Beesotted contributor Jacob ‘The Gowler’ Gowler (@BeesBreakdown) gives us the tactical and statistical lowdown of Brentford’s win against Bournemouth.
Thomas Frank stuck with an unchanged starting XI to face Bournemouth. The backline consisted of Lewis-Potter, Pinnock, Collins, and Ajer. The typical double pivot combined Janelt and Nørgaard with Damsgaard ahead of them. Brentford’s wingers, Schade and Mbeumo, joined Wissa up top. Thomas Frank also had options on the bench with van den Berg and Yarmoliuk ready to come on if called upon.
Andoni Iraola’s side matched up in a 4-2-3-1 with Cook, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, and Kerkez starting on the backline. Christie and Adams the defensive midfielders with Kluivert roaming as the number 10. Tavernier and Semenyo the pacey wingers hoped to connect with Evanilson as the target man.
1st Minute
8th Minute
9th Minute
15th Minute
17th Minute
29th Minute
31st Minute
37th Minute
68th Minute
71st Minute
Brentford ended with 0.83 xG to Bournemouth’s 1.67 xG, but Brentford mad ethe most of their chances with the expected goals on target being very close to the actual result.
A conservative first 10 minutes saw Flekken launch long balls and Brentford playing very direct, mostly to prevent Bournemouth from capitalizing on their high press, but the Bees eventually settled into the match and started to build from the back. This opened up space between the lines and room to win second balls.
Bournemouth continued to play their direct style, with long balls to Evanilson and quick layoffs to Kluivert to switch play. This led to their only goal and made Brentford drop deeper and be even more compact.
Bournemouth ended with a team high most carries into the final third and the most touches in the final third this season. Brentford’s low block and defensive midfielders dropping into the backline helped prevent high xG chances, but opened up space for shots outside of the box.
The difference in the match came down to Brentford’s execution on set plays. The Bees created 0.63 xG and scoring both goals from set plays.
