Brentford's First Three Games
A frenetic, risky press emerges after the opening win over Arsenal
Progression Podium Points
8: Raya
4: Pinnock, Canos
1: Norgaard, Onyeka
Shot Buildup Involvement Podium Points
5: Toney, Canos
3: Mbuemo
2: Onyeka, Henry
1: Norgaard
Receiving Podium Points
7: Toney
5: Mbuemo
3: Henry
2: Canos
1: Janelt
Defensive Swarm
Brentford’s opening game vs Arsenal was a bit misleading in a way. In that game Ivan Toney bullied Arsenal’s backline over and over, winning aerial duels early in the game/ Brentford sprung a good few long fast breaks then they just bunkered and held off a few waves of Arsenal attacks. The next two games a different we’ve seen a different Brentford.
They‘ve leapt out of their shell and started hassling opponents very high up the pitch but not so much in their own half, completely disrupting Palace and Villa’s passing games with two fantastic defensive performances. The question that will help define Brentford’s season is whether those were fantastic defensive performances or terrible offensive performances. If reasonable attacks move the ball like Arsenal, Brentford’s relegation odds of 3/1 look like a great value bet. But if they’ve locked in their midfield and higher into this frenzied pressing machine, they can grind their way to survival pretty comfortably.
The interesting numbers are their challenge rate and their block rate the past two games. On the season, no one has blocked fewer shots than Brentford’s 5. Their press the past two games stacks up with the Leedses, the Man Cities, the Southamptons of the world.
Lack of sustained possession
Brentford have built basically zero sustained attacks to get shots this year. 90% of their shot buildup has come in the first 10 seconds of a possession, that’s by far the most in the league that averages 62%. You can see the kind of passing team they are by looking at their progression podium points: Goalie leads the way with a CB tied for second.
They have essentially used Rico Henry, the nominal left wing-back as more of a part of a back 4, while “right wing back” Sergi Canos gets forward in attacks. He leads the team in shot involvements and is t-2 in progression.
Canos is far from a specialty attacking wing back though: his 20 tackles + interceptions leads the team and his 81 pressures lead the team by a huge margin of 28. His 81 pressures lead the entire league in fact and only Romeu and Ndidi top him in tackles + interceptions. He has a reasonable case for Brentford way-too-early MVP.
If they are to progress their offense to build more sustained attacks midfielder Vitaly Janelt will probably be a part of it. He’s shown promise as a receiving hub, but attacks reaching the forwards have been rare coming through layered buildup play.
Team Effort
Canos maybe aside, it’s hard to really pick out a player who has stood out above the rest: the Brentford press is the standout feature of this team and a good high press necessitates an entire team swarming. It means Toney must win aerial long balls (3rd most among forwards, but actually a lower percentage than the Benteke’s and the Wood’s) to allow Brentford to regain field position and ease the pressure to set the press up. It’s a high-risk strategy they are running, the Bees have been able to suppress high value chances but there will be games they get absolutely torn apart if the push this plan A of a high press, own half sag off and lack of shot blocking. It’s a rare combo for sure.