Well, that was more entertaining than it had to be, and, while we shouldn’t be too hasty in drawing conclusions from a EFL third cup win, even against another Prem side, it’s hard to find much reassurance from a match in which we conceded 17 shots, ten on goal. Ramsdale had quite a lot to do, but I’m not going to gripe much more than that. Brentford are a better side than their current form suggests, but we advanced all the same. Fringe players got some time on the pitch, and we got the result we needed. Let’s not quibble too much over the process; there’s been quite enough of that already. Let’s just get down to the post-match poll and rate the lads, shall we?
I really wish we would of scored more than just the one goal. It would of been nice to see us put the game to bed early and rotate even more. That our only goal came from a Brentford error is disappointing but like you said, at least we are through to the next round. With Man City knocked out, this competition is now wide open, any one can win it. Liverpool are probably the favorites, unless Klopp continues to downgrade this cup like he has in the past.
We learned that our second team isn’t as quite as strong as it needs to be if it struggled to get past a depleted Brentford side. Keeping the clean sheet was nice, but the attack really should have been able to create more shots if not more goals. Progressing is nice, all the more so after seeing Man City crash out, but I still worry that the squad isn’t gelling as it should.
the answer to your titular question is an unqualified YES