Following Brentford's defeat against Sunderland, Bees fan Mike Johnson was critical of summer signing El Hadji Malick Diouf's performance as they exited the EFL Cup.

He described the full-back as a "£40m defender who can't defend," - but insisted that the blame cannot be entirely put on the 21-year-old.

"Yes he was at fault for a couple of goals, but the defending for about 15 minutes when Sunderland scored their goals is utterly embarrassing," Johnson told BBC Sport. "You cannot defend like that against Premier League opposition.

"It is such an opportunity missed with Fleetwood and Bradford progressing. Every season, I look at this competition and think 'I would love to go to Wembley'. I would love to have the chance to get a memory for a life time.

"Do not experiment in these games. I am going to care a lot more if we go out of the Carabao cup than if we finish 10th or 11th in the Premier League."

Following Brentford's draw against Hull in their last league game, Mike was similarly concerned about Diouf and said that performance was reflective of the club's business in the summer transfer window.

"Before this season, I don't think I was alone in thinking we lacked a bit of star quality either side of Igor Thiago," he said.

"We were heavily linked with Said El Mala, one of the Bundesliga's standout players last season, but it fell through. Instead, we ended up with Jaidon Anthony. We also acquired El Hadji Malick Diouf for around £40m and at the time I didn't really see the point of that signing - and I still don't now.

"Defensively we have looked very strong this season and in midfield I don't think there's too many concerns. It was our attacking options that were the biggest concern and it feels like those concerns were valid [against Hull].

"The Diouf signing seems a bit unnecessary. We have Keane Lewis-Potter - who Keith Andrews rates above Diouf - and we have [Aaron] Hickey who can play at left and right-back, and Rico Henry. We probably have enough cover.

"To go out and spend £40m on a left-back who West Ham fans were pretty happy to receive an inflated fee for seems a little bit questionable."