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Ep4 Tactics Tuesday: How to solve a lack of depth at full back and set piece quirks
23 Plays10 months ago
This is your Tactics Tuesday, where we break down how we should look to manage the lack of depth at full back until the return of Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey, and analyse tactical quirks which demonstrate our development from the last season and show the areas in which we separate ourselves from the rest of the Premier League.
Host: Daniel Toppin
Instagram/X/TikTok: @gspnbrentford
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Transcript
Introduction and Call for Support
00:00:10
officialgspn
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Daily Brentford Podcast with myself Daniel where today we will be analysing tactical aspects of our opening day victory against Palace and in particular how we can continue to overcome squad debt issues at fallback to maintain defensive solidity. Just before we get going guys once again we are a brand new company so we are looking for as much support as you can give us over the coming season and beyond.
00:00:38
officialgspn
We are committed to providing the best content and the most in-depth content every single day of the week throughout the season. So whether you can support us the like a subscribe or a recommendation to your friends, we are very grateful for any support that we receive. Daily Brentford can be found on X Instagram and TikTok under the handle at GSPN Brentford. And we are planning to be more active on those social medias, including showing updates as to when our podcasts are out and also other content.
Challenges in Fullback Squad Depth
00:01:17
officialgspn
So then, one of the key issues that has transpired, not just in the Palace game, but even dating back to pre-season, is the notable lack of depth in certain areas of the Brentford squad, most notably the most the lack of depth at fallback.
00:01:39
officialgspn
Primarily, at left back in particular, obviously Rico Henry is the obvious left back we have, but there is, to my mind, no obvious alternative in the event that Rico Henry is unavailable. Perhaps that alternative in any event would be Aaron Hickey, who is also obviously has been out for a while and is injury prone.
00:02:07
officialgspn
So where does this leave Brentford? Thomas Frank said prior to the Palace game that both Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey are unlikely to feature until after the September international break at least.
Impact of Rico Henry's Injuries
00:02:20
officialgspn
Even then I suspect it will take some time for them to get back up to speed after being out for so long. Perhaps we can expect one or both of them to be playing for the B team in the coming weeks in preparation for their to return to the first team.
00:02:34
officialgspn
but I do think how much can we be relying on these players? Anyone, and it's not just because it's them, it could be anybody, that if you have been out for so long, especially the level we are playing at now, it is very difficult to quickly adapt back. And Rico, I'm gonna talk about Rico Henry, because obviously he's been at Bramford for such a long time, we know him so well, I absolutely love Rico Henry.
00:03:04
officialgspn
When he is fit and firing, you can see the difference he makes to our squad. I think he is defensively extremely solid. He's the one we rely on to be quick to the ball and stop counters. He's the one that we leave back at corners or on the edge of the box at corners. So then when the other team goes to break, he's the first one there because we trust him and his pace and that he'll get there first. He is rarely ever making a mistake and he is someone that we can genuinely rely upon when he is fit. But that is the issue, the issue throughout his Brentford career, that is when he does get injured, it is normally a serious injury.
Aaron Hickey's Versatility and Injury Concerns
00:03:45
officialgspn
Aaron Hickey, of course, we've seen less seen less of in his time at Brentford. And again, he looks very talented in terms of, you know, he he he can use his right foot or left foot. Sometimes it's very difficult to tell, you know, which is is even his favourite foot.
00:04:00
officialgspn
But he's done very, very well, you know, covering both right back and left back when required. But again, his hamstring injury is the longest hamstring injury I've ever known. And I'm sure when he first got injured, Thomas Frank was initially touting a comeback in December 2023. So, you know, we don't know what's gone on behind the scenes, but With both of these players, I think we need to manage them well in order to get them back up to full fitness and get them firing again so they can be reliable to us in the longer term. Of course, they will be a massive boost from their comeback, but Brentford as a club have known about their injuries since last season.
Defensive Struggles and Tactical Adjustments
00:04:45
officialgspn
Last season in particular, without them, we struggled defensively.
