Brentford FC v Charlton Athletic FC Tactical Preview
Griffin Park 18.00pm - 07/07/20
With the finish line in sight, 41 games in, we take a look at the top and the bottom of the league and the contrasting fortunes of Thomas Frank and Lee Bowyer.
Brentford Head Coach, Frank, has been given the best possible tools for his job. The custodians of Brentford have cleverly assembled one of the strongest squads in the Championship through smart shopping in regions like Scandinavia, the French second tier as well as the British lower leagues.
The Charlton Athletic leadership team were allegedly doing their own lavish personal shopping at the clubs expense, leaving Bowyer to do on field tactical wonders with loans and youth promotions.
Add Lyle Taylor missing half of the season through injury and then refusing to play post Covid lockdown citing a future move away from the club, the odds are always heavily stacked against the former Leeds and Newcastle midfielder. Charlton came up through the playoffs and were lazily predicted to struggle in a league featuring Hull, Huddersfield, Luton, Barnsley and Middlesbrough. As The Addicks quickly amassed points, it became apparent they were going to squeeze every last inch out of the squad at Championship level, as they did to gain promotion from League One.
Back in August, the reverse fixture at the Valley finished 1-0 to Charlton, condemning Brentford to their second 1-0 loss in a row and carrying out Bowyer's ideal game strategy.
Brentford were still playing their 343 system which was deliberate and too obvious in how it tried to attack, pondering through build up from the back to the middle third. The two wing backs Henry and Dalsgaard pushed high but with three centre backs, including Jeanvier, there was never the quality on ball progression in the deep half spaces that Ezri Konsa offered to unsettle opponents. Charlton, similarly with Stoke and other sides that sit deep with back fives would allow Jeanvier time on the ball, unlikely to execute riskier forward passes, he passively chose an easier to defend against progressive option. Brentford were stifled.
Giving up two thirds of the pitch to Brentford and waiting for them to make a mistake on the ball in midfield and maximise an attacking transition to generate a low number of, but good value situations on goal worked well on the day. The Bees had 21 shots only hitting the target 19% of the time. Charlton had 3 shots and their goal was their only shot on target, giving them a 33% on target percentage.
Brentford generated Non-penalty Expected Goals of approximately 3.5, so there was an obvious element of mis-fortune that fell upon the West Londoners. Huge chances missed by Canos and Marcondes could and should have made a difference to the scoreline although it was noticeable how many bodies were regularly between Brentford attackers and Charlton’s goal.
Bees attempts to score were taken under heavy pressure and after long periods under siege, Charlton needed a single occasion to move swiftly up the other end, ripping through the middle of Brentford team and in doing so showing the benefits of not having long chains of possession before getting strikes away to score.
Brentford are a very different side to back then and earlier parts of this season. Jeanvier is nowhere near the best starting 11 and the midfield has evolved into a three which heavily relies on central midfielders forward attacking runs so that Benrahma can drift inside and affect the game centrally just behind or beside Watkins. What will the Charlton Head Coach take from the game at the Valley, if anything, and how has his team evolved to leave him fighting a relegation battle?
Bowyer has two main formations, of which enable him to have two strikers on field at the same time, both with the ability to run into the wide channels. In the early season 1-0 win over Brentford we saw him use both shapes as he starts with his 4312 diamond, which through injury to Oshilaja, is easily flipped to the wingback 532 variation on 35 minutes.
The speed in both shapes to get the ball forward to either striker in forward areas is key to making the defending and attacking 532 & 4312 systems work.
What Bowyer always wants is off ball attacking runners when his team has the ball.
Conor Gallagher, on loan from Chelseas in the first half of the season, was the joker from midfield asked to make chaotic runs as soon as the ball would go forward.
Tight control under pressure and a good first time contact towards goal saw Gallagher help maximise cutbacks from the infrequent attacking opportunities Charlton generated as he galloped his way into the box.
Much like how Brentford forward Watkins will make his way out to the wide areas, Lyle Taylor would similarly work himself into the wide right position, as his league heat map below shows, holding the ball up to allow others to join, winning fouls or driving the ball low and across the box.
