Brentford FC v WBA - 7.45pm Friday 26th June - Griffin Park
Having each played a game back after the Covid break, West Bromwich Albion and Brentford FC returned to Championship football with differing levels of success.
Brentford made quite the statement reeling in Fulham and denting their West London rivals hopes of catching the automatic promotion positions with a 0-2 win.
West Brom, kicking off straight after, were to be held at home by their second city rivals Birmingham.
For this preview we will mainly focus on the heartbeat of the West Brom side, what we can tactically glean from their most recent game and what the reverse fixture may have taught us ahead of Friday's match.
This season, WBA have found themselves right in the hunt for winning the entire league outright.
To lead the team, Bilic was brought in as an expensive hire, his aim?, to return the club to the top flight before the parachute payments expire.
Let’s do a quick recap of the Baggies season so far.
Their first match post Covid break against Birmingham City finished 0-0 in which they had 20+ shots and did not hit the target until the 66th minute.
This type of scenario is not surprising. Thomas Frank has frustratingly championed in post match Brentford interviews, if you can’t win a game, make sure you do not lose. Draws are a cunning and common trait of this WBA side.
What we should mention before continuing is WBA have not scored in over 300 minutes of league football. They have drawn their last two matches 0-0. Their last goal came at the end of the first half against Preston in a 2-0 home win back on 25th February.
Their season has been one of momentum and not losing. Six wins in a row throughout November to the first half of December and picking up draws at vital times has seen them put together long periods without tasting defeat.
Breaking it down into chunks, the period from the start of the season to their first loss at Leeds on 1st October, saw WBA go nine games without losing, drawing four and winning five.
Between October and the end of December we see this winning and drawing machine continue, WBA go on to not lose another match until 29th December 2019, against Middlesbrough.
It is January onwards that we see on field stuttering finally transfer into results.
WBA failed to win in January 2020 but put together three wins in a row in Feb to maintain a gap on the chasing pack and keep them firmly in the hunt for those automatic promotion spots.
That’s a quick top down look at their season.
How have West Brom evolved as the season has progressed or since the last matchup v Brentford?
We’ve not seen anything evolutionary or immediately identifiable as different as the season has gone on. The January transfer window did see some strong attackers coming in to solidify WBA’s position in the top two of the league, addressing the loss of Diangana to serious injury.
Callum Robinson joined on loan from Sheffield United and Kamil Grosicki was signed from Hull to also bolster the plethora of attacking talent at Bilics’ disposal.
Robinson has seen a good number of minutes since his arrival. Playing from the left hand side, he regularly moves inside as Pereira drifts into the left hand positions.
Tactically, they have almost religiously stuck to a 4-2-3-1 and their double pivot of Sawyers and Livermore. Most of their attacking play goes from Sawyers through to their No.10, Matteus Periera, both constantly requesting the ball and picking it up in the defensive, midfield and attacking lines.
What do West Brom do well?
Any midfield featuring Sawyers is going to retain the ball well and pass the ball a lot.
Well known to Brentford, Sawyers is demanding and continuous in his collecting of the ball from the back 4. He tries to limit the number of times the team goes directly from back to front through his positioning.
In the reverse fixture against Brentford at the Hawthorns, Sawyers receives a throw on the right, turns back and plays the ball to his deepest teammate o'Shea, who is on the half way line. Sawyers is desperate to drop his position back into midfield and claim the ball again. O’Shea ignores this and instead rushes into a chipped and hopeful ball to the left wing where players are evenly matched in a 2v2 if Mbeumo drops slightly. Dalsgaard easily wins the header unchallenged and clears, Brentford nearly counter attack with all but two West Brom players ahead of the ball but Jensen is brought down as he turns on Dalsgaard’s headed clearance. O’shea’s wastefulness under no pressure can breathe a sigh of relief this time.
Restarts from goal kicks and building up from deep in their own third can see West Brom switch between going long to the forward line from GK Johnstone or him going short to defenders. We can sometimes see mistakes and indecision form his defenders when under pressure.
Here we see WBA move well, win the ball back and work a shooting position.
Although West Brom do get a lucky break, we can see how well a smart forward pass nullifies Mbeumo and how influential Sawyer's can be from back to front.
When he receives the ball, his next move is to look forward with a pass, or float forward with the ball into any available space. When he releases the ball he likes to follow it forward and make an immediately available advanced option.
It’s hard to defend against, especially when his favoured forward pass is to Pereira.
Where Sawyers is also dangerous is on the edge of the opposition box which of course does require the right run to make the ball effective.
One of his passing weapons is a perfectly weighted stabbed pass with the outside of his boot.
Here we see him preparing to perfectly execute the reverse ball and match the run of Robinson in Saturday’s derby game v Birmingham.
A good tactic for Brentford and others facing West Brom is to use Sawyers as a trigger for co-ordinated pressure. Try to follow or block the forward runs of Pereira or at least make it difficult for him to receive the ball comfortably without doing something special in progressive positions. Force Sawyers to go square or limit his forward options, allowing his pivot partner Livermore the time and space to attempt forward passes. He is the weaker midfielder in possession and least likely to punish you or connect a difficult forward pass.
In the picture above v Birmingham, Livermore is in possession, Sawyers is free square and under no pressure but Pereira has already made the run. It's an easy ball into the space Pereira is pointing and about to sprint into. Livermore over hits the pass and it travels through to the keeper. Teams can try to counteract Sawyers in this way.
