1/ Despite 11 games undefeated (5 win, 6 draws) and 6th in the table, a minority of Brentford fans are wanting to sack Thomas Frank.

In the thread we'll breakdown, what I believe is different from last year and the struggles we've faced so far.

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First of all, I'll be breaking down what I think is the problem/issues of this season into 3 sections.

1. Schedule & Fitness
2. Build up play
3. Personnel

Schedule and Fitness

After last years play off run ending on the 4/8/20, the Bees were back playing again on 6/9/20. A very limited pre-season, coupled with a run in the EFL cup, have meant the Bees played 22 games already (that's not even adding international breaks).

The biggest change to previous years is the repeated Tuesday/Saturdays that have been added into the fixture list, with there only being 1 Tuesday off and that was after Wycombe in the cup....

+ The internationals are tending to play 3 games in 10 days before returning.

It shows in the squad selection and rotation. Players are struggling fitness wise, Jannson hasn't been fit for 2 games a week, Dasilva looks shattered and we've rotated the squad continually to keep players healthy/fit for the next week.

This has shown with a drop off in our Pass allowed Per Defensive Action.

In our first 18 games last season we only had 7 games where that number was over 10.
This season alone that figure has only been below 10 PPDA four times (Blackburn, Luton, Middlesbrough and Rotherham)...

The drop off in our pressing game has seen much criticism that we play "negative football" and one of the reasons fans want #FrankOut. My personal view is that because of the limited pre-season, non stop fixtures and squad depth - playing a high tempo pressing game is impossible.

Players are struggling as it is, add in a high intensity out of possession pressing game and I think we'd be crumpling come the end of the year. But this bring me onto the next section about what we are doing In Possession....

In comparison to last season Wyscout Match Tempo feature has seen it reduce from 16.84 to 15.64; this may not seem a lot but when watching the game you can see the drop off in tempo, specifically in our build up phase, party because of fitness concerns but also tactical ones.

I have put this down to two things.
- A double pivot
- Unfamiliar player roles

Since the injury to Nøgaard, Janelt has stepped in, which I personally thought would be a like for like swap. But from my observations, I don't think this is the case.

This showcases the issues I have with our build up, by dropping Dasilva alongside Janelt he's not effecting the game 15 yards higher up the pitch like he was last season. I assume Frank has dropped one alongside Janelt as he's worried about his lack of on the ball abilities

as well as his struggles separating himself when he's man-marked, something that Nørgaard excels at. By using a double pivot, it limits our progressive options meaning we have to go wide more often than not, which is being marked off by FBs and wingers and easy to defend.

With Janelt unable to get free it means more often than not our back 4 just passing it among themselves; it showcased in this awesome pass map by @DymondFormation. It is all very stale and we struggle to build or break through teams in the efficient manner that we did last year.

This brings me onto my last point and the issues with personnel, as much as Canos, Fosu and Ghoddos have been solid 6s/7s , they just aren't Saïd. Who single handedly could flip the game on his own sometimes, we lack the magic that he would bring to games.

It isn't helped by the fact that 2 players that are traditionally wingers (Canos and Fosu) are having to play on their weaker side in different roles to what they normally play (that's another thread all together!) and the other typically played as a #10, now playing out wide.

Is it all doom and gloom? Well no, nor do I think we're actually struggling. I just think it's different to our "usual".

It's not as electric as last season and its a bit slower tempo and methodical.
But
We're 6th and had our best ever start to a season in our history...

I totally can understand some of the criticisms of Frank/The Team this year but with the reasons mentioned above I think a little bit of perspective is needed and it really isn't all that bad.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts

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