Brentford FC Squad Review 19/20
Deep Dive into the Brentford Squad of 19/20
First of all, thank you for all those that read the first article, the support and feedback was massively appreciated!
Now let’s dive in and have a look, through stats, at how the Players performed this season.
Goalkeepers
After moving on from Dan Bentley in the summer, the Bees opted for Blackburn’s David Raya to replace him. Raya has been an excellent signing for the Bees since joining not missing a single minute of the league this season, as well as sharing the Golden Glove for the most clean sheets (16) in 19/20. Raya has been an excellent addition to the side and a has been a big part of the system that has seen our defensive performances massively improve compared to our previous 5 Championship campaigns. The graph below illustrates how much our defensive performance levels have improved this past season and Raya has played a massive part in this.
When doing a direct comparison between Raya and Bentley, you can see clearly the differences between them. Raya isn’t as “flappy” in the box and he’s a lot more assertive when coming out to claim the ball, it worked perfectly against Swansea as he claimed the high ball and then set us on the counter-attack instantly. Bentley, on the other hand, tends to punch the ball clear giving him less control over where the ball ends up and a counter-attacking opportunity lost. When it comes to saving the ball, Raya again exceeds Bentley with a Save % of 74.5% in comparison to Bentley’s 69.35%, importantly when looking at the xGoals Prevented this season, Raya has “prevented” us conceding 2.78 goals, whereas Bentley has conceded an extra 6.16 based on the quality of the chances he’s faced this season.
Although Raya isn’t without fault, at times this season we have seen some moments of madness or sloppiness from Raya (Hull away springs to mind…), which have cost vital goals in close games (Blackburn, Millwall and Luton), his tendency to play higher up from set plays has caused some positional concerns, which Fulham’s analysis team ruthlessly exploited, but these should be reviewed and looked at coming into the new season.
Credits: Link Twitter: @StatsPerform
Ultimately, he’s been one of the best goalkeepers in the division ranking in the upper percentile of all goalkeeping metrics and rightly ended up sharing the golden glove this season. Hopefully, with some more consistency in the Goalkeeping staff (2 Coaches in one season) and continuous improvement of his skills and some adjusting of his set plays positioning, I can see Raya continuing going from strength to strength here at Brentford.
Now the other 5 goalkeepers! Daniels this season played a grand total of 0 league minutes but saw playing time in the other cup competitions, which we got knocked out in 1st Round of the League Cup and 4th round of the FA Cup. Balcombe had a short spell out in the second tier of Denmark with Viborg, returning to the club in January after suffering an injury. In his time in Denmark, he kept 2 clean sheets and conceded 6 goals in the 7 matches he featured in. Gunnarsson went for a very brief loan spell to League 1 Southend United before the suspension and eventual cancellation of League 1 and 2 football; during his time there he played 3 matches, conceded 6 goals, making 6 saves as the 19-year-old got his first taste of competitive action.
I see Daniels moving on this summer, with one year left on his deal and with other 4 young GKs at the club. I think we may see him part ways in order to allow one of these 4 to step up as number 2. Patrik Gunnarsson had been playing as the number 3 keeper for most of the season so can easily the Icelandic U21s Keeper stepping up into the role of number 2, allowing our other 4 to go out on loan or continue to develop in the B Team program.
Fullbacks
Henrik Dalsgaard
Dalsgaard is an interesting one for me, personally, I think he’s played just okay this season with no real stand out performances either good or bad, just Mr Consistent with a solid 6/7 out of 10 each week which has been needed to see our defensive performances improve drastically, I do also believe his roles has changed significantly this season since joining the Bees in 2017.
All Heatmaps in this artcile are from SofaScore
As you can see in the heat maps, Dalsgaard hasn’t been playing as high or wide like he had done so in the previous 2 seasons, this is down to a tactical tweak that Frank has made to make us defensively more solid. When attacking, instead of our fullbacks traditionally overlapping Dalsagaard will now tend to tuck in creating a back 3 instead. This gives us a numerical overload when defending as teams tend to play with a maximum of a 2 Strikers so instead of being 2 v 2, it now is a 3 v 2 in our favour allowing 2 to press the ball/man and another to cover the space in behind. As a side effect to this, you can see Dalsgaard’s attacking output has been severely reduced, as he is no longer playing in the position where he would previously to put a trademark Dalsgaard Cross in.