Don’t try to mark him in a man orientated way, opt instead to create a compact defensive unit for him to play through as he receives the ball in his own half. If Sawyers has to pass to a teammate that is not Pereira, part of the battle centrally is won.
Pep Clotet and Birmingham choose their mid to low compact block, trying to limit space and waiting to engage only when the ball moves or is hit into the final third. The Brentford front three will try a much riskier tactic, pressing high and testing the on ball ability and turning speed of Hegazi, Ajayi or Bartley. Another aim will be to get their own midfielders high up the pitch supporting the forward press and occupying the middle third.
The former tactic is known as the safer, less riskier option yet it has its own dangers. Maintaining bodies in defensive zones and not applying on ball pressure further up the field allows good players to find forward gaps.
The snapshot above is stopped at a situation that is too easy for Sawyers to play out. It takes one run and one pass to develop. Robinson is going to make a run inside towards the central space, Pereira holds his position on the left as two players follow Robinson inside. The Portugeuse is on the blindside of Danny Crowley in the left half space, which creates more than enough space for Sawyers to thread his pass into. He picks him out perfectly for Pereira to take one touch and fire a ball across the 6 yard box which unfortunately Robson-Kanu cannot connect with or get anything towards the goal, quickly showing the perils of only applying pressure or man marking in deep defensive zones.
How do West Brom Defend?
Looking at WBA from a defensive point of view brings us back to the 4-2-3-1.
It’s a shape multiple sides in the league have adopted.
The carbon copy is a deep back 4, and in front, two defensive minded midfielders that hold their position looking to release the front four in various combinations. The system mainly relies on individual brilliance or benefiting from well taken counter attacking transitional scenarios.
How WBA play it differs from some of the more stodgy sides in the division and that mainly comes down to personnel wanting to be on the ball.
With Sawyers in a double pivot, West Brom's strength also becomes one of their weaknesses.
He wants to defend through retaining possession, when they lose the ball there is an intensity to win it back but tracking runners during opposition build up or attacking is always a little unnatural.
When you have a deep midfield player that wants to join in with attacks, there are openings for opponents with ambition.
WBA’s main problems out of possession against Brentford stemmed from the central positioning of Benrahma. He mainly played inside the right back and beyond Sawyers in the right attacking half-space with no adjustment of his partner Livermore to counteract the Bees forward positioning.
Teams that have less subtlety to their forward play can be controlled by WBA’s standard wide defensive partnerships of fullback and winger. When you’ve been chasing the ball around for long periods, when you do get it back, panic sets in opponents and we see chipped balls forward into the wide channels. This is what suits West Brom, contesting the ball out wide instead of players attacking them through their centre.
West Brom's forwards will need to do better than they did in Saturday’s match v Birmingham and the reverse fixture v Brentford.
They’ll need to be aware again of one of Brentford's build up and possession rotations which left WBA completely bamboozled. Dasilva drops into left back position, Henry pushes high beyond the halfway line and Benrahma holds a position in the centre circle. Sawyers, unnatural in his defensive positioning here, is stuck out on the left hand side. Dasilva can go wide to Henry but on this occasion he goes direct to Benrahma and West Brom escape.
This is how we see West Brom approach defending. There’s a reliance on the midfield two to stay square with each other, create a screen within the width of the 18yr box and hope the opponent runs out of patience, giving the ball away with a low percentage pass lofted long.
From the front, it’s sometimes as simple as Robson-Kanu making movements towards the defender in possession without co-ordinated backup.
Friday’s match will be an intriguing battle as Sawyers again goes up against some of his old team mates and we see Bilic v Frank part two.
The 1-1 game was split evenly between the two sides. West Brom were dominated in the first half as they struggled to match Brentford’s movement and inventive forward combinations, and as such, the energy and intensity in passing play in the first 45 mainly came from Bees. WBA were unusually erratic in possession and too desperate to move forward when they did get the ball. It was strange to see overhit forward passes from Periera which prevented any sustained pressure.
The second half saw WBA come out revitalised and impose much more of their own game onto Brentford, limiting the West London side to shots off target. Pereira started further forward and was sometimes their most advanced player trying to hurry the Brentford defensive line into faster decisions.
Periera and Sawyers will no doubt again be the main protagonists to stop as they have been all season. With tricks like these in tight spots on the edge of the box, it’s difficult to do anything but foul or pressure the next pass into a mistake. Looking at the supporting cast, this may not be the worst decision as once that ball gets recycled, you can go at the double pivot.
The Brentford squad is stronger than it was when the sides last faced each other. As shown against Fulham, Brentford can handle losing one of their main front three men from the start and not lose too much in attack. From the bench, we can see midfielders come in to affect the game offensively if need be, or as Marcondes showed, give impetus in wide areas and catch tired defences flat footed on the far side or on the counter attack.
Bilic made all of the now allotted five substitutions against Birmingham and still struggled to find the exact answer to his problems. Brentford and Thomas Frank made three and tactically wrestled a game away from Fulham who themselves struggled with their substitutions having a negative effect on the team.
In post Covid football at the top of the league, we’re already seeing the benefits and counteractive deployment of subs. How much say will they have on Friday.