Many had tipped Brentford to go down at the start of the season.
The Bees had lost manager Thomas Frank, alongside Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard. However, the almost unthinkable has happened.
Brentford are not just surviving under Keith Andrews. They’re thriving.
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The Premier League may be trending in a direction that suits Brentford’s verticality, but Andrews deserves praise for building on Frank’s work while ensuring none of the departing players have been missed.
Although Andrews has kept a familiar tactical blueprint, his small tweaks and flexibility is what has Brentford pushing for the European spots.
In this article we’ll cover:
Brilliant recruitment
It’s hard to become an established Premier League club with the knowledge that your prized assets could be sold at any time. And you’ll just have to adjust.
But it feels as though Brentford’s club model is solid enough to withstand any sales. Out went Wissa, Mbeumo and Norgaard, and in came Dango Ouattara and Jordan Henderson, as well as the return to fitness of Igor Thiago.
The players suit Brentford so well. Henderson has brought tenacity, guile and aggression in midfield in a physically demanging league. And the pairing of Ouattara and Thiago have wreaked havoc for opposition defences, benefitting from Brentford’s verticality.
The amount of through balls Brentford play is extraordinary. They make use of the fact that Kevin Schade, Thiago and Ouattara can latch onto the end of them. It’s something Brentford utilised when they had the combination of Mbeumo and Wissa, as they were both physical and fast enough to get in behind defences.
It’s a similar case for Ouattara and Thiago. And one can drop off and drag a defender out, while the other pins defences back.
Thiago is normally the player to peel off slightly and use his strength. But both are comfortable in doing this, and both are dangerous when played in behind. Whether it’s a chipped ball over the top, or a fizzed pass on the ground, Brentford’s verticality suits their new attack to a tee.
Long balls and crosses
Despite all the departures, Brentford haven’t really lost their tactical identity. It helps to have Mikkel Damsgaard and Henderson to swing the ball into dangerous areas. The Bees score a huge amount of goals just from sniffing out danger and putting the ball into awkward areas.
In opponents struggle to clear, a Brentford player can pounce on the second ball. There is value in getting the ball forward as quickly as possible and putting the onus on defenders to have to deal with the situation and flooding these areas with midfielders and two strikers.
Under Frank, Brentford were solid, fast on the counter and mightily tough in the air using long balls often. But the Bees don’t fall back into a low/mid-block as much under Andrews.
The way they build up from last season to this, it’s strikingly similar. Except this season, they are more flexible out of possession consistently.
Thiago factor
Only Erling Haaland has scored more goals in the Premier League this season than Thiago. The Brazilian has scored a staggering 17 goals this season, and has demonstrated an ability to score in a variety of ways. And he can be the bulldozer-presser link-up striker that Andrews needs.
Thiago feeds off scraps. He can run into the channels, hold defenders off while dropping deep, be a goal poacher and a big centre-forward for fast wingers to play off.
It suites Brentford to a tee. They can switch between a solid 4-5-1 mid-block or press man-to-man higher up the pitch.
Thiago is a typical Brentford striker. When you think of Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney, Wissa and Mbeumo, they all had a huge influence in their Brentford sides. And Thiago is no different.
Now, this is a very odd season. While this is normally the stage where teams punching above their weight eventually fall off, the gap to the top teams has never been closer.
It’s remarkably that Andrews has Brentford level on points with the defending champions in February. And the job he’s done in his maiden season should be championed.
Andrews has played down a European challenge. But the fact that it is even in the conversation is an achievement in itself. And it would be generational if Brentford continued to defy the odds to make a jaunt for Europe.