Scandinavian Eyes On Brentford

Premier League Productions sat down with Joachim Andersen and Sander Berge to get our Scandinavian duo’s feelings ahead of Monday’s local derby against Brentford.

PLP: Sander, Brentford on Monday – what are you expecting from this game?

SB: Tough team. I’ve played Brentford over the years and they’re a physical, strong team. Everyone knows their tasks and role in that team. Very competitive, a lot of firepower up front – athletic, quick players in [Yoane] Wissa and [Bryan] Mbeumo. Generally a solid team, experienced, play to their strengths, so it will be a difficult game.

PLP: Only Chelsea and Manchester City have scored more, so one of the big questions is how to stop them from scoring in this one?

JA: It’s a really difficult team. I know many of their players, they have many Danish players, a Danish coach. For me, it’s always a fun game because some of my really, really good friends [play for Brentford]. Like Sander said, they have good, offensive players and they’re scoring a lot of goals but, as we’ve been seeing, they’re also conceding a lot of goals, so hopefully there will be some good chances for us.

PLP: Nine games into this Premier League season, what is your assessment from a Fulham point of view, so far?

JA: I think it’s been okay. We would have liked a few more points, and we should have had that – disappointing late goals against us. But overall it’s been alright, it’s been positive, but I think there’s a lot of room for improvement, which is what we’re trying to do every week on the pitch.

SB: There have been some great performances from the team, and also some difficult games where we’ve struggled more, which will always be the case in the Premier League. We had some tough equalisers in the last minutes – West Ham, and now at Everton. That’s four points [dropped], and you get punished a lot at this level, but I think we’ve been gradually showing progress, the team is gelling more together. As time goes on, for us being new, it helps, building relationships on the pitch, you get more into the structure and how we want to play, and I think we’ll see that more and more in the weeks to come. Villa and City were obviously two tough games with the quality in their teams, but we have to build and keep going, and we know what to do to take the next step and push forward, and close the gap to the real top teams.

PLP: Do you feel like you’re improving game on game, because I felt in that Everton game you looked really comfortable in that position, and it feels like you’re getting better in this team – is that a fair assessment?

SB: I guess that’s a normal way of being a sportsperson. You put in the work every day and stick to what you should, I think you will always progress. With the right feedback and the coaching that I get here, the players around me, makes me feel more comfortable, and then obviously you reflect on each game, and you can take the next step and show more what you’re capable of. That’s just the natural way, and with time you’ll get more consistent and you build all that, so I think it’s just part of the progress, and with each game to come I think I have more to show and more to bring.