00:04:49
officialgspn
conceding a league-high number of goals from crosses and dropping 30 points last season from winning positions. In some aspects, I felt that we did look a little vulnerable playing out from defence yesterday, at the weekend against Crystal Palace, particularly on the ball, but also the second goal we conceded came from another cross situation and I do wonder whether those covering in those fallback positions, not being natural fallbacks, particularly Ira on the left, obviously, what whilst there is a natural fallback, but particularly Ira on the left, and this is the side the goal came from on Sunday, whether there is just something slightly off with a position in which can, which should be expected by playing players out position. Now, I consider,
00:05:44
officialgspn
the problem to arise in the fallback areas. I thought Collins and Pinnock were very solid at the weekend. I think Pinnock in general, I continue to rate as one of the best centre backs in the league. I think he is so very rarely off it. I think he is very, very solid. um And I think Collins, the one thing he needs to develop is is his consistency. And I think doing that next to Ethan Pinnock will be something that will aid his progress massively. Now, Chris Iyer was chosen to play a left back at the weekend. This is something that Brentford clearly worked on in pre-season, but this is obviously not a natural position for him. He was signed as a centre back. He has played it right back at times for Brentford.
00:06:33
officialgspn
He is clearly better on the ball, I would say, as perhaps some of our other centre backs, but I think just being right footed at left back, we saw this with England at the Euros, it can present its own problems in terms of playing out and distribution and the balance of the team. In addition, Chris Iatt is also known ah to have injury issues and an injury record, which isn't perhaps you know, reliable since he signed for Brentford. So what could any other options be for Brentford? Obviously last season, we did see Vitalian out to cover there at left back. And in my opinion, I think he would provide more balance going forward and maybe keeping the ball and but and playing the sort of football that we seem to be trying to develop into, that we'll go into later.
00:07:32
officialgspn
more like what we did in the championship. I feel like maybe he could aid that until Ricko Henry comes back in. I think that would also then allow us to bring Dammsguard into midfield and solve an issue of creativity perhaps in a matter of field and freshen up our midfield and cause us to create better chances like we did when Dammsguard came on when he provided the cross for the second goal. However,
00:08:02
officialgspn
With Janelle there, I would still worry about the situation defensively. I'd worry about the distances between the centre backs and the full backs in this regard, as it's not his natural position and it could lead to more issues from crosses. And this is not something I blame Janelle for. This is not something I blame anyone for. I just think it would need a left back who is familiar with the position in order to solve this issue.
00:08:32
officialgspn
An option which Thomas Frank has turned to previously and an option which I think we'll use against Liverpool at the weekend and in the more difficult away games we've got coming up as well is to go five at the back. This provides more protection in terms of you have free centre backs and the wing backs perhaps can be higher at times, but there are less spaces. The idea is there are less spaces in the defence because the three three centre bats can cover more of the width of the pitch. I am still not a fan of this against teams who we can be expected to go toe to toe against in the Premier League in terms of, you know, anyone outside the big six or seven teams. I think we should be aiming at this stage in our development to go toe to toe with them and
00:09:25
officialgspn
I would say this requires a back four because otherwise there is a risk, unless you do play it like Crystal Palace do and leave your wing backs high, I think there is a risk of your wing backs getting pinned back, particularly if they are not natural players in the position. So what should Brentford do in order to solve this issue?
Exploring Transfer Market for Fullbacks
00:09:50
officialgspn
I definitely think that in the past six to twelve months. Well we've been aware that this is an issue. We knew what it was like prior to Christmas last summer when Rico Henry was injured and Janelle was having to cover that position. I think we should have gone into this season prepared for an event where Henry perhaps isn't fit at the start of the season or even when he is fit prepared for to have another option in case he got injured again. I still expect Brentford
00:10:26
officialgspn
with a couple of weeks to go in the transfer market to look at this, and I still expect us to bring in cover, but I think it is a great shame that it has not come in before the start of the season. Taking into account proposals, and I've had a little look and I'm only going to pick players that we're familiar with here in England, but Sergio Regulon is still available at Tottenham. I do not think there is much of a prospect of Brentford signing him permanently.
00:10:56
officialgspn
But depending on Rico Henry's situation and how close he is in reality to fitness, and only really the club knows this, could another loan deal, a short loan deal, three or six months, be on the card. I think, possibly, I think Regulon enjoyed his time. He appeared to enjoy his time at Brentford last season. We covered, I think, some of his salary. I think most of his salary was covered by Tottenham. but I haven't seen any links to Regulon, I might be wrong, but there could be a situation there where maybe we could see his return just until Rika Henry is back.
00:11:36
officialgspn
um One of the things I liked about Regulon is I felt that his strengths lies where maybe slight weaknesses are in Rieke Henry's game. I thought Regulon's strengths were getting crosses in, getting forward. And I thought that he was absolutely brilliant at that. And I thought by contrast, Rieke Henry's strengths are almost the opposite to Regulon in terms of, I think he's solid defensively. I think you know his pace and his solidity in defense really helps us build as a team.
