Luton Town welcome Thomas Frank’s Brentford side reeling from McLean’s late leveller.
Diamonds are forever. Or not in the case of Nathan Jones. The system that heralded the Luton manager much success in his first spell at Kenilworth Road looks to have been locked away in a safety deposit box.
Stunning in its simplicity, effortless in its beauty, in the end, the diamond is heavily flawed.
Comparing Luton’s last two matches to their main shape last season brings up a shift to a 3421 or 541. It has been largely positive.
Basic Shape v Nottingham Forest
Basic Shape v Sheffield Wednesday
Most of what Jones was trying to achieve at Stoke City was to increase the perception of how the team defended. Three centre backs and a five man midfield with two pivots was the order of most days. The Potters heavily improved and closed down multiple games from a shot and expected perspective. What Jones couldn’t stop no matter how hard he tried were actual goals and cruel results going against his side. In the end the fit felt like the wrong place at the wrong time for all involved and he was relieved of his misery.
It was during his time away from the game that gave the Welshman the chance to reflect on what he produced at Stoke and what he wanted to achieve on the pitch going forwards.
Interviews and discussion on data and underlying performance followed, which likely drives the thinking behind the direction he is taking Luton in.
With the addition of Tom Lockyer from relegated Charlton, Jones has a flexible defender used to playing in patient possession phases as well as being bombarded by shots, camped deep in front of his own goal. As he is further called upon in the back line we can see the midfield diamond becoming less and less valuable to Luton.
Why ditch the diamond?
The 442 Diamond as a shape is narrow. With a midfield three made up one holding 6 and two attacking 8s behind an advanced midfielder, the shapes main qualities are blocking out the middle of the pitch. Turning over the ball and finding full backs in space are how a team playing this shape can get up the pitch. Big problems arise in the defensive phases playing a shape like this at this level. In a league where most teams attack and overload the wings, a narrow shape places a heavy workload on full-backs. Full-backs are either too deep or pulled too far forward supporting attacking moves. A vacant space appears between the forward line and full back area as the wider players of the midfield 3 take it in turns to shuffle wide spread and cover ground depending on which side the ball is on to prevent opponents making wide progress.
Luton were guilty of this. Having a ball dominant team at League One level, the system needed adjustment to deal with different levels and types of qualities a division above.
Having a method that worked well in a division below should be given a chance to breathe at the new level, it is what got them so far after all. Being different to most other teams is also a quality in a league where everyone is seen to be playing a variation of 4231 or 532.
In Luton’s last two matches we've seen a shape similar to this.
It feels grown up compared to the impracticalities of the diamond.
Full-backs are replaced by wing backs and we see a shape structurally controlling more areas of the pitch just by how the players line-up.
How does this fit in with Brentford?
We are expecting a congested midfield. The home draw v Norwich showed Frank’s hand and that he was not happy with what he saw when playing the 343 at Stoke. Back to his usual 4123 shape, his side looked assured and compact even when missing key players like Jansson and Nørgaard, limiting Norwich to under 1 expected goal.
The outline of how to beat Brentford has previously been to sit back and soak up pressure, waiting for big moments on the break. Early parts of this season have shown successful teams are now adventurous and commit bodies forward to usettle and test a side with new components. Jones looks to be building systems that can play both of these ways. Ghoddos will need to make sure Norrington-Davies does not get a free run at Dalsgaard as he drifts inside looking for the ball.
From back to front Brentford should be fine on the ball with their numerical advantage over Luton’s front line. This should give them the advantage moving into a congested middle third even bearing in mind Pinnock playing on his weaker side. Luton have this season looked comfortable in possession and have showed patience on the ball especially since we’ve seen the 3412 start out matches against Forest and Sheffield Wednesday.
Luton’s difficulty will be containing Toney and the midfield from breaking on them. Not too involved in build-up or as a long ball target option, the forward is proving hard to stop for 90 minutes. However much Brentford are contained, while the game is tight, the prolific striker is able to direct anything that comes his way towards goal. Watch out for Mbeumo cutting in on his left foot against an isolated defender. He is getting into good positions and is due a return on his shooting efforts soon.
We leave you with this wonderful front to back move culminating in an Mbeumo effort v Sheffield Wednesday.
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