Brentford FC v Swansea City FC - Griffin Park 29/07/20
After winning eight consecutive matches Brentford have suffered their third loss in a row.
This preview will touch on what we saw from the first leg of the playoffs, what Brentford need to change at the halfway point and whether or not referees should be given access to video replays in matches of this significance.
If you’ve been living under a rock, Swansea won the first leg 1-0 through an outstanding left footed strike from Ayew. Drifting in from the right and receiving a give and go back that sat up nicely, the forward unleashed a left footed volleyed effort that exploded beyond Raya and into the top corner. Ayew will obviously hit the headlines due to his penalty miss and the resulting decisive goal but we were impressed by his all round game. His work defending set pieces didn’t go unnoticed especially during one occasion that saw the ball curled in low and flat from Mbeumo to the back post in the second phase that meant Ayew was defending with Roberts in a 2v2 against Benrahma and Watkins. The goal scorer punched the air in delight at how well he managed the situation as Watkins is unable to get a clean contact on target.
Swansea’s tactical switch to a 3412 and the return of Van der Hoorn to the backline has been behind them getting the results and defensive stability that has seen them push into the playoffs. We’ve mentioned the 4-2-3-1 cohort, which Swansea were fully fledged members of, far too many times for our liking in these previews and the consequences of formation regularity is borne out in the tightness of the championship finish. Lots of teams playing the same formation without much between them will result in tight games with little space. The decision by Thomas Frank to swap the starting positions of Watkins and Benrahma may be his attempt to add positional variety to the match, especially with Brentford being live on TV every week for the past two months. There are less opportunities to get paid for your aces if your hole cards are always on show.
Cooper almost exclusively used his new 3412 formation when in possession during Sunday’s games which switched to a 532 when his side didn't have the ball. Swansea have developed into a side that attacks and defends better than they did in the first half of the season which is a fair reflection of the talent they have brought in at the mid season window. Although relying on the individual brilliance of their young and old star players, they’re able to keep hold of the ball well against lesser opposition and have found a way to be less predictable in the wide areas through Bidwell.
Brentford started out with their 433 formation, which upon the sending off tried to keep it’s defensive and midfield principles intact. More on that later.
Observing both teams, it was the left-backs that provided most of the width high up the field.
Average positions show Bidwell was asked to push higher up the pitch with his actions to counteract Ayew on the opposite side playing as a right wide forward. To keep Ayew up field, Cooper compensates with Roberts holding his position, similar to what we’re seeing with Dalsgaard at right back.
Gallagher, who caused Brentford a huge amount of difficulty with his off and on ball running in a Charlton shirt picked up an advanced central position in possession in support of Brewster and Ayew and in the defensive phases found himself too far away to help Grimes and Fulton and in a defensive line often on his own as he tended to pressure the on the ball player in the middle third. The Swansea double pivot felt smothered by the Brentford midfield trio and we could see Cooper tweak what he asks Gallagher to do in the second game in terms of his attacking running as the 180 minute state has them ahead.
While Brentford dominated the central areas for two thirds of the game, there was a sense of two sides positionally cancelling each other out in the final thirds which may have been what Thomas Frank was trying to avoid and behind the decision to switch the starting positions of Benrahma and Watkins.
Half way through the adjustment, then, the plan all along could be to give Watkins one of the playoff games out wide. Benrahma into the central areas playing almost as a false nine has as many benefits as cons. The sending off prevented us from seeing a full 90 play out but from what we did see we were not hugely bowled over as Brentford missed his progressive runs out wide. His movements coming inside from the wing as a secondary position have got Brentford this far.
Benrahma had two shots before being subbed on 88 minutes. The first was surprisingly a well won header which he could only direct wide after making good contact at the back post from a Jensen cross on the right. The second was more like his usual trademark efforts, picking the ball up in the left half space, he turns immediately and runs at the defence. Moving past a couple of players he gets a shot away that rises over the bar. Watkins is outside of him in the left wing position and may have been a central option to play off and get closer had it not been for the tactical shift.
Watkins, while supposed to be shifted out to a wing position still managed to get an impressive number of shots away, mainly in the form of headers at goal from crosses from both sides. Good density in his penalty box actions can be seen below.
We don’t want to focus too much on the positional tweak because Benrahma and Watkins rotate their positions in most matches. With Watkins starting wide we simply saw a bit less of Swansea being turned to face their own goal than we’d have liked as Benrahma wants the ball to feet rather than it being played in front of him to run onto as he drops deeper and doesn’t push the offside boundary.
For Swansea, Brewster forced Jansson into one of only a handful of mistakes this season.
A slightly heavy touch and the speed at which he moved the ball away from Jansson as quickly as he showed him, lulled the Swede into thinking he could win the ball. It was a clear foul and gave Cooper's side the opportunity to go 1-0 up.