00:12:11
officialgspn
I think if you could merge a perfect left back, I think you would merge Henry and Regulon and you'd have it right there. In terms of permanent cover, I believe um somebody like somebody of the same old of Regulon would be very helpful for Brentford. In terms of
00:12:39
officialgspn
Profile, I think it would be very helpful for Brentford to get somebody in who can Complimentary game rate in a way where say in a game that we're 1-0 down and we need it we need a goal in the last 10 minutes, maybe perhaps Rekha Henry could come off and a more attacking left-back option could come in. Now I don't think Sergio Regulon is a realistic option for a permanent signing due to wages and the fact he would probably want to be first choice given his profile and his history and the teams he's played for in the past.
00:13:11
officialgspn
But there is someone who did impress in the Premier last year who may appreciate another chance to crack the level and may, given his younger age, accept being a rotation option in the side. And that's Alfie Daugherty from Luton. It is understood that he would be available for about 15 million. And this maybe is an area that we can see Brentford looking at.
00:13:37
officialgspn
in the coming weeks in order to address a depth issue at left-back. But I think in any event, to whether we do decide to go for one of the issues that has been of note throughout preseason and upon seeing the team news against Palace, and although it was a very good performance at the weekend, I think it is an issue we will need to address longer term, is who will be playing at left-back or who will be able to cover at left-back in the event that Rico Henry is unavailable.
00:14:07
officialgspn
I think Roslev on the right is more defensively solid. I am quite concerned at his ability to play out at times. I think there were some times where he was caught playing it to a Palace midfield player in midfield, and I think if we are to become more ah more consistent at playing out from the back and doing it successfully, then it may be helpful to get an upgrade home in the market, but I think It might be somewhat unrealistic and in in the remaining weeks of this window considering it's not easy, it's not necessarily easy in the left path position to buy someone who knows they perhaps might not be first choice when everyone is fit was obviously Aaron Hickey to come back and he will probably then take the right back spots.
Balancing Play Style and Set-Piece Efficiency
00:14:52
officialgspn
After the break,
00:14:53
officialgspn
We will be going through other tactical quirks from the Crystal Palace game and discussing how we may be implementing things differently this season going forward judging by what we have seen.
00:16:18
officialgspn
So then more additional quirks particularly from the palace game at the weekend in particular. I thought the way Palace played lended itself very well to our front free thriving with their pace. I thought their wingbacks, Munoz and Mitchell, although very popular in FPL this season, given that they're going forward a lot, I feel like their positioning assisted in like some Mbuma and Shada getting regularly in those pockets behind the wingbacks and exploiting the space in behind very well. And I thought
00:16:51
officialgspn
Shada in particular when he gets going the raw pace on him. I think it will pose a challenge to teams that play five at the back against us this season because it will have a result in pinning the wing backs back potentially or if they do decide to stay quite high and I thought Munoz and Mitchell did Munoz in particular state tried to stay quite high against Shada. I thought he had some joy in behind and obviously those areas of the pitch is also a similar area to where Bournemouth scored on the other flank. I thought in relation to Brentford's play there was definitely more emphasis on playing out for the back and not just playing out but making more progressive passes. I think on Match of the Day they showed a graphic where they they thought it was surprising for Brentford but there was a thicker line going between the centre backs and between Mark Flecken than
00:17:48
officialgspn
there was you know just a long ball up to somebody like Shada, who perhaps could be the the target man in the system we were playing. Now, I didn't notice as much in the game of sideways passing despite this. I didn't notice many periods of just going back to Fleck and back to the centre backs consistently. And I felt that Palace's press maybe prevented us from doing this. But I felt that there was a emphasis on playing forward and being brave. Now, many people who who are new to Brentford who have only become aware of Brentford because they're not Brentford fans in the last few years due to us being in the Premier League will not associate us with that type of football. However,
00:18:40
officialgspn
ah so Obviously the Brentford fan base, we know how we used to play prior to the Premier League era. We know that in the championship we were one of the most entertaining teams to watch and we were very much about intricate passing playing out the back in technical quality. Now that quality is still there and I think it is much more difficult though to implement it in the Premier League but I think on Sunday we saw some signs of that starting to come into fruition.