Much like Daniels, with Dalsgaard being 31 and entering the last year of his contract will we potentially see the Dane move on this summer?
Mads Roerslev
An interesting season for the young Dane who has seen his playing time limited to small cameos when coming off the bench in the last knockings of a game (515 minutes/ 5.7 90s). When starting he has shown flashes of brilliance but still along way to go. Although with Roerslev in the side, we do look noticeable weaker defensively, this is likely to be down to the attacking nature of Roerslev game; and where he plays like Dalsgaard did in Smith’s 433 and then Frank’s 343. With more minutes under his belt and more exposure around the first team, we have another very capable B Team graduate.
Follow @BeesTactical for more breakdowns
Rico Henry
In his first full season where he managed to avoid any injury, has finally allowed his quality to shine through, with the PL clubs now circling around the 23 year old with rumoured a £10 million move alleged to be in the works. On the pitch, Rico has been superb this season. He's not only massively improved us defensively but has also played a crucial role in supporting Benrahma down the left flank, providing width to our attack; which in turn creates space for our attacking players. Another of his biggest qualities this season has been his progressive numbers (passing and runs), Henry has excelled at receiving the ball deep in our defensive third while under pressure and then carrying the ball into the attacking third. By bringing the ball out in this manner, it brings in defenders, creating space for Benrahma to now attack and if teams don't commit to defending Henry he's able to provide a delivery for Watkins or our central midfielders to attack.
Dominic Thompson
2 very very brief league appearances (6 minutes!) but 3 full appearances in the cup competition have allowed the young fullback some playing time this season. Much like Roerslev another younger player that can fill the void in the event of injury to Henry.
Centre Backs
When going through the numbers it was interesting to see how low Pontus ranked compared to all Championship CBs this season, he ranks lowly in the majority of defensive actions this season, especially in comparison to our other 3 options (Racic, Jeanvier and Pinnock). One thing that you can't quantify is the vast impact that Pontus has had on this young squad, his leadership, calmness and experience has brought another edge to us this season. For the first time in a long time, we actually look comfortable defending and protecting a 1-0 lead this season, we've also shown a calmness at the other end of the pitch to keep picking a team apart slowly and I believe this has come from the confidence of having such a strong back four, especially in the CB department. As much as Jansson has impacted the overall character of the squad, on the pitch Pinnock has been an absolute rock with topping many of the defensive stats out of the main starters, I believe that out of all the CBs in the division this season he's definitely been up there as one of the best. Pinnock has also provided another opportunity for us to score from; because of his height, we're able to attack with multiple players and cause havoc within the area, as we've seen with some long throws to mix it up.
Jeanvier and Racic have provided much-needed cover this season and both have looked very capable others when they step into the side, the experience and leadership from Pontus were missed but on a technical level, they've been capable of filling that void. I've been impressed with Racic, as another B Team graduate stepping into the side, it's been great to see him go from strength to strength, as a depth option he is absolutely perfect for the role.
Central Midfield
After joining the Bees in 2017 Mokotjo has gone on to play 94 games for the club and brought flair and energy to the midfield after Diagouraga left in 2016 and he played a key role in the keeping the balance between our attacking midfielders and defensive midfielders but as we’ve evolved with the centre mids playing 3 unique roles Mokotjo no longer fits the system of what we want from our midfield 3. His defensive numbers are nowhere near the levels of Norgaard, nor do his ball-playing numbers match the progressive numbers of Dasilva/Baptiste or the playmaking numbers of Jensen/Marcondes, it just a case of the side/playing style evolving beyond what he can offer us in midfield. At 29 years old, he still has the opportunity to make last big contract, and he would be an excellent addition to another championship side that needs someone to balance up their midfield.
In my opinion, Norgaard is the player of the season. For a long time, we’ve had a neat ball playing playmaker that would play DM and not have the defensive skillset to play the role effectively. With Norgaard, we have someone that frees up our creative players and with the insurance that he’ll be behind mopping up anything that comes his way; he’s also highly effective at slowing down attacking sides with tactical fouls that take the pressure off our defence, which allows us to get back into shape and take the sting out of the game. He doesn’t set the world on fire like the BMW or the other midfielders but he solidifies our defence and without him, in the side, we look a lot worse off.
