Analysing Brentford: Rationalizing Why Thomas Frank Is One Of The Elite Level Coaches
With one point away from 1st place after 17 game weeks into the Premier League, Unai Emery has attracted all eyes with his team’s latest form, becoming one of the best and toughest team to play against this season. Moreover, his uncanny approach in pressing organisation having his defensive line that high relying on offside trap, whilst mastering shifting and cover shadowing principles in the front two lines. After Villa’s two massive wins against Man City and Arsenal, they were heading to London to play against Brentford. And since I’ve been admirably following Thomas Frank for 3 years now, I was anticipating what will Thomas do tactically against Emery’s inform team.
Pressing: Nørgaard Role And Handling Inverted Winger in Emery’s 4-2-2-2 structure
Brentford press with a 5-3-2 structure. With the ball on the right side we will see the following:
Janelt (27) presses Konsa (4).
Wissa (11) on Carlos (3).
Nørgaard (6) and Damsgaard (24) with McGinn (7) and Kamara (44)
Ghoddos (14) follows Cash (2) when he drops off.
Mee (16) with Diaby.
In that trap on the right side they won the ball, but what do they actually do after ?
Ball passed directly to Lewis-Potter (23) in the middle attracting Kamara (44), which means Damsgaard is free now. Meanwhile Wissa runs inside and Janelt overlaps after releasing the ball.
As part of Emery’s build up plan, Ramsey tucks in and drops off, so how they dealt with it?
Zanka (13) the right CB will jump to press Ramsey (41), whilst Nørgaard (6) starts shifting so when villa manages to play the wall pass with Watkins, he can pick up Ramsey filling Zanka’s position.
All good, but what if they managed to get the ball to Ramsey in the favourable situation; having the opposition in a falling back behaviour whilst Ramsey has the ball with his face to the goal and Watkins occupying wide area ? We will see in the following video how well coached Brentford players are in such situation; observe Pinnock’s brilliant turn and body shape facing inside avoiding a through ball into the inside channel. Which is being done well too by Emery’s team as analysed by my friend Zidane here.
Build Up Plan: 3-2 With Flekken Canceled Emery’s High Press Phase
Looking at Villa, they were pressing with their usual 1-2 scheme; with McGinn shifting between 6s according to which striker jumped to press the ball carrier in the first line. Thereafter, Brentford in build up as usual switches to back 4, but the tweak here was in the 3-2 structure; using Flekken (1) as one of the 3 and 2 6s( Janelt and Nørgaard ) in front of them. Meanwhile Damsgaard (24) stays higher with the purpose of drawing Kamara (44) to the outside.
When Brentford shifts from side to side, it’s harder for Villa in such shape to avoid the ball from getting to one of the 6s. And if one of Brentford’s 6s (White spotlight) gets the ball he will turn and find Damsgaard (Red spotlight) dropping off dragging Kamara then running to the outside waiting for the ball.
The next clip perfectly illustrates the moment Emery surrenders against Frank’s build up plan. They started to be passive and get back, and this was the last time they press high till the end of the game. This recalls Thomas Tuchel’s latest statement about how hard it is to press high with 442 structure vs a 3-2 one.
Beating Offside Trap: Thomas Frank Was More Than Well Prepared
To complete the masterpiece in-possession, Thomas Frank demanded more one-touch long balls according to specific triggers. Once Diaby presses the CB, CB will release the ball to reach the 6er (Janelt 27) through the full back. Hence, McGinn (7) will jump to press Janelt (27), whom will kick the ball directly behind the defensive line who was already doing the offside trap.
While Mee was getting treated, Thomas Frank called Janelt. Apparently he was asking him to drift wider to the line, from where he should keep playing the one-touch long pass.
Supported with a perfect example:
Moreover, the offside trap was also beaten by using the far-side attacker running across the defender.
Three examples, three promising attacks, with one of them occurred while the score was 1-0. Brentford could’ve harmed Villa way more than the scoreboard shows if their forwards were finalizing better. Hence, I tried to break down what Frank planned to counter Emery’s plan in build up, high press, and the offside trap. And that’s not the whole story, Frank’s low block in that game was brilliant, but that will demand a dedicated analysis piece of its own.
For your own good, Watch Thomas Frank :)