Brentford vs Sheffield Wednesday - Extended Highlights Analysis
Bees get back to winning ways with victory over the Owls - 24/02/2021
Brentford 3 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday
24/02/2021
19:00
Brentford Community Stadium
4 minutes
Wednesday began the game attempting to get onto the front foot first as has been customary for Bees opponents recently, the Bees had possession midway into the Wednesday half and Tariqe Fosu was dispossessed by Osaze Urhoghide, this dispossession would be an example of things to come for the Brentford front 3 who struggled to make an impact on the ball even though Brentford eventually won 3-0. The ball was passed to Barry Bannan out wide by Kadeem Harris who was making an inverted run, Bannan charged forward, cut in and struck a shot at goal that David Raya palmed away for a corner kick.
This opportunity came about after Brentford were dispossessed, as Fosu lost the ball the Bees had 7 players down the right channel in Wednesday’s half leaving the back line and left side vulnerable. Brentford’s back four managed to hold their line and positioning as Bannan attacked, Mads Bech closed him down which forced him to cut inside. Unfortunately for Wednesday Bannan had no passing options as the Bees midfield managed to regain their defensive positions and so had to take a punt on a long range shot. You could question Bannan’s decision making here though, whilst centrally he had no passing options, had he of cut back out wide Wednesday had a man on the side of the box who could have fired in a cross to the two forwards occupying the penalty spot. The way Sørensen committed to tackling Bannan meant that he had created a gap between him and the centre backs, Sørensen most likely wouldn’t have recovered his position to prevent a cross from coming in, fortunately Vitaly Janelt was watching the run and looked to have had it covered from a Brentford perspective but if Bannan had decided to pass out wide you can’t guarantee the ball wouldn’t have found its way into the box.
The resulting corner ended in Tom Lees beating Henrik Dalsgaard to the ball before he headed it wide of the left hand post, David Raya appeared to have the space the ball would have been headed into if it were on target covered.
9 minutes
Brentford tried to take the lead with an audacious left footed volley from Bryan Mbeumo following a Saman Ghoddos cross, however the strike looked like it suited the needs of London Irish more than the Bees as it flew over the crossbar. In recent games Brentford’s press had been fairly non-existent as the team were outplayed by both Barnsley and Coventry who employed a very high press, against Sheffield Wednesday however this was not the case and Brentford were able to smother Wednesday when in possession forcing long balls from the keeper and interceptions and tackles on the second ball. This occurred as Tariqe Fosu and Bryan Mbeumo pressed Osaze Urhoghide and Tom Lees respectively, Urhoghide played the ball back to the keeper Joe Wildsmith who then kicked it long. Winston Reid won the header from Wildsmith’s clearance but Mathias Jensen couldn’t control the oncoming ball, Wednesday won the ball back and it was eventually passed to Elias Kachunga as they looked to keep the hold of possession in the middle of the pitch.
Wednesday were closed down by Saman Ghoddos and Mathias Jensen before Jensen managed to cleanly dispossess Kachunga on the half way line, Ghoddos took the ball from Jensen’s tackle and played an immediate inch perfect cross to Mbeumo just inside the box. On another day Mbeumo’s volley may well have gone in, Bryan certainly has the ability to score these types of goals. However Sergi Canos and Tariqe Fosu were following him into the box and it would have been a better option to try and play them in on goal considering the difficulty in trying to land that volley on target, this is a moment that would have perfectly suited Ivan Toney who would most likely have chested the ball down to Canos.
23 minutes - Brentford 1 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday - Bryan Mbeumo
Brentford took the lead midway through the first half after a bit of a scramble in the box from a Mads Bech Sørensen long throw in lead to Sergi Canos attempting to volley the ball into the top left hand corner of the net but struck wide, Canos’ volley however fid find the head of Bryan Mbeumo who tipped his forehead into the ball to nod it into the goal.
This move started with David Raya who had possession inside the Bees half and lashed it to Dalsgaard who was occupying space on the edge of the left hand side of the box who then nodded it further wide to Tariqe Fosu who could only win a throw in.
Sørensen took a long throw in and it was intended for Ethan Pinnock to head towards goal but it appeared that the ball ended up bouncing off of his back, Reid tried to scoop the ball up before Sergi took his shot and Mbeumo guided it into the net. Overall it was a no thrills goal, the smartest bit about this piece of play was prior to David Raya receiving the ball Dalsgaard had been pressed after a free-kick by the Wednesday players and played it long back to Raya and positioned himself free of company down the left channel for Raya to play a neatly placed long ball back to him putting the Owls under pressure again.
53 minutes
The Bees came close to scoring another goal early in the second half as Saman Ghoddos wasted an effort from the edge of the box that drifted wide of the far post. The move was largely influenced by Henrik Dalsgaard who began it by dispossessing Adam Reach just inside the Bees half, Dalsgaard drove forward with the ball before passing centrally to Ghoddos. Ghoddos tried to play a ball ahead for Canos but it was overcooked and easily intercepted. The ball was passed back to Wednesday’s goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith in the 6 yard box but he was immediately pressed by Dalsgaard who began his run to the keeper from outside of the box, this forced Wildsmith to go long down the right channel where Elias Kachunga would beat Mads Bech Sørensen to the header.
Kachunga backed into Mads well and forced himself onto the Dane before winning the ball, an issue with Sørensen has been a lack of consistency in dominating aerial duels and unfortunately he was well beaten here. Wednesday gained possession as Vitaly Janelt’s attempt to control the ball from Kachunga’s header rolled to their defence, Ghoddos and Sergi Canos immediately began closing the ball down and then Canos won it back before passing ahead to Ghoddos.
