Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn Rovers have played twice since Brentford last kicked a ball in earnest against Norwich City. Will a luxurious break for one team versus a brutal scheduling for the other be the defining factor on Friday Night? Thomas Frank will be hoping so.
Previous Fixture - Brentford FC 1 - 1 Blackburn Rovers FC
Earlier this week, @DavidAnderson_1 had a chat with the brilliant @andywatsonsport to preview the game.
They discussed Mowbray’s tenure, Rovers’ inability to earn wins from good performances, and amongst other things, Mowbray’s attacking options and tactical shape. You can listen to the podcast via the link below or wherever you get your podcast.
One thing to keep an eye on with Rovers is how high they are performing in terms of Non-shot xG actions. fivethirtyeight’s model has Mowbray’s team slightly ahead of Brentford, having cumulatively made the third highest value actions in and around the opponents box across the season.
Brentford, defensively, are approximately seven goals better than the average and the league’s best at preventing opponents from making the highest value actions.
Standard xG is also hugely favourable towards Brentford yet once again we see Rovers “mixing it” teams genuinely looking at play-off positions.
Why are Rovers languishing so far down the table when they seemingly have the squad and the underlying process good enough to compete with Boro, Bournemouth et al.?
Questions are naturally going to be asked of a manager recently celebrating his 4th year in the role.
Andy Watson can be found on Twitter via the handle @andywatsonsport and is a player analyst and presenter for @roverschat_'s Stats Show as well as the Lead Scout at five__yards.