Some brief thoughts in a [Thread] ahead of the #BarnsleyFC v #BrentfordFC fixture
Barnsley are one of the league's most interesting teams whilst being another of the growing list of names under the heading of “teams playing with a back 3”.
The last 12 months have seen them led by Stendel, Struber and now Valérien Ismaël and albeit a vast amount of change, consistent stylistic themes have remained throughout this time.
Barnsley are a flexible, adventurous, forward thinking side. There are not many teams that scare Brentford into going long from GK situations that are as prepared and well organised as this.
There were contrasting fortunes for the two sides last time out.
Saturday gone, Oakwell saw Barnsley completely rattle the Forest defence, goalkeeper and woodwork so forcefully, tremors were felt in Nottingham town centre.
At Adams Park against, Brentford’s attack was as timid as a dormouse. Shrinking in it’s demeanour, you had to squint to see if it actually existed.
xPs tables have Brentford commanding the league, way out in front to dominate the pack. The reality is Bees sit 11th in the table after 12 games, a point behind Luton and almost 8pts adrift of the total performances might expect them to have reached.
Barnsley are closer to matching their on field expected shot performance data to what is happening in the actual league, sitting at just under 2pts behind where they’d expect to be according to our shot xP tables.
Brentford have arguably the league’s best defensive process boasting the best xG against record and in 90th percentile for Non-short xG against.
Teams are not regularly getting good shots off against Bees nor are they having value high quality passes prior to shots. Defensively, it’s almost as good as it can get considering the schedule and how much change has occurred.
What price has been paid to retain defensive stability is the question. In a strive to become a more efficient team, Brentford have now focussed on a forward line to take 1 of 1 good chances instead of an all out attack.
Patterns are slowly fading, coordinated movements are becoming less coherent, leaving only Josh Dasilva to carry the ball the length of the pitch for Brentford to break through three banks of defensive lines.
For almost 40mins as Thomas Frank switched to 4-4-2 or 4-2-2-2 against Wycombe, chances created were non-existent.
After 3 matches vs teams who find it easy to block off the defensive and middle thirds against , Bees now face a team who will press important defenders hard enough in the first phase of play that they’ll likely give up possession.
Bees favoured front 3 of Canos, Toney and Mbeumo is too sterile and obvious in its movements, less BMW, more they are yet to possess their driving license.
Benrahma, now long gone, leaves with him rotations centrally into the ten position. Canos, struggling in possession phases, clunks around hugging the touchline and getting in the way of Henry or Jensen moving out wide.
When the experienced Spaniard finds himself an attacking opening, a touch, precision or the speed at which he takes to move himself into a workable position enables defences to get back in.
Mbeumo is finding his feet and working tirelessly with little reward in output. Overloads on the left have disappeared and the right side is needed as the prominent wing for attack. Instead of blindside runs or 3rd man movement joining in with Dasilva, Watkins or Benrahma, the Frenchman is now expected to be the main wide outlet. He is so far struggling with the extra responsibility.
Toney, lacking the ball carrying or take on ability of Watkins has to stay central and work on layoffs and spinning runs, but without the regularity of Marcondes or Jensen to get close (who is playing too deep) he is a lonesome, stodgy figure.
His early goals and efficiency in finishing big chances masked some issues and was always going to cool, especially as teams watch Brentford and learn ways to thwart the rest of the team getting him the ball.
Barnsley are the opposite of this. Fluid in how they progress the ball and commit numbers to the final third, there is a purpose and flexibility in the movement of Woodrow, Mowatt, Chaplin and Frieser. Callum Styles only moves the team in one direction. Forwards.
With the new 5 subs rule coming into play, Thomas Frank, somewhat afraid of the consequences of subs, comes up against a team who lose little when sweeping changes are made.
Instead, the increase in subs will allow players within a high intensity unit to work harder for a shorter amount of time.
Much like Stoke, Barnsley are becoming a team Frank hates to play against and an equally worrying factor is how different the teams are from one another.
Teams with differing tactics, form Wycombe’s direct play to Stokes mid block to Barnsley high press are stifling Brentford and the former king of solutions needs to do much more with his players and squad than ask Dasilva to run with the ball.