Brentford buoyant after beating Newcastle United with Igor Thiago double

Brentford (0) 3 v Newcastle United (1) 1

Barnes 27

Schade 56

Igor Thiago (pen) 78

Igor Thiago 95

By Kaz Mochlinski at the Brentford Community Stadium

Premier League

Matchweek 11

Brentford staged a scintillating second half comeback to recover from an undeserved deficit at half-time and defeat Newcastle United 3-1 with goals from Kevin Schade and another double for Igor Thiago.

It took time for them to overcome Newcastle’s negative approach and they could have had more than one penalty before their set-piece superiority and unrelenting running resulted in the visitors finishing with 10 men and being reduced to a ragged rabble.

The win brought the Bees to two points off potential Champions League qualification from fifth place in the Premier League - presently occupied by Tottenham Hotspur, the club for which their previous head coach, Thomas Frank, left during the summer

“Adding a level of calmness to the second half was key” explained Frank’s successor, Keith Andrews, when analysing the turnaround against Newcastle. More generally, it is also the most obvious quality he has changed in the team in his short time in charge.

As Andrews’ impact has grown, the improvement in Brentford’s results has been increasingly impressive. Beating Newcastle gave the Bees their fourth win in five games in all competitions going into the last international break of the year.

At home, when including the League Cup success over Aston Villa on penalties, Brentford now have five victories in seven matches this season, adding Newcastle’s scalp to earlier triumphs in the league against Villa, Manchester United and Liverpool.

Just as in the last game on their own pitch when defeating the Premier League champions, the Bees scored three goals including one from Schade and an Igor Thiago penalty. Once again, their first goal came from a Michael Kayode long throw.

However, in contrast to the Liverpool encounter, in which Brentford were never behind, this time versus Newcastle they had to endure an unwarranted amount of adversity and above all a blatant penalty not awarded by the referee or VAR.

“I think there’s definitely a sense of certain things not going for us,” reflected Andrews. “And I think sometimes you can use that as an excuse to not perform, and let it get the better of you.

“I’ve been in that position obviously on the pitch, and I don’t think I always dealt with it particularly well on the pitch, and I try to deal with it better off the pitch. I think our players actually dealt with it really, really well.

“They stuck at it, stuck to the task, and just kept - they were relentless really in terms of getting back level, and then going for the winning goals.”

Although this was Newcastle’s ninth consecutive away trip in the Premier League without a win, in a barren run stretching back to April, they are sixth in the current Champions League standings and still a formidable force for Brentford to beat.

Newcastle started out with a focus on disrupting and frustrating the Bees as much as possible, breaking up the play and preventing any flow to the match developing. The Magpies’ gameplan worked, as they went in front just before the half-hour mark.

Against the run of play, the goal came from Newcastle’s first attempt on target - and the only one that they would have in the whole contest. The scorer was Harvey Barnes, who had also struck in the same fixture 11 months ago.

On this occasion, Bruno Guimarães distributed to the right for Jacob Murphy to cross. Nick Woltemade improvised with quick feet to flick the ball on and back for Barnes, dummying left and right before shooting left-footed low into the net.

Seven days earlier, Newcastle had travelled to the capital and gone ahead at West Ham United but ended up losing 3-1. One week subsequently, they suffered an exact repeat at Brentford for a sixth defeat in their last nine league matches in London.

Despite all the height and bulk in their team, the visitors could not stop Schade scoring from a set play shortly after half-time with a header, as the Bees extended their Premier League lead over the last couple of seasons for goals from long throws.

Kayode caused the chaos which Andrews desires, with the right-back’s delivery to the near post headed away from his own goalkeeper by Sven Botman for Schade stooping to score at close range in front of the goal.

Brentford believed that they might be about to find themselves ahead barely five minutes later, after Sepp van den Berg won possession and the ball was moved right to Dango Ouattara, who was tripped in the penalty area as he went past Dan Burn.

