Brentford outplayed Arsenal by set pieces and high pressing

Brentford is back to Premier League after 74 years, and what is a better comeback than a home win against historical London side (Arsenal) surrounded by fans. Now we will try to find out what Thomas Frank did and how did he beat Arteta.

Brentford plays with 3-5-2 system; Raya(GK), Henry(LWB), Pinnock(LCB), Jansson(CB), Ajer(RCB), Canos(RWB), Janelt(LCM), Nørgaard (DM), Onyeka(RCM), Toney(LS), and Mbeumo(RS).

Build-up: Canos attacking contribution, shape with the ball, and how do they progress.

When Brentford have the ball, they format a back four; Ajer goes wide as a Right Back, and Janelt drops down beside Nørgaard to create a double pivot. This gives freedom for Canos to join the attack, which is for the best since he is better attacking wise. Canos was the one with most attempts in Brentford this match and scored the opening goal. He does some combinations with Mbeumo or Toney cutting inside looking for a shot or even runs into the box to receive the ball there.

They tend to pass two or three passes between Jansson, Pinnock, and Raya then play a direct long pass, either to Toney or Henry. Most of the time Raya is the one who plays the long ball and Toney is the one who tries to receive it. Toney usually tries to pass it directly with his head or foot to one of the flanks. Mbeumo runs is smart, he either exploits a space to receive the ball in or drags a defender with him to create space for his teammates.

They are too direct in build-up, they avoid ball carrying for long periods. I checked data of Gameweek 1 on FBREF.com , and I found out that they are the least team to cover distance with ball carrying, and second least team in carries in general.

To make it more clear about their way of progressing with the ball, I checked also their trending passing type, and which body type is used a lot. Brentford are the team with the most high passes and the team with passes by head the most too. Obviously it is too small sample, we are only in Gameweek 1, but it is still a quite conspicuous trend.

Without the ball: pressing scheme, pressure triggers, and numerical superiority/equality

In this phase Brentford caused a lot of problems for Arsenal. Onyeka and Janelt marks Arsenal's two DMs; forming a 2-2 scheme in final third. Their main objective was to avoid progressing from central corridor, and give no time or space for Xhaka. This worked fine for the first 25 minutes I guess, because Arteta after that changed his team's shape with the ball, asking Smith-Rowe to drop down as a RCM and Lokonga to stay wider as LCM, leaving Xhaka featuring as the only pivot. This change from Arteta was effective, Smith-Rowe was causing a lot of threats whenever he receives the ball in the midfield's back and turn towards the goal.

Brentford tried to direct the play towards Pablo Mari (pressure trigger), and once he received the ball they overloaded his side trying to beat out Arsenal numerically, giving no choice for ball carrier but to kick the ball away. In the third picture, Onyeka is looking at Mari and will run towards him aggressively, although Mari was not the closest player to Onyeka to mark.

Brentford was outstanding in pressing, they regained the ball a lot, and applied the press consistently. Only Leeds and Chelsea pressed and gained possession more.

Set-Pieces: Corner kicks formation, and long Throw-ins

This game got me excited to see more of Thomas Frank's work on set-pieces. They managed to get only two corner kicks against Arsenal, but they performed them perfectly. They tend to position a player behind the goalkeeper and it's usually Nørgaard. In the first corner they form a 1-4 and 3 players in clearance, and Canos kicked an in-swinging ball to Toney's head. This corner ended up with a goal but from its continuity. In the second corner Canos again with an in-swinging kick, but this time they form a conga line of 4 players, while Nørgaard still positions himself behind Leno. Canos kicked it to the near post where Nørgaard ran into, and it was a serious chance.

Throw-ins in final third is a big deal for Thomas Frank, they enter the box with 5 to 6 players regardless of the match current result or timing. Jansson blocks the goalkeeper every time they have a throw-in in attacking third. They did it more than 3 times, and one of them ended in the net.

Next Saturday Brentford faces Crystal Palace away from home, which will be a quite different challenge. For me, Thomas Frank caught my attention, and now I am more curios to see how this team will function in more different challenges.