Brentford next travel to South London to face Gary Rowett’s Millwall who have so far in the league picked up a win and a draw.
In the reverse last season, a terrible pitch contributed to a stodgy match style, preferred by the Lions, and which restricted Brentford moving the ball quickly and saw to them going down to a 1-0 loss.
Having watched the Millwall v Stoke video from the opening weekend it is safe to say the pitch is in supreme condition compared to that day. The state the turf finds itself in come Saturday will be one to keep an eye on.
First W
Brentford would much prefer to play teams that adopt the style of the new Huddersfield week after week. Last Weekend's 3-0 victory was routine. Huddersfield were open, trying to implement their own new pressing and possession based system but ended up looking like an inferior version of Brentford.
Millwall are yet to concede a goal across their two opening games and possess the type of system and mindset Thomas Frank’s side find most frustrating to play against.
Attempting to limit the game to no transitions, the Huddersfield of the past and Millwalls always want the middle and defensive thirds at least equal or preferably overloaded with their own players.
They play a defensive back three which easily slips into a back five. The back five makes accurate low balls into the box difficult, also giving a well drilled defence a better chance at blocking shots.
Millwall’s back three regularly shrinks to block what should be high value shots and under Rowett we’re seeing it try to expand now too on the offensive side, trying to contribute and progress the ball down the wings from the deep positions.
Two Midfielders play as disruptors in front of the three trying to make sure opponents only have space in their defensive third or out wide.
Out of possession if the ball is on the right hand side the three centre backs shift round to the right so that Cooper picks up a central position.
The defensive system is Rowetts main focus and he is going for a combination of space and man orientated mid block with forward players chasing down whoever is on the ball. It can look disjointed and off the cuff but still pressurising enough to force teams into multiple mistakes.
Woods, well known to Brentford fans, is on a season long loan from Stoke and is favoured to start alongside Ryan Leonard in a midfield pair. Against Rotherham, we saw an improvement compared with the first outing of the season but not by much which we will go into further throughout the preview.
Playing Out
In the two games so far, through Bialkowski, Millwall went long and hit balls into the deep wide areas.
Bialkowski v Rotherham
Bialkowski v Stoke
For a keeper to almost exclusively go long and the team still managing to retain possession up the field, this is a sign of a clear strength of the side.
Millwall Right Hand Men.
Why we could see Brentford struggle to create against Millwall is Rico Henry is likely to be busier than usual defensively. Thomas Frank's back line mainly consists of 3 players, Dalsgaard holds his position alongside Jansson and Pinnock. Henry provides the attacking width on the left and will need support from whoever is playing in front of him as Wallace and Romeo combine high on their right to take the attacking strain supported by Hutchinson behind them.
The Bees back line could find Pinnock pulled out into the left area and facing a 2v1 against Romeo and Wallace. Nørgaard will be important in these Millwall attacking phases as will Josh Dasilva. If Canos gets the nod to start he cannot simply pin himself on Hutchinson at RCB. He needs to be clever in his movement off the ball both defensive and attacking wise staying close enough to Henry but also advanced enough so that the back three of Millwall never have easy options to recycle the ball.
Romeo and Wallace will try to pin Henry back but both of Brentford left sided players will see the space down Millwall's right side as a narrow midfield two of Woods and Leonard stay central. The cat and mouse down this wing is likely to have an impact on where the game is won and lost.
Wallace has the freedom to come narrow and inside with Romeo overlapping and providing the width, safe in the knowledge that Hutchinson is supporting behind giving the side a strong asymmetrical feel to their possession game.
Malone
The key to success against Millwall is behind Malone and dragging Cooper out of his comfort zone in the narrow box position and into the wide areas.
With the back three / five system Millwall can go man for man and have a spare against a forward line playing a front three.
In this clip from Saturday, Bennett is pushed back and forced to defend with Malone 2v2 with Rotherham’s right hand side. Rotherham have worked a position so that there is a decent amount of space between Malone and Cooper at LCB.
Watch Cooper circled at the top of the clip. He wants to stay narrow giving Millwall a 4v3 and a man spare in the box instead of backing up this play as a left back.
Ogbene has one thing on his mind with the space between LWB and LCB and as Malone gets a little unlucky with his header during the Ogbene give and go with Harding the game opens up. As soon as the winger gets the wrong side of Malone Cooper has to commit and try to front him up or control the space leaving a 3v3 in the box. A low ball in now is more valuable than when Cooper is allowed to sit narrow as Pearce is caught between thinking he is spare and/ or man marking, allowing Lapodo plenty of space to get a first time shot off.
In the later phases of the game Brentord can have similar success down this side through the right footed Fosu or Canos.
Mbeumo is the superior player but his instincts is the wide right position is to come inside onto his left foot, spread play to the left or shoot on the angle where the Millwall bodies want to wait.