The big Newcastle left-back was already on a yellow card for fouling Ouattara earlier in the half, and had to be fearing a spot-kick along with a second caution, but it was the Bees’ right-winger who was very surprisingly penalised by the referee, Stuart Attwell.

The home side were confident that the decision would be corrected by the VAR, Paul Tierney, but shockingly he agreed with the on-field judgement of a dive - despite all the replays showing Burn’s left boot clearly catching Ouattara’s right foot and shin.

The Premier League Match Centre explanation was awkward: “The referee’s call of no penalty and yellow card to Ouattara for simulation was checked and confirmed by VAR - with the challenge from Burn on Ouattara deemed to be minimal contact.”

There was enough contact from the defender to be visible on the video images, and enough contact to bring down the attacker, but apparently not enough contact for the referee and VAR to award a penalty.

It could have been a hugely controversial moment, if 12 minutes later Burn had not repeated the offence and brought down Ouattara again without playing the ball, giving the referee little choice in pointing to the spot and reaching for a second yellow card.

Igor Thiago had swept a pass forward from the halfway line for Ouattara powering beyond Burn into the box, with both players raising their feet towards the ball but the Bees’ summer signing getting there first.

Watched live, this seemed to be less clear than the other incident, and home fans may have been worried that the referee would punish Ouattara with a double yellow dismissal for having his foot up when winning the ball, but justice was finally served.

The VAR allowed the decision to stand, leaving Newcastle to finish a man short, and Igor Thiago with a penalty kick versus the club he made his first Premier League start against last season, when Brentford beat their visitors 4-2.

Before that 2024 victory, the Bees had not been successful facing the Magpies in the league since 1948, but the Brazilian centre-forward brought them closer to a second win in two years by putting away his third penalty of this season.

He kept imposingly calm despite an unduly long wait of five and a half minutes during the VAR check and Newcastle sending on Aaron Ramsdale to replace Nick Pope, who had been concussed some time previously.

This was Ramsdale’s Premier League debut for the Tyneside team and, having begun it by watching the penalty fly past him, he was helpless again for Brentford’s clinching goal in stoppage time created by three substitutes with a quick move out of defence.

Rico Henry, Mathias Jensen and Reiss Nelson were all involved before Igor Thiago running at pace managed to meet the ball in his stride for a first-time finish under the advancing goalkeeper.

His second goalscoring double of the season matched the pair he got in another 3-1 win, against Manchester United back in September. With eight goals in the Premier League and nine in total, he is behind only Erling Haaland among top flight scorers.

While Yoane Wissa has still not trained with the Newcastle first-team squad due to a knee injury after demanding a £55 million transfer away from Brentford in the close season, Igor Thiago is thriving now as his replacement for the Bees.

Having cost just £30 million from Club Brugge last year, with the original intention of easing the loss of Ivan Toney, Igor Thiago has ended up making the subsequent departures of Bryan Mbeumo and Wissa less painful and less damaging.

It is understandably delighting Andrews: “He’s clearly in a very good place. Great rhythm in his game, playing with confidence, enjoying life. He’s played a pivotal part in what we’ve done.

“The selfless way he approaches games - you can see how hard he works for the team. He’s really settled into a groove. Our other players are loving playing with him.”

Certain phrases of praise keep recurring as Andrews adds: “He’s just in a great vein of form, playing full of confidence. Huge personality clearly, I think everybody can see that. Loving life, loving football. And long may it continue.”

Loving life, loving football. That applies to pretty much every Brentford fan at the moment.

Brentford: (4-2-3-1) Kelleher - Kayode, Collins, van den Berg, Hickey (Henry 70) - Henderson, Yarmoliuk (Janelt 84) - Ouattara (Nelson 92), Damsgaard (Jensen 84), Schade - Igor Thiago

Newcastle United: (4-3-3) Pope (Ramsdale 77) - Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn - Guimarães (Miley 96), Tonali (Willock 77), Joelinton (Ramsey 24) - Murphy (Elanga 77), Woltemade, Barnes (Hall 77)

Attendance: 17,207