00:19:09
officialgspn
I do, however, think this is a high-risk way of playing. I do think that even within the game on Sunday, we saw many incidences of us losing the ball quite high up the pitch and not perhaps having enough quality to play out consistently enough. On the other hand, we saw this work, particularly in relation to the first goal, when we broke through from the front-free and promising positions where Mbuma, Wisser and Charda could all run at a defence and cause havoc going the other way.
Adapting Tactics Against Top Teams
00:19:42
officialgspn
The the question going forward is this whether we are good enough on the ball to continue to do this consistently. And I would expect that we may pick and choose our times to do this and still accept that against certain teams, we know we're going to be under pressure and we might not quite have the quality to be able to play in that way. An example of this is next week at Liverpool.
00:20:08
officialgspn
and with their press and with their quality in particular I would be worried if we go and implement this next week and we try and play short and we try and play out because I think we can easily get caught. I think we need an outlet and I think it's more difficult to play with an outlet against these teams if Tony isn't to play and if Ovsiego Tiago is out until Christmas. I think then we may have to look towards someone like Kevin Schade who has the presence, he has a leap on him and I think although he won't, I don't think he has the strength of an Ivan Tony, I feel like he could be there for flick-ons if he can get on the opposition's full back from goal kicks, etc. I think another option that I've seen us do in the past is overlapping a centre back at a goal kick, pushing them higher up the pitch, just for them to win that first contact and then going into our normal shape.
00:21:03
officialgspn
I think that next week I would expect us to go into about five and we will be previewing the game um on Thursday with the Liverpool podcast and on Friday between ourselves.
Maximizing Set-Piece Opportunities
00:21:18
officialgspn
Another thing, another quirk from Brentford's game against Palace at the weekend is Brentford's use of set pieces and I believe we continue to be an outlier in this field. For example, at Throw-ins we any attacking throwing, any throwing level with the box or further forward, and we tend to bring our centre backs forward. This used to be our trigger to go for the long throw. I have noticed more recently that we don't always go for the long throw, but we always do send our centre backs forward. This ultimately led to second goal at the weekend where it was a second phrase of a long throw and although we didn't throw it long,
00:22:03
officialgspn
that we got numbers in the box, one of them being Nathan Collins, and obviously he latched, he stayed in the box and he latched onto the cross on Dam's guard, which ultimately resulted in Wisser's goal. I am surprised that more teams do not do this. It seems to me like throw-ins are a neglected part of the game that other teams don't really seem to work on. I think it's very difficult to recall many goals for many teams that come directly from throw-ins.
00:22:34
officialgspn
And I think this is an area where Brentford could continue to develop and continue to you know earn those marginal gains, which ultimately could result in sneaking a close game, which which the Palace game was at the weekend. Also, I've noticed that, obviously, we've we've done this for many years now that we keep minimal players forward from corners, but there's no one staying high.
00:23:03
officialgspn
when defending corners. This, I think we played a percentage in this regard. I think there are occasions where we do get caught on the break from our own corner without leaving anyone back or if only leaving one player on the edge of the box. But I feel like the chances of us scoring by having those extra men in the box are higher the chances of that happening. And I think we just have to accept that once or twice that may happen. And I think Liverpool again at the weekend, a routine that could do that to us in their quick breaks.
Tactical Adaptations: Man-Marking Strategies
00:23:35
officialgspn
Going the other way, I think we also accept that, you know, the priority when defending a corner is to defend the corner, not to think about breaking too much at the other end and, you know, to limit the goals we can see from crosses, which obviously at times have been a weak point for us. and Another area, again,
00:23:55
officialgspn
kind of from a set piece is an element of man marking at goal kicks. I think we often saw Chris Iyer leaving his left back position to man to mark his man whilst you know covers in the left back area. I think this is likely designed to win first contact or to win the ball back quicker um when Palace go along with their goal kicks and try and build an attack that way.
00:24:19
officialgspn
These quirks are something that we can monitor throughout the season and something that we can develop on in future episodes.
Conclusion and Tease for Next Episode
00:24:27
officialgspn
But this was the first ever episode of Tactics Tuesday. Thank you very much for listening to the Daily Brentford Podcast. I hope you enjoy today's episode.
00:24:40
officialgspn
Once again I would be extremely grateful for your support as this will enable to go ah enable us to go bigger and better moving forwards. We'll be back again tomorrow where we'll have a deep dive into our new summer recruits Fabio Carvalho and Igor Tiago on Wild Card Wednesday. Until then, from myself, thank you for being with us.