We see Charlton regularly categorized as playing a 442 diamond but as the forwards split wide left and right and an advanced midfielder joins in centrally we see the attacking line regularly flex into a front three.
The midfield line behind those is pivoted by Josh Cullen or Pratley, or both, as they’re asked to control the central space and disrupt out of possession. When on the ball we see them move it on as quickly as possible, which can go long to the forward line or out wide to fullbacks.
Pratley will comfortably drop into the back line if Bowyer wants to chase a game and make his midfield more adventurous. The versatility around the squad stands out, making good use of what they have instead of pinning players down single positions.
Because Bowyer has to juggle injuries, having multiple players able to play different roles across the pitch adds a layer of complexity when trying to predict his lineup.
We can assume he'll continue with two recognized central forwards but what goes on behind that will depend on how he wants to set up his back line.
In attack we’ve seen Leko both wide or central, Taylor(not available for selection) playing all across the forward line or as a lone central striker. Pratley, as mentioned, swap between centre back and holding midfielder, Purrington plays left back or wing back outside of Nabby Sarr, Chuks Aneke as a No.10, central forward or in the wide positions, Jonny Williams behind strikers, deeper in midfield or out wide too. Lockyear in a centre back pairing or on the right of a back three. Macauley Bonne, as one of the recognized forwards, has stepped straight up to Championship football from non-league. In what is his first season at this level, he comes off the back of scoring 20+ goals as he helped Leyton Orient win promotion back to the Football League.
From January onwards there have been versatile attacking options added to the ranks. Andre Green has brought direct running and goal threat from inside the box to the forward line via a loan from Aston Villa. Aiden Mcgeady, unfortunately plagued by injury, can play all across the forward line and slightly more withdrawn as a ball carrier from deeper positions.
Bowyer and his team will have watched trends from all of Brentford’s matches since the restart. Even the top tier teams vying for promotion have struggled to contain Brentford. Wigan, on an impressive run themselves, found it difficult to generate any attacks at all. Sticking with their 4231, The Latics didn’t get the balance right in midfield and without the required pressure on the ball when Brentford’s centre backs had possession, Cook regularly had too many ineffective players ahead of the ball.
Bowyer, going for his 442 from the start against Millwalls’ 3421, saw a tight final scoreline as with all of their matches since the restart, but territory was not and Millwall through Romeo and Wallace found good crossing opportunities and build up play down the right hand side.
With only West Brom managing to keep their defeat to Brentford down to a single goal margin, all of the sides Brentford have faced in their five game winning streak have decided to play a four at the back system with two recognized centre backs, to be clear, not a defensive midfielder dropping into the backline in possession.
As the season has developed, what has become apparent, especially since the restart is how much work Brentford have done on the training field to break down a low block or stiff defence. A team defending deep no longer means Brentford recycle the ball passively or relies on a Dasilva strike from outside the box.
Franks’ 433 formation with a defensive midfielder and two 8s ahead, is designed to make those 8s contribute more in higher value attacking positions. Josh Dasilva and Marcondes have dangerous striking ability from range but Frank mainly wants to get midfield numbers into the advanced half spaces so that they are not spending much of the match stuck in the middle third or outside of the box looking for difficult through balls, they should run or carry the ball to the byline. As the wide forwards Benrahma or Mbeumo come inside, Dasilva or Marcondes can link with Henry or Dalsgaard, with these players amongst themselves rotating to make cut backs to Watkins or forwards waiting around the penalty spot.
If injuries permit, do not be surprised to see Charlton be the first to overload these areas from a defensive standpoint from kickoff. Protecting his goal with three centre backs and a layer of five players in front should be the way Bowyer hunts a valuable three points on the break to become the first side to prevent Brentford scoring since Nottingham Forest back in January.
Leading up to this point, everything for Thomas Frank has gone his way as Brentford sit ready to pounce if Leeds or West Brom slip up. He’ll be planning for that to continue so that fortune does not yet swing the way of the underdog.