Brentford 3-1 Southampton: Bryan Mbeumo’s brace leads Bees to comfortable win over struggling Saints – as Aaron Ramsdale suffers nightmare debut after £25m move from Arsenal
Aaron Ramsdale endured a dramatic debut for Southampton on Saturday afternoon as the Saints suffered a narrow 3-1 defeat to Brentford, despite the England goalkeeper receiving little help from his defenders.
The brilliant Bryan Mbeumo scored twice either side of half-time, both times punishing Southampton’s poor passing, before Yoane Wissa capitalised on a Ramsdale error to make it 3-0 in the 69th minute.
Yukinari Sugawara’s injury-time consolation goal was a fair reward for his fine play on the right flank, but the subdued cheers spoke volumes.
Southampton were once again the better side and once again it yielded nothing. The only thing they showed was that they had to learn from their mistakes.
It took just 90 seconds for Ramsdale to spring into action, throwing himself in front of Mikkel Damsgaard’s close-range shot to prevent an early opener.
Brentford shone in the absence of Ivan Toney to secure their second league win of the season
It was a debut to forget for new Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who conceded three goals.
Bryan Mbeumo shone for Brighton by opening the scoring with goals either side of half-time
The visitors gave as much as they got in the early stages, however, with Joe Aribo hitting the crossbar with a header from a corner, before Mark Flekken had to save a header from Ben Brereton Diaz in the eighth minute.
Southampton showed much more drive and sharpness than in recent weeks, but when the good start to the game threatened to fizzle out midway through the first half, Brentford were the superior side.
Saints defender Sugawara superbly blocked Kevin Schade before Ramsdale came to the rescue again, this time tapping in Yoane Wissa’s next effort from six yards.
Wissa then fired home a dazzling strike at the end of a stunning display of skill that looked straight out of Zinedine Zidane’s playbook, but it was aimed at Ramsdale, whose first day at the office was shaping up to be an increasingly busy one.
The Saints, however, failed to heed their warnings. Within 60 seconds, both Jan Bednarek and Taylor Harwood-Bellis were picked off their pockets and punished for it.
Schade stole the ball from the former Man City defender before his shot hit the post. With Ramsdale stranded, Bryan Mbeumo had the simple task of slotting the ball into a virtually empty net from 12 yards – which he did with aplomb in the 43rd minute.
Southampton responded almost perfectly, but Armstrong completely misfired his volley from six yards after a superb cross from Sugawara, and the Bees survived the break.
Russell Martin made two changes at half-time, and it has to be said the Saints were the better for it. Mateus Fernandes brought more drive to the midfield, but it was Brentford who had the first real chance of the half when Ramsdale kept out a powerful header from Schade in the 53rd minute.
Brentford star Yoane Wissa scored his team’s third goal with a sprint towards the goal line
Ramsdale struggled as Brentford punched holes in Southampton’s faltering defence on Saturday
Three minutes later, the England goalkeeper came out of the field like a rocket to deny Mbeumo a second chance. He stopped the Brentford star again in the 64th minute after a great effort from Christian Norgaard was blocked in the penalty area.
But at the third attempt Mbeumo finally got his second, and again Southampton
were caught, with Bednarek once again the culprit. The Polish defender was dispossessed on the edge of the penalty area by Wissa, who passed it to Jensen to lay it on a plate for Mbeumo, who did the rest.
After receiving a fair amount of criticism from the increasingly happy home crowd, Ramsdale gave them more ammunition with a poor effort to stop Wissa’s third goal.
Saints winger Yukinari Sugawara tried to raise hopes of a late comeback but it was too late
Pressure continues to mount on Russell Martin as Southampton remain undefeated
Brentford have started the season solidly with two wins from their opening three games
The England goalkeeper was caught off guard by Jensen’s corner from the near post and could only wave his hand at the ball in vain before Wissa fired the ball home.
The merciless booing continued for the remaining 20 minutes of the match, with Southampton in shock and unable to get a grip on the game that had quickly taken them by storm.
As the Bees continued to press with great numbers and intensity, it looked as though the Saints would be stumbling towards the final whistle. They barely responded until Sugawara – who was their best player that day – finally scored their first goal of the season.
The defender fired a fine effort from just outside the penalty area in the 94th minute, but the ball hit the post, prompting an ironic ‘we’ve scored!’ cry from the visitors.