Dalsgaard had stayed forward almost in a centre forward’s position as he looked to potentially press Wednesday’s possession from behind, but once Ghoddos took the ball the Iranian played Dalgaard through into the left hand side of the box and made a run for a returning pass towards the penalty spot. Ghoddos tried to finish between the legs of Osaze Urhoghide which was what sent the ball off for a goal-kick, however watching it back you can’t help but think Ghoddos had the chance to rifle the ball into the left hand side of the goal with a first time strike.
Brentford fans were worried when Rico Henry hobbled off against Coventry City, Henry is by far our most attacking wing-back and our best outlet from the wing-back positions. Dalsgaard’s pace and age is a potential issue however Thomas Frank seemed to negate that by either having Mads Bech Sørensen, Ethan Pinnock and Winston Reid form a slight back 3 or in this case keeping the back 4 by having Mathias Jensen drop back to cover Dalsgaard. Henrik was a thorn in the side of Wednesday throughout and maybe less like Rico Henry, he actually found himself in central attacking positions more often than wide positions. This allowed the likes of Canos, Fosu, Mbeumo and Ghoddos to push out wide whilst having a larger extra body in the middle to play off of.
54 minutes
Brentford managed to defend solidly in front of goal but that didn’t stop Sheffield Wednesday from producing a pretty neat and skilful passage of play down the left channel that managed to bypass Tariqe Fosu, Mathias Jensen and Henrik Dalsgaard completely. Joe Wildsmith played a goal-kick out wide to left wing-back Matt Penney, Penney took a touch of the ball and as Jensen put his foot in for the tackle Penney dinked the ball over his and Jensen’s head up the touchline. Penney then charged forward and had Adam Reach further up the line facing him with his back to goal, Penney played a 1-2 with Reach and it was delicately returned to Penney on the outside of Reach’s foot as his pass took the oncoming Henrik Dalsgaard completely out of the move. Penney then played it forward again for Reach into the open space in the Bees' right back position to cross into the box from but Raya managed to get a hand to it before Winston Reid was fouled to end the move.
The Owls hadn’t created a lot in open play and this move eventually dissolved into nothing but it was if anything a lovely bit of play for the away fans to enjoy whilst it lasted. Jensen and Dalsgaard will be disappointed that they were beaten so easily but credit must be given to Matt Penney and Adam Reach for the level of skill shown to attack the left flank.
74 minutes - Brentford 2 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday - Saman Ghoddos
The Bees had possession inside their own half as Ethan Pinnock played a pass sideways to Mathias Jensen who had dropped into the right back position as Henrik Dalsgaard charged up the wing. Jensen didn’t need Dalsgaard however as he played the ball forward to Bryan Mbeumo who was stood inside of Henrik, as Mbeumo received the ball Ghoddos began to make a run across the central defender in Wednesday’s back 4 and Mbeumo played the ball ahead of him. It was a cute first time finish from Ghoddos who wrapped the inside of his foot around the ball to send it past the keeper and towards the far post.
This was a quick and incisive attack from the Bees, Wednesday were set up with a 4 man defence but had Fisayo Dele-Bashiru off the pitch receiving treatment after Henrik Dalsgaard’s tactical foul sent him to the floor. This left Wednesday with a makeshift defensive structure and meant both Toney and Ghoddos were able to get man to man with Kadeem Harris at right wing-back and Liam Palmer at centre back respectively without being hindered by the central midfielders pressing who were focused on Jensen and Fosu in front of them. Ghoddos was always going to get to the ball first as he was on the inside of Palmer, this move highlights an important dynamic in Ghoddos’ attacking play and that is Ivan Toney. Even though Toney didn’t do a lot, Ghoddos and Toney tend to attack the game as a pair unless Ghoddos has swapped positions momentarily with Fosu or Canos. Toney’s presence meant Liam Palmer who was the furthest defender to the left in the back 4 couldn’t help push up against Ghoddos to prevent the shot going in as he had to mark Toney.
79 minutes
Bryan Mbeumo had the chance to score his second of the night for Brentford as he ran into the box with the ball unmarked one on one with the keeper and attempted to dink the ball over Wildsmith but the keeper managed to get a hand to it and save the effort.
This attempt came from a Bees throw in to the right from Henrik Dalsgaard who threw the ball to Ivan Toney as Toney dropped in deep, Ivan back heeled the ball forward into space in which Saman Ghoddos ran onto again combining with Toney. Ghoddos played the ball out left to Mbeumo who was in acres of space as Kadeem Harris was pushed high up the pitch and this set up what seemed to be an easy one on one for Bryan. Mbeumo took a touch and had the chance to firmly strike the ball into the top right hand corner with his left foot, instead he tried to chip the keeper which Wildsmith managed to save. This was a moment for Mbeumo to really build confidence in himself and his goal scoring ability but he wasn’t able to convert the chance. It was a good example of Ghoddos and Toney combining through the middle though even if it was a fairly simple move.
81 minutes
Brentford had another chance to further the lead and this time it fell to Ethan Pinnock, it was a fairly simple effort that began with a Mads Bech Sørensen long throw into the box. Strangely the ball met nobody in the air and deflected off of a Wednesday player to Winston Reid who tried to use the back of his ankle to control the ball but instead knocked it onto Pinnock. Ethan stretched his left foot out and struck the ball just past the right post, had the effort of been on target it most likely would have gone in as the keeper did not manage to attempt to make a save.
Winston Reid had a very good game for the Bees reinstating an aerial dominance that has been lacking since Jansson bowed out with an injury. Even though it was a stray ankle from Reid that knocked the ball to Pinnock, it is his determination and ability to win the ball that won him plaudits throughout this game and nearly got his name on the assist sheet.
82 minutes - Brentford 3 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday - Mads Bech Sørensen
Brