How the Bees invaded the Etihad Stadium: A Tactical Analysis of the City and Brentford match
"It's a question of time before Thomas Frank joins a big European club. ...I'm good in a few things, but reading when a manager is good, I know which one is good." Pep Guardiola on Thomas Frank
Thomas Frank produced one of the best tactical matches in the Premier League In recent years, against the league leaders and title holder Manchester City, the fourth gameweek of the Premier League witnessed a tactical summit between the Spanish coach Pep Guardiola and his Danish counterpart Thomas Frank. When City hosted Brentford at the Etihad Stadium, the matches between the two sides have always been intense and attracted the attention of analysts due to the Bees's ability to confront the Blue Giant in the last few years.
Build up and break the city’s pressure:
Wisaa's prominent role:
As we know in recent years, Manchester City has relied on 4-4-2 in pressing, with Haaland and De Bruyne at the head of the plan, while the wingers curved their run to close passing lanes.
The Dane used a clever trick, relying on his striker Wissa, as the latter dropped deep, leaving Kovacic confused between marking him or stepping up to press Janlet, who moves with great cleverness in the space behind De Bruyne's back, taking advantage of the latter's slowness and slackness.
The following image demonstrates what we discussed in the previous section.
Brentford created a numerical superiority on City's right side as Wissa pinned Kovacic, and Brentford could progress smoothly and easily.
In build-up on the right side of Brentford. City’s players rushed to the ball receiver with proficient zonal pressure, here Wissa appears to us in another place but with the same role, pinning Kovacic, creating free space for passing and progress for his teammates, creating play for his teammates with his back to goal. This resulted in a dangerous attack if it weren't for Walker's intervention and his high defensive awareness.
Thomas Frank brought back memories of Brighton's De Zerbi in build-up by relying on playing the ball with one touch, as the Dane relied on his unknown soldier (I don't think he is unknown to tactical followers) Wissa, who gave a reference match for the strikers when he performed all these roles on the field with remarkable comprehensiveness (Harry Kane will be Ecstatic with Wessa performance ).
As Wissa was fulfilling his role as a false nine he managed to lure stones, while Lewis Potter would play a one-touch pass, and then make a run cunningly behind Walker’s back, then Wissa would reflect the ball to him in the space as shown in the second picture, Brian Mbeumo would be waiting for them to finish the attack as the striker, this move almost happened one of the best goals of the game week from Mbeumo with a bicycle kick.
A goalkeeper who plays with his feet and full-backs open the width of the field :
The Dane did not stop at one solution, he destroyed City's pressure in different ways (I think Thomas Frank is the coach who benefitted the most from the international break) as he varied the methods of breaking City's pressure. Our stars in this section will be the Dutch goalkeeper Fleeken and the full-backs (according to the plan) the Danish Ajer and the Irish Collins. without diminishing the rest, of course.
To overcome this trap, the Dane mainly relied on his goalkeeper who is good at playing the ball with his feet, to play an accurate long ball to Collins, taking advantage of the negative reaction of de Bruyne and Savio.
This situation will leave Kovacic confused as shown by his body language.
In another context, Mark Flekken repeated the same move, but on Ajer's side (the right side of Brentford). Thomas Frank excelled in using full-backs as right/left wing back to build up.
Brentford applied one of the principles of positional play ( the free man or third man ) due to this proficient and typical build-up, where Brentford broke the first pressing line and switched the ball to the other side ( collins – potter side), Ajer would move forward as right wing back .
Brentford high pressure:
Brentford relied on unexpected high pressure, where he succeeded throughout the first 20 minutes when Norgaard took Kovacic, Damsgaard went to Gundogan, Collins dropped deep to Kevin De Bruyne, Potter went inside to prevent Savio from taking the ball, Janlet primed to step in when the long pass came down to Walker by Ederson, Wissa would moves to Stones when he received the ball, while Mbeumo cuts the lane to Akanji.
To solve this problem, the Spaniard relied on his goalkeeper Ederson to play a long pass to his Norwegian striker Haaland, and this is what happened in the second goal as well. He also sought to bring in Stones with Kovacic and expand the field with full-backs
Savio supports Stones in build-up and Lewis Potter is going straight to him.
Guardiola's adjustments in the second half and the secret behind changing Gvardiol and Rodri:
In the second half, Guardiola made some adjustments the first one was the pressing skin as he relied on a 4-2-3-1, second was the entry of Gvardiol who contributed with great tactical awareness to prevent Fleeken/Ajer Operation.
In addition to crushing Wissa’s process (Mbeumo after Wissa's injury) and Collins, Savio dropped deep, almost level with Collins, while Haaland (Gündogan in this example) cut off the passing options of Pinnock or Van den Berg, De Bruyne followed Norgaard to prevent him from receiving the ball, Rodri ( because Rodri more intense than Kovacic) and Gvardiol locked down Brentford’s midfield with a suffocating pressure, with Akanji ready to step in as an extra defender in the backline
Gvardiol moves With a keen perception towards Ajer and breaks the build-up, Guardiola used him for this role and I think Gvardiol did his coach a great job of stopping the Dane’s build-up.
Thomas Frank applied all the principles of positional play against one of his masterminds. Furthermore preparing well for all four phases of play also the set pieces, which were like a headache, as Guardiola described them after the match.
"Set-pieces? Every corner is a headache. Every throw-in? In the final third it’s a headache. Every free-kick? Every department and all the things they do, they have a manager behind, it’s a manager”
Overall, Thomas Frank had a tactical masterpiece match against one of the best teams in the world and a coach who is considered the best among his peers and even outperformed him tactically throughout the match. Perhaps the most expressive words about this are the fairness and praise he received from Guardiola, as the latter praised Thomas Frank during the post-match interview :
"I am a big fan of Thomas Frank, "The first-half, I don’t remember in nine years [a team] that played in the way Brentford played in the first 20 or 30 minutes [today], and I give credit to them... It’s an extraordinary team. We suffered from it since they were promoted into the Premier League..."
“They are good in high-pressing. They are good in long-balls, second-balls. They defend deep so compact, allowing them to go outside and have spaces inside. The transitions with [Yoane] Wissa and [Bryan] Mbeumo - they are really, really good.”
“This season even, when they make high-pressing, last season it was long balls to [Ivan] Toney, this season no. This season they play short passes, they break, they move inside, outside, and after they’re so quick.”
Pep Guardiola on Thomas Frank: "It’s a question of time [before he joins a big European club], he will get it. They will get a good manager, and that is going to happen. I’m good in a few things, but reading when a manager is good, I know which one is good..."