Brentford arrived at the Etihad Stadium last Saturday aware of the daunting task ahead of them against Manchester City, but full of confidence after a flying start to the new Premier League campaign.
They were, until City prevailed 2-1, sitting pretty in sixth place. Plenty felt this season would be one of relegation troubles for Brentford, mirroring last season, if not ultimately proving even more doomed.
It is the Brentford way to fly gladly under the radar, though, and victories over Crystal Palace and Southampton have made for an impressive start. Losing away at Liverpool and City is no disgrace, and, if anything, it is good to get those games out the way early.
The first major setback since Ivan Toney’s deadline-day £40million move to Saudi side Al-Ahli has arrived now, though, with Yoane Wissa - scorer of the opener at the Etihad after just 22 seconds - ruled out for “a couple of months” with an ankle injury.
Wissa’s performance for the first half an hour on Saturday and countless livewire displays last term, such as in the home draws against Manchester United and Chelsea, show how he is such a complete forward — and why Brentford must be careful not to tumble down the table without him.
Wissa had been playing centrally in a front three. With £30m record signing Igor Thiago out for months with a meniscus injury and Toney no longer at the club, manager Thomas Frank is left fretting over who to select up front.
His saving grace, though, can be that players have had to get used to being deployed out of their favoured positions in recent years, as the Dane seeks to stretch his modest squad across long season after long season.
Whichever solution Frank prefers, Mbeumo must now become Brentford’s key man
Kevin Schade and Brentford’s best player, Bryan Mbeumo, are wide players by trade but have both featured as strikers before and could well be asked to step up.
Frank could use Mbeumo down the centre, flanked by Schade and new signing Fabio Carvalho. Alternatively, Schade could play centrally, with Mbeumo staying out on the right and Keane Lewis-Potter shifting from wing-back to the left flank.
Perhaps the most sensible solution would be for Frank to trust a back five with wing-backs for width, opting for a three-man midfield and a two-man strike partnership of Mbeumo and Schade.
If Brentford are level or losing late on, that 3-5-2 could morph into a 3-4-3 with Carvalho slotting into the front three off the bench. Carvalho cost £27.5m from Liverpool this summer, and his bicycle kick against Leyton Orient in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night showcased the star quality Frank plans to tease out of him on a regular basis.
Whichever solution Frank prefers, it is evident enough that Mbeumo must now take up the mantle of being the Bees’ key man. Only Erling Haaland has more Premier League goals than the Cameroonian so far this season.
He will need to keep that up as Brentford face two tricky away trips in the coming weeks - Tottenham on Saturday and Manchester United in a month’s time.
Speaking about the goalscoring burden falling on him during Toney’s lengthy betting ban, Mbeumo told Standard Sport in an interview last August: “To be one of the best you have to assume the pressure that comes onto you. If I have to take this position then I will take it.”
For Toney then, read Wissa now. Time for Mbeumo and co to step up.
