Why Brentford are looking more dangerous this season

Three games in, Keith Andrews’ side are creating more, attacking with greater urgency and showing signs of a subtle evolution

Three games into Keith Andrews’ second season as Brentford head coach, five points from three matches represents a very strong if unremarkable start, but there is already something noticeably different about the way his side are playing.

Brentford look more attacking. They are creating more chances, taking far more shots and spending longer periods pushing opponents backwards rather than simply waiting for opportunities to emerge.

There seems to be greater urgency when they win possession and a greater willingness to get players forward, with the result being a team that, while still recognisably Brentford, feels considerably more dangerous than it did for large parts of last season. The Bees are averaging around 20 shots per game so far this season, putting them among the Premier League’s most prolific shooting sides.

The opening three games have also offered some useful comparisons with last season, particularly because Brentford have already faced sides against whom they struggled to create much in the corresponding fixtures last term.

Vitaly Janelt celebrates giving Brentford the lead against Sunderland

Tottenham’s visit to the Gtech on the opening weekend could hardly have been more different. Last season’s meeting between the two sides finished 0-0 in a game short of incident, with Brentford barely troubling Tottenham’s goal, whereas this time Andrews’ side won 3-0 through goals from Keane Lewis-Potter, Vitaly Janelt and Michael Kayode and never really allowed Spurs to settle.

There was a similar feeling at Leeds, where Brentford had drawn 0-0 at Elland Road last season and created very little of note, but this time went toe to toe with Leeds for long periods, Kevin Schade opening the scoring before Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised.

Sunderland provided a useful counterpoint. Having beaten them comfortably at the Gtech last season, Brentford found a more organised opponent this time around, with the visitors making the game considerably more difficult to open up before eventually leaving with a point after Janelt’s goal was cancelled out by a late Enzo Le Fée penalty.

That will happen over the course of the season. There will be games where opponents deny Brentford space and make it difficult for them to play with the same freedom, but across the three matches there has been enough to suggest that Andrews is trying to make his side more proactive.

That’s particularly interesting when viewed alongside his first season in charge. Taking over after Thomas Frank’s departure, and having never previously managed a first team, Andrews’ immediate task was less about reinventing Brentford than finding a system that worked.

He made changes to the team’s defensive approach, becoming more compact in midfield and less exposed than they had been previously, while continuing to rely on the physicality, directness and transition play that have long made Brentford effective.

It worked well enough to take them to ninth and match their best ever Premier League finish, but there were still questions about what the attacking identity of the team actually was. Brentford scored goals and created high-quality chances, but they took relatively few shots overall and there were periods where too much of the responsibility fell on Igor Thiago.

The early weeks of this season suggest Andrews may now be trying to add another dimension. Mamadou Sangaré’s arrival thus far seems essential. Brentford paid a club-record fee to bring him in from Lens during the summer, and while the price tag attracted plenty of attention, the type of player they were signing may be just as revealing.

At Lens, Sangaré established himself as one of the most effective midfielders in Ligue 1, earning a place in the division’s Team of the Season and winning the Marc-Vivien Foé award as its best African player, with his ability to cover ground, win possession and carry the ball forward making him an obvious fit for the way Brentford want to play.

Mamadou Sangaré after scoring against Spurs

Andrews said Sangaré “adds qualities that we don’t have” to an already strong midfield, and those qualities have been obvious during his first few games. His partnership with Janelt at Leeds gave Brentford a midfield capable of winning possession and immediately turning defence into attack, while Schade, Dango Ouattara and new arrival Jaidon Anthony all provide the pace and athleticism to take advantage once the ball moves forward.

There is another encouraging aspect to Brentford’s attacking start, too, in that they have managed it without a goal from the player who carried much of their goalscoring burden last season.

Thiago scored 22 league goals during Brentford’s ninth-place finish, but is yet to find the net three games into the new campaign, coming closest when hitting the post from the penalty spot against Tottenham.

Brentford have still scored five goals, with Lewis-Potter, Janelt, Kayode and Schade all getting on the scoresheet, which perhaps says something about the difference in this team already. Last season there were periods where, if Thiago was having a quiet afternoon, it was difficult to see where the goals might come from. So far, at least, that has not been the case.

It is obviously too early to say that Andrews has completely reinvented Brentford, and Sunderland demonstrated that there will be matches in which opponents make it extremely difficult for them to create space.

But the early signs are encouraging. Brentford have looked more willing to take the initiative, are creating considerably more and, perhaps most importantly, have made that attacking start without Thiago yet getting off the mark.

Three games is far too early to draw any major conclusions, but there is enough there to think that this Brentford side might have another gear to find.

All images credited to Brentford FC