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Beesotted contributors The Gowler and Paul Kowalczyk (@BeesBreakdown) give us the tactical and statistical lowdown of Brentford’s draw at Elland Road.

Thomas Frank reverted back to his 3-5-2, bringing back Roerslev and Rico Henry into the squad. Wissa and Janelt benched, but were the only substitutions in a conservative game for the Bees.

Brentford aimed to attack the left wing, with Rico Henry and even Ben Mee in advanced positions at times. Jensen and Toney also gathered on the wing to try to create overloads.

Leeds lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 with Tyler Adams seemingly being everywhere at once on the pitch. Leeds also preferred to play down the left as Brendan Aaronson frequently drifted over to support Struijk and Harrison.

Both squads struggled to create chances, recording the lowest combined xG in a Premier League match all season. Leeds rarely could penetrate Brentford’s compact defence, while Brentford struggled to put it all together in the final third.

1st Minute

2nd Minute

6th Minute

34th Minute

36th Minute

68th Minute

90th Minute

Quick Stats:

Possession: Leeds 58% – 42% Brentford

xG: Leeds 0.49 – 0.40 Brentford

Other Brentford stats:

Total Shots: 6

Interceptions: 14

Tackles won: 6 (43%)

Aerial duels won: 18 (50%)

 

Summary

Brentford starting out the match showing what their main tactic going forward would be. A long ball from Raya to Toney while Mbeumo and Rico Henry came to provide support. Henry got forward plenty and combined with Jensen, while Roerslev stayed further back and Brentford still had 4 players on their backline.

The Bees were funneled to wide areas which they were more than happy to play along with. Brentford only had 3 corners the entire match, and failed to look dangerous from any set pieces.

Leeds defensive midfielders disrupted Brentford’s midfield of Jensen and Dasilva. Tyler Adams and Marc Roca were able to stop Brentford’s midfield from offering much going forward. Brentford resorted to long balls and struggled to string together enough passes to control the match.

Brentford only had 6 shots and didn’t record a shot on goal. They only created 0.40 xG with 0.12 of that coming in the first 10 seconds of the match. However, Brentford looked very comfortable on defence. They rarely gave Leeds easy chances and Leeds barely had much more xG.

Brentford fans would have loved to move into 6th place with a win, but coming away from Elland road with a point is not an easy task. Conservative tactics was a smart choice with Brentford’s away record this season. Brentford now sit in 8th, a point above both Chelsea and Liverpool.

Brentford welcome last place Southampton to the Gtech on February 4th. Follow us on Twitter and look out for our match preview for the Southampton match.