Raya’s penalty save followed with the Spaniard showing more of the goal to his left for Ayew to never make up his mind in terms of a corner.
The result was a floated effort down the middle met back with a strong arm to keep the score 0-0.
The link below gives a better reflection of his positioning throughout the phase.
Overall, we saw the game move in an expected direction as structure and team cohesion went the way of the stronger side, Brentford, and the officiating decisions unfolded to swing the game in Swansea's direction. Bees naturally had better possessions compared to Swans and dominated the midfield area with their inverted pyramid three. Nørgaard was back to playing good first time balls into the front line after couterpressing turnovers, mainly due to being under less pressure from Swansea's front line and midfield. Brentford enjoyed periods of less pressing intensity against than both Barnsley and Stoke matches but couldn't themselves maintain their own high levels once Rico Henry was sent off for a perfectly good challenge as they went down to ten men.
The above attacking momentum timeline graphic from Sofascore shows how Swansea struggled to sustain consistent periods of heavy pressure as Brentford's flat lined 433, for the most part, stayed compact out of possession.
PPDA for Brentford completes the story of a side comfortable but ultimately decimated and pushed away from what they were doing well by a red card. Shrinking around their goal and waiting for mistakes and counterattacks is shown by Swansea drastically increasing the number of passes they were able to put together without a defensive response.
Tactically, Thomas Frank will be relieved and won't be too disappointed as Benrahma and Watkins have still managed around eight attempts between them and midfield control largely remained. The quality of what they produced across the game may be more likely to keep him up at night, although much has to be assessed in the context of being down a player.
We didn't feel the wide areas were exploited enough when the game was even, with the formation making Bees narrower as Benrahma’s combinations with Henry were reduced and shooting from the left hand side was stifled. As a result we could see starting positions revert back to Benrahma out wide and possibly moving to the right as a reckless Bidwell was never tested as much as he could have been once he picked up a yellow card.
The elephant in the room is the officiating and we implore you to listen to this podcast from the Football Today crew which tries to get into the mindset of refereeing decisions both before the pandemic and football as it is now in empty stadiums.
In the frankest way possible, the technology available to today’s referees enables them to make decisions based on stronger evidence.
The decision to ultimately send Rico Henry off had huge implications, not only on the night of the game itself but on the future of both football clubs as it is a two legged affair. Luckily, the tackle can be reviewed and it’s severity downgraded but the point is should a game of that magnitude be subjected to such a pivotal decision not having the level of scrutiny it deserves, at the moment it happens.
Issues of morality come up when questioning whether or not football at all levels should have access to a Video Assistant Referee. The all level argument is a futile one. We’re not at the stage where every level can be supported in that way but we are at a stage where top and second tier games and games funnelling into the top tiers can afford referees are given assisted help. Isolating the red card incident, we shouldn't be witnessing glaring mistakes from officials in live televised games due to the speed multiple angle replays can be seen by all, strangely, apart from the people making the decision. There are too many biases potentially impacting the ability for officials to make a correct decision to leave things up to the judgement of one person without adequate reflection and as a result we think VAR should be used in the second tier and should have been brought in at all play-off levels of the 92 in England alongside it’s introduction to the Premier League.
The Brentford v Swansea pt.2 match is perfectly poised. Individual skill saw Brewster, on loan from Liverpool, win a fair penalty for his side. Until the red card, the Swans will admit to struggling in open play in trying to shift around the solid defensive structure of Brentford. As the game moves back to an even number of players, Brentford could move back to a more familiar starting shape that sees them overload both the deep and attacking wide areas and asking Watkins to move back through the middle stretching the game if not holding up and building attacks.
There’s a great deal at stake for both sides as Fulham most likely await in the final as they take a commanding lead into a second leg vs Cardiff City.
We like to think organised tactics are always at the forefront of a coaches' mind but always question how much tactical intention goes out of the window at a time like being 1-0 down late into a play off semi final as a game clearly shifts into a state of relentless invasion and every player is moved forward to achieve the goal of scoring as it’s relevance increases. Brentford do this with patience and a reluctance to move away from their principles and believe in their game plan making this tie a fascinating observation. How both Swansea approach it and whether Brentford can fall back on their usual winning muscle memory will hold the answers.
The final game to ever be played at Griffin Park is the biggest in the clubs history and will bring with it emotional connotations for the many fans and neutrals watching from home.
It has been interesting and our absolute pleasure covering Brentford and their opponents in weekly detail, and we’d like to say thanks to anyone that has read or shared any of our content. We hope you’ve found a fraction of this interesting, if not infuriating (yes you Forest fans), and time permitting we would like to continue into next season.
For now, let’s hope we’re covering Brentford for another week at least. Bees Tactical.