Thomas Frank and Brentford come into this game again humbled by a rampant Stoke City. Daniel Farke and Norwich will want to see the sour mood continue.
We will focus on Norwich City’s match against Birmingham for this preview.
Norwich have two main shapes 442 / 4222 & 4231
Basic description of the Norwich shape is this -
But really they spend most of their matches attacking and in a shape closer to this -
Skipp and Rupp under the ball create a box shape with the centre backs leaving the other six players to pick up attacking positions.
Cantwell and Beundia, particularly Cantwell are allowed to drift inside to help open up forward passing lanes in central positions. If Cantwell comes inside and picks up the ball, Quintilla is always outside him ready to receive an open pass and cross or cut back.
In the game against Birmingham, Beundia got into the box well but showed more discipline in his wide positioning.
Farke’s use of fullbacks makes a mockery of the latter part of the word. They spend much of the game as high as the forwards.
Norwich’s main intention is to attack with four players rotating centrally and the two wide backs to provide wide crossing options after short passing in central areas.
Here, Norwich have worked the ball around in the left back area well and got beyond Birmingham’s ad hoc pressure. Cantwell drops deep and receives a ball inside from Quintilla and the game opens up for them.
People like to claim 442 is dead. It is alive and kicking and is played well by many teams. The difference now is how it is observed and the fluid switching of players from their starting positions making it hard to recognise.
Note Cantwell has let a ball run across him and inside cutting across the pitch. He makes good ground with Beunidia coming off the opposite wing positioned slightly ahead of him when he releases the ball to Skipp. Aarons has picked up a good progressive position at a diagonal angle to complete a flowing move across the pitch.
It is these diagonal progressive options, one after the other, that we see the best possession teams settle into to take advantage of a team that is not set in their defensive shape.
Note Colin ahead of the ball and Pukki and Hugill doubling up on Roberts.
Aarons is free to attack Pedersen leaving Friend with nobody to mark. Dean with Hugill on his blindside and Pukki on the blindside of Roberts who will eventually be attracted to Hugill.
Beunidia demands the ball in this instance instead of it being spread wide to Aarons and Birmingham get the time they need to recover into their 541 defensive structure.
Fullbacks -
Quintilla and Aarons play high. Very high. And they play high at the same time.
Against Birmingham, the pair put in 15 crosses between them with slightly under a 50% success rate.
Playing fullbacks high at the same time is standard procedure with Norwich. Above we see Quintilla on the ball as his cross is about to come in from the left wing area to Pukki central who swipes slicing his connection out to the right.
Who is on the opposite wing backing up play? Max Aarons.
The 4222 can be very effective at keeping the ball and moving the team up the pitch. Where it can sometimes fall down is is central congestion and the precision needed when playing against a back three or back five systems who are resolutely defensive in their mindset.
When Noriwch has slow or longer possessions against Birmingham, Dean, Roberts and Friend shrink tight together. Colin is an experienced fullback and when playing wingback drops in tight as if he is playing in a back four.
Šunjić and Clayton are very happy sitting narrow in front of back three, similar in execution to how Woods and Leonard act for Millwall out of possession.
When the slower long possession attackers occur, Birmingham are able to crowd out the central space preventing anyone taking an attacking touch. Norwich players can try to win fouls but are really limited to taking a long range effort because even their width player, Quintilla, has been drawn narrow by Sanchez getting involved defensively.
We can see the bunching below. Pukki and Hugill in a perfect box with Beunida and Cantwell behind. Quintilla, after a lengthy possession sequence, gets what cannot even be described as a true opening and decides to shoot. His shot is charged down by Maxime Colin.
To be clear, this is a tactic with clear merits and here although Norwich were dominant, it took Clayton’s red card after a second yellow, in the 86th minute for Vrancic to score from the dge of the box in the 87th minute. Shape eventually reaping rewards or an adjustment to a team tired legs that didn't have a chance to take shape?
We touched upon the drawing fouls. Congesting into a defensive bunch like this is risky. As the ball is recycled after the Colin block, Cantwell protests he has been stamped on in the box and goes down injured.
The ball goes back outside the box and is spread wide, Cantwell apparently not interfering with play being injured. He realises a chance he is perfectly positioned for a central chance and perks up.
He manages to get onto his feet and throws himself forward to make a clean connection with Pukki’s cross but pulls the effort inches wide.
Weak Wide Areas -
Because of Cantwell drifting inside so regularly there is space to exploit down Norwich's wings.
Quintilla and Aarons make the system work in an attacking sense and bear a lot of the responsibility defensively tasked with covering the entire wings.
Having given the ball away, Cantwell is caught upfield and a quick switch of play from Leko on the right see Sanchez free coming inside on his left foot. This effort unfortunately goes just over the bar but is a high point of interest for Bryan Mbeumo.
Brentford in their usual shape like to attack by overloading the wings flexing or extending out from a solid compact 433 or 451 stance. We’re exaggerating with the attacking and standard shapes overlapped above but it does show how some of the defensive issues out wide can naturally arise for the Canaries. Norwich are strong and concentrated through the middle, Brentford “usually” control the middle and counter attack out wide. Aarons and Quintillà will have their energy levels pushed.
Brentford started Saturday’s game against Stoke in a shape we haven’t seen since last season’s home tie against Stoke, September 2019. Nathan Jones was in charge back then and it is no coincidence Thomas Frank jumped at the chance to revert back to the defence first system in an attempt to match up against a coach who successfully stifled, pressed and scored last time around. Michael O’neill got it perfectly right on the day and Frank, a stubborn manager, adjusted his entire system for extra defensive cover, and in doing so created a system that was weaker in how it progressed the ball and defended.
The first half v Stoke was a reversion back to a time nobody wants to remember and Frank, who could have changed it sooner, made subs at half-time with the damage already done.
Events on a pitch are all linked, not exclusive or disconnected. When Mads Bech receives the ball in the deep wide left area playing in a back three, an opponent can go close to pressure him knowing his options. Turn back and go home to the keeper, chip the ball forward down the line or play inside short to the defensive midfielder or square to his centre back, Pinnock. He is not going to dribble inside and take Brentford up the pitch, characteristics or qualities you need when trying to progress the ball in this system.
Mads Bech receiving the ball tight to the left touchline in his own third is not the same as Rico Henry receiving the ball in the same position. It is also different again if Brentford have a deep build up shape of a back four versus a back three. Again we see differences in what happens if Rico Henry plays as the advanced winger without Josh Dasilva rotating into the left back space he has left behind.
What happens in front of those players, what happens behind them, when they receive the ball, what happens to those players' body shapes when they receive the ball in certain situations, what happens in the minds of those players are related to the individual and how they respond to the positioning they are in on the pitch.
Because 343 has swapped a midfielder for a defender and altered the structural starting positions of players, Brentford now has two central midfielders trying to rotate and get on the ball instead of the usual three. One can show and come to the ball but playing against a team pressing with a narrow three up front, two midfielders behind and wing backs covering wide space, Brentford’s midfield pair comes up against four or five players. It becomes easier to mark players and block spaces for the opponent and thwarts moving forward through the thirds. The ball instead ends up moving back along the backline.
This is only a snapshot of the limitations and stifling nature the back three presents to Brentford. We have not this time delved into the spacing across the pitch or how high defensively minded players can find themselves as the main attack, ie Dalsgaard on the ball in the final third and not Bryan Mbeumo.
Thomas Frank blamed injuries for his shape. He also believed the players lacked character and desire on the ball. Will he risk the same problems again? We await the announcement of his shape for Norwich.
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