barrott had admitted to making a mistake. “It shows he has good character and he’s a good guy,” the Austrian said. “I always tell the players it’s part of the game to make mistakes. I made mistakes today as well.”
As is so often the case with disallowed goals, it proved a catalyst for the team granted the reprieve: Brentford sharpened up, with smart, quick combination play drawing Palace forward and exposing space in behind.
Wissa produced a classic piece of centre-forward play by dropping and passing to Mbuemo, who was storming down the right.
The attacker had had barely a touch of note until this point, but he carved a path infield, jinked past Marc Guéhi and lashed a strike past Dean Henderson to give his side the lead. That advantage was nearly doubled moments later as Kristoffer Ajer struck straight at the Palace goalkeeper from inside the six-yard box.
After being trapped against the touchline by the visiting team’s press, Brentford now controlled the midfield, exerting their own pressure. However, a half-time change — Odsonne Édouard replacing Jean-Philippe Mateta — helped to change Palace’s fortunes.
Unsurprisingly, Eze was involved in the equaliser. With the ball at his feet outside the area, he paused and then accelerated play as Tyrick Mitchell ran around him. The wingback’s cross was met by Daniel Muñoz, whose header was inadvertently poked over the line by Pinnock.
The game then settled, briefly, with Palace consolidating their position until further changes were made.
One of those, Mikkel Damsgaard, put a cross into the area, which Collins managed to control and latch on to with a swivelling shot. A deflection left Henderson scrambling, and his fingertips were not enough to push the ball away from Wissa, who scored from close range.
From that point onwards, Palace pushed for another equaliser. Shots from Eze, who had seven in total, required blocking by the Brentford defence, whose dogged determination and tactical discipline kept the away side — whose final pass was lacking — at bay.
“I will always miss Ivan as a player and a person,” Frank said after the game. Brentford, though? Maybe not so much.
Brentford (5-2-3): M Flekken 7 — M Roerslev 5, N Collins 7, E Pinnock 5, K Ajer 6, V Janelt 7 (M Damsgaard 74min) — M Jensen 6 (F Onyeka 84), C Norgaard 7 — B Mbeumo 7 (B Mee 90), Y Wissa 8 (F Carvalho 84), K Schade 6 (K Lewis-Potter 74) Booked Wissa.
Crystal Palace (5-2-3) D Henderson 5 — D Muñoz 6, C Richards 5 (I Sarr 84), J Andersen 6, M Guéhi 5, T Mitchell 7 — A Wharton 7 (J Lerma 74), W Hughes 6 (C Doucouré 84) — D Kamada 6 (J Ayew 70), J-P Mateta 5 (O Édouard 46, 5), E Eze 7. Booked Andersen, Guéhi, Richards, Kamada, Ayew.
Referee S Barrott. Attendance 16,988.