As mentioned when looking at Mokotjo, Dasilva’s role in the side is to pick the ball up from deep and then motor forward with the ball going on a 30/40 yard sprint up the pitch getting us out of harms way and putting us on the front foot to attack teams, his ability to progress the ball with his dribbling adds another dimension to our attacking game as teams don’t want players running onto their defence so have to engage him opening up space for us elsewhere on the pitch for us to exploit. Dasilva also has shown an eye for goal this season chipping in with 10 worldies, including a fine hat trick in the 7-0 at home against Luton. Much like Jensen, we’ll also see him pop up wide right so he can cut in for a shooting chance or play the ball into space for our forwards to attack. Picking him up on a free is one of the best pieces of business that Brentford’s Recruitment has ever made.
What is exciting is the fact that Baptiste has a very similar skillset/playing style to Josh Dasilva and is the perfect understudy to cover that role or step up if Dasilva was to move on this summer. It also allows us to mix the midfield roles and combinations up to make it harder to predict how we are going to play. Frank experimented with this against Luton where the 2 of them were given licence to roam and wreak havoc, although it didn’t work on that particular occasion with more time to implement and work on the rotations it could be another setup that Frank could go to if he wished to change things.
Mathias Jensen
When you look at transfers you rarely say that both sides “win”, it tends to be agreed that one team got the better deal but in the case of Jensen and Sawyers I think all parties have benefited from this deal. WBA got an excellent ball-playing central midfielder that vision and ability to split teams apart with a singular pass makes him one of the best central midfielders in the Championship, and at £4million is a steal for them. Despite this, the Bees went out and brought a player that improved the team, who was younger, cheaper and fit the system better than Sawyers did. I have mentioned it before but Jensen is a “neater” player, what I mean by this instead of line breaking pass or splitting defences apart, Jensen is content on playing through and developing a move whereas Sawyers tended to progress play quickly by trying to open defensive straight away leading to a turnover or more often than not an assist or goal-scoring chance. Jensen role has been vital as we are becoming better at breaking low block teams down, as we pick them apart slowly. Sawyers just didn’t fit this role Frank wanted from his CM and to get £4 million for a 27 year old in the last year of his deal was a difficult move we had to make to continue moving forward. Sawyers will go down as a Brentford great and is one of the best players the club has ever had.
Emiliano Marcondes
After a rocky start to his career at Brentford, it looked to be the end for Marcondes when he was loaned back to FC Midtjylland for half a season but since coming back in January he’s been unplayable in places this season. The impact he made against Sheffield Wednesday (H), Fulham (A) or Swansea in the second leg where he and Jensen pressing put Swansea on the back foot as we kept going at them. When starting with Marcondes in the side we do seem to have a different game plan where we seem to press higher and with more intensity but the risk is that we leave space which if a team plays around it then we can be exploited. It’s been great to finally see the talent and confidence in Marcondes game after he really struggled to adjust to England, not bad for a free transfer.
Marcondes is unfortunate that he doesn’t start more regularly but with 3 first team level players (Marcondes, Jensen and Dasilva) to fit into 2 positions in front of Norgaard we can expect Frank to continue rotating them around, especially with a busy 20/21 expected.
Credits: Link Twitter @StatsPerform
Wingers/Forwards
Byran Mbeumo
Mbeumo joined the Bees for an (alleged) record transfer fee of €6.5m in late August beating out a host of high profile clubs for the then 19 year old French winger. After a slow start to his Brentford career, the injury to Canos seemed to be the turning point for him as he went on a run of 3 goals and 2 assists in the 5 games in the games after Canos’ injury. From there he didn’t look back, his 21 Goal contributions rank him first for goals and assists for U23 players in the Championship this, when looking at his production levels compared to those U23, he has been nothing short of superb, maintaining high production figures throughout the season.
There is concern that he exceeded his expected numbers by quite a large margin so a drop off in goals and assists may be expected but when comparing his levels to other young players in the division he is definitely up there as one of/ if not the best player under 23 in the Championship.