As mentioned earlier, their head coach is slowly trying to advance the capabilities of this team. Millwall, albeit not entirely comfortably, can move the ball from left to right or vice versa well enough across the back line against mid to low tier opposition. Once a more sophisticated pressing unit like Brentford’s comes to town we might see a greater urgency to forget all of the new system of possession and push the ball forward.
What we’re now seeing regularly up and down the league is that if a good short option hasn't presented itself or is being marked out of the game, the ball is recycled back to the other side. This can be repeated multiple times before going forwards as Huddersfield (now under Corberan) showed last week.
Millwall tends not to do this as Rowett appears not to want this yet. As the ball is switched from one wing to the other the fullbacks then go long towards the channels to test the opponent through runners Wallace, Bradshaw or Romeo. It is rarely going back the other way.
After a disappointing spell with Stoke, Millwall moved to reignite Woods career midway through last term. Without Brighton loanee Moloumby, with 3 CBs and Woods operating fractionally ahead there is almost no ball progression through the centre of the pitch.
Ryan Woods vs Rotherham
Woods likes to open up his body and move the ball square without causing the front or second defensive lines any trouble at all. To receive so much of the ball and not carry it forward or attempt more harmful passes the ball is being recycled left to right only a few yards higher than where the back three would move it. The danger Woods creates is the speed at which he can move the ball left and right allowing the Hutchinson and Cooper space to run into which they tend not to take much advantage of, instead playing the ball wider again to Romeo or Malone as progresive wingback options pushed high.
Rotherham Victory
As much as Millwall defended well in a set structure with good defensive numbers making it difficult to get clear shots at goal, Rotherham will feel disappointed to come away with a loss. Other than a glaring mistake presenting Wallace with a 1v1 through on goal, Millwall created very little against a fairly basic Warne team.
Jed Wallace gambles on Ihiekwe making a mistake as the defender miss kicks allowing the ball to run under him releasing the MIllwall winger in on goal to go past the keeper and finish into an empty net.
This one chance made up over 50% of Millwall's cumulative xG. Watching the Lions v Stoke and Rotherham Millwall do have some glaring open play attacking problems.
With the ball rarely sticking to Bradshaw, there is plenty of effort but a forward line built so that Wallace can function. Up until his substitution, Bradshaw did not cause Rotherham’s back line too much trouble when playing out.
Warne’s team matched Millwall aerially and earned the right to move the ball into the final third. At many stages throughout the game the newly promoted side looked far more comfortable in possession with good wide combinations through Harding and Ogbene.
Observing the team to start for Millwall in the midweek cup match defeat to Burnley, it is unlikely that any of the three players in the forward will start against Brentford.
Troy Parrott, highly rated and on a season long loan from Spurs, could feature from the bench although Smith and Böðvarsson may have something to say about that pecking order in the hunt for league minutes.
There are always murmurs in recent seasons around why Brentford run the risk of holding one recognized centre forward in the main squad and only supported by players who can fill in if needed. It seems like an obvious injury and form risk but one worth paying if you’re trying to increase the value of players whilst getting the most out of the salaries spent on players you already have.
Teams that have been successful in recent years have tighter first team squads, especially in the attacking areas. Because of how Wallace is the guaranteed pick featuring on the right of the attack, Millwall effectively have Böðvarsson, Parrott, Smith, Bennet and Bradshaw pushed by youth coming in and out of the side and fighting it out in the league for two positions. Recent seasons have seen them do well eking every ounce out of a hard working squad. Pushes for playoff contention with good runs at the right time have masked an aging group which is now the second oldest in the division. There's a feeling here that this season will be a step too far for this Millwall collection and they could struggle at the wrong end of the table with an over reliance on Wallace unless Parrott can force himself into the team and Rowett develops a passing system that functions beyond his own third.
Thomas Frank has problems of the nicer variety. Ghoddos has finally signed to fill the wide forward chasm left by the want away Benrahma. It is unlikely he will go in from the start here although his starting games may not be as far away as others in the past have taken when joining.
To have Canos impacting the game from the bench is a better option than having the Spaniard start matches. His lack of accuracy alongside Toney trying to find his feet is not what a team fighting for the league requires. Mbeumo, after a short off season break, is looking like the main man again. We are still only two games in but already the young Frenchman is dominating Brentford's expected goals output.
Creating a big chance for Forss against Huddersfield and regularly in dangerous shooting positions himself, he also has the most key passes alongside Marcondes across both Birmingham and last Saturday’s game. We are seeing more of mid season Mbeumo than the fatigued one that finished the last campaign.
Ivan Toney has settled into the system well and will find the net before long. He has had six shots so far with a good average quality per shot. We expect a goal soon.
What happens on Saturday is anyone's guess. Brentford dislike playing Millwall unless they are in Blue and coming back from two goals down. Millwall’s bench has to be one of the noisiest going, and that level of intensity and intimidation could play a part as games without fans continue.
Josh Dasilva from 30 yards anyone?
Some attacking and defensive shapes adopted by the teams are below.