Orient Hammered by Five Star Brentford

Passion, Pride, Determination, Hunger. Four characteristics that were lacking from another terrible Orient team on Saturday as Brentford cruised to a five goal victory.

It was a story of same old, same old with Orient as we conceaded an early goal yet again, this time through Niall McGinn, after cutting in from the left hand side after just six minutes. It wasn't all bad in the first half, Orient settled back into the game and Brentford's manager, Uwe Rosler, even said Orient were the better side in the first period. However, our dominance in the first half couldn't be rewarded with a goal despite Dean Cox going close with a delicate lob that smashed against Richard Lee's crossbar.

Russell Slade said that at half time he believed we were still in the game and confident that we could at least get the equaliser, however, his words fell on deaf ears as Orient went down 2-0 after 52 minutes. A Brentford free-kick by Sam Saunders was aimed at Lee Butcher's far post where Leon Legge connected with it and nodded past Butcher. Legge's goal was a sour note to take as many, me included, felt he shouldn't have been on the pitch. Legge was only booked in the first half for bringing down David Mooney in what seemed like a rash tackle by Legge, who was seemingly the last man.

Just two minutes later andd it was three, this time from Sam Saunders. The winger exucuted a brilliant free kick past Lee Butcher's right hand. On 75 minutes, Saunders, again, scored another free-kick. Marcus Bean got in on the act and made the scoreline and even more embarrassing 5-0.

There has been so many comments made about the team. Everything from 'Slade needs a Plan B' to the sublime 'Slade signed rubbish in revenge for Hearn not letting him go to Barnsley', but what is the real problem? Evidently, we need another plan, teams have clocked on to our footballing style and press us, forcing us to play across our back four but not actually get anywhere. The midfield is something we actually need to look at. Yes, I acknowledge we need a right winger, however, we need the centre midfielders to start doing something, they were unbelievably anonymous on Saturday and without a decent midfield we cannot create the chances for the likes of Cureton, Mooney and Revell. That was proven by the fact that we had 11 shots on and off target, whereas, Brentford with a full compliment of midfielders, had 11 shots off target and another 6 on goal.

We're in a haunting position and despite us only playing four games, we need a win for morale purposes on Saturday against Carlisle United, if not, then my last thread of optimism will be torn and I'll be convinced we are relegated already.

At the minute, this section is like trying to answer, who was nicer, Adolf Hitler or Osama Bin Laden? Currently, there are very few Orient players gaining any credit, let alone being worthy of 'Star Player' status in any game.
I feel for the young man, his confidence must be shot to pieces. He's conceaded 10 in 4 games and must have the morale of someone who's been in Guantanemo Bay for the last 12 years. Getting a lot of stick, I believe its unfair and we can only judge him when he's got a winger ahead of him. As usual, got forward well but there was little to do with the ball. Kept Gary Alexander fairly quiet to be fair, didn't have the worst game ever. Again, had a decent battle with Clayton Donaldson and didn't look to poor against him. Very unlucky not to score, possibly, could have been a different game if that went in. Pretty poor from a fairly reliable player. Been totally anonymous this campaign after a great season. Looks a very good footballer and hopefully stays longer then the month loan. Very few chances created for him. Again, few chances created for him but a workhorse and looks a decent player if we can create for him. First time I've seen him, can't make too many comments. Again, no chances created means he hasn't had a look in, in front of goal.

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