The substitutions that highlighted Andrews’ evolution as Brentford boss

Journalist and Brentford fan Ian Westbrook explains why Keith Andrews’ triple substitution against Sunderland showed how the Bees boss has grown into the job during his year at the helm.

Just under a year ago, Brentford lost a Saturday night local derby 3-1 at Fulham.

It was a horrible evening for us and, at the time, Keith Andrews took stick from some fans in the away end for not trying to change the game after Fulham’s third goal.

He made substitutions but, rather than altering our 5-3-2 formation to a more attacking 4-3-3, all his changes were like-for-like – leading some to question his game-management skills.

Wind the calendar forward 12 months to last Saturday, however, and Andrews showed how much his management has improved.

Brentford were totally outplayed by Sunderland in the first half on Saturday, especially on our right-hand side, and, in the stands, we were all relieved to get to the break at 0-0.

Andrews wasted no time in trying to turn the game in our favour by making a brave triple substitution at half-time, something I am pretty sure he has never done before.

Among the players he hauled off were record signing Mamadou Sangare, who was on a yellow card, and the hugely popular Michael Kayode – both players you never expect to see replaced.

The alterations came up trumps, and for a lot of the second half, Brentford were in charge – and took the lead.

That the game ended 1-1, a fair result on the overall balance of play, was no slight on Andrews, who had thrown caution to the wind with his half-time decision.

It has been great to see him grow into the job since he was appointed last summer.

While plenty of people not associated with the club predicted instant relegation for the Bees last season, I was never in doubt that we would stay up, although I didn’t expect us to finish as high in the table as we did.

After a slow start, with three defeats in our first five games, things picked up rapidly.

He responded to the Fulham defeat by masterminding a 3-1 win over Manchester United in the next game and we also beat Liverpool at home a month later, and by the November international break we were safely in mid-table and into a cup quarter-final.

Finishing ninth, even though we missed out on Europe, was a huge achievement given the previous summer’s turmoil at the club.

Andrews also has the support of the players – you can see by their body language and how they are together after matches just how tight-knit they are.

He told the BBC this week that one reason he was not too worried about taking on the job was the chance to work with that group, who he already knew really well from working with them for a year.

And the fact that several players signed new long-term contracts during last season and that none of the big names left this summer shows just what an influence he has had – and that the players clearly want to continue working with him.