Joel Valencia
After his summer signing from Piast Gliwice, the Ecuadorian has spent most of the season on the bench only playing 324 minutes. His bit-part role hasn’t allowed us to see what he has to offer but another of the players that is a comfortable coming off the bench to allow BMW a rest in the closing stages of a game.
Sergi Canos
The flying Spaniard started the season really from the RWB/RM position providing excellent attacking play (3 assists from his first 11 games) in alongside some solid defensive, unfortunately for him, his season was cut short by a serious knee injury at the start of October away at Nottingham Forest. It was great to Sergi back towards the end of lockdown and it will be interesting to see what he can do fully fit next season.
Saïd Benrahma
There aren't enough words to describe how incredible Saïd has been this season, some of the things he does on the ball are mesmerising and leave you utterly speechless. The rainbow flicks away at Bristol City or the double nutmeg against Lewis Wing is just a few moments of magic from the Algerian Messi in this season.
These little tricks and flicks aren't all in vain though by using these dribbles or flicks puts him into position to be a double threat, he can now either shoot as the defence has gone and left him giving him that window to shoot or allows him to slip the ball into a teammate. Stats Perform has made this excellent graphic showing these dribbles and then what the end product is. After the uncertainty at the start of the season, he's come back with a vengeance with some crucial goals and assists which sent us flying up the table. Especially post lockdown, where he was scoring for fun and tearing defences apart with his trickery and magical feet.
Credits: Link Twitter @StatsPerform
Tarique Fosu
Another January addition to the side to provide some much needed cover on either flank, As a squad players he's played sparingly in the back end of the season (266 minutes), a positive run of performances at the start of lockdown saw him get a few starts but once Mbeumo returned to full fitness he went back to his covering role. Much like Jeanvier and Baptise, he's an excellent option to be bringing off the bench and is some much needed strength and depth to the squad.
Jan Zamburek
Another B Team graduate to be making regular appearances in the first team squad over the course of the season. In his 16 appearances this, he's played 218 minutes which equates to 2.4 90s played. The 19 years old Czech international, has shown flashes of his brilliance this season with a great assist to Ollie Watkins vs Bristol City, maybe a loan move would beneficial for him to get some much-needed league minutes in men's football.
Strikers
Halil Dervişoğlu
After failing to get the deal through in time at the end of the summer, Dervişoğlu joined up with the team in January from Sparta Rotterdam after a very successful time in the Netherlands, where he provided a goal or an assist every other game (0.58 G+A per 90). Since joining the Bees, he has seen the majority of his appearances in the FA Cup or brief cameos off the bench when the game was in the dying embers. Despite this, he has shown flashes of the quality and his desire to get himself involved (Charlton at springs to mind) and he looks like another shrewd piece of business from Brentford's recruitment team.
Nicolas Karelis
A really unfortunate season for the Greek who joined the Bees on a free transfer to provide some depth to the attacking lineup. After 4 cameos off the bench, totalling 90 minutes, he would tear his ACL for the second time in 4 years. Hopefully, he can find a new club soon and go on to be successful.
Marcus Forss (Loan: AFC Wimbledon)
After a great loan spell away at AFC Wimbledon, many will be looking at the young Finnish striker to step in a fill the potential hole left by Watkins. Despite boasting an excellent goal scoring record in League 1 last season, I think he still lacks in the link-up/passing game that makes a striker in a Brentford System work so flawlessly, but with time injured and more exposure to first-team training, Forss has had time to work on his game and study what made Watkins and Maupay so effective in our attacking system. With a clean bill of health and a striker spot potentially to be filled, Forss is definitely one to keep an eye on in 2020/21.
Ollie Watkins
After a window of uncertainty who would be replacing Neal Maupay, up stepped Ollie Watkins who has been nothing short of brilliant, matching the same number of goals scored by Maupay in the 18/19 season. His ability to link play has been a massive factor in fitting the “Brentford Striker” role, the use of his body to pin defenders to hold the ball up, creating space for onrushing players to ruthlessly exploit. Another non-quantifiable attribute that has seen Watkins succeed is his movement around the box to get into areas of better quality shooting opportunities, his movement puts him in areas to make the chances he gets “easier to score”; you can clearly see this in his shot map where only one goal was scored outside of the 18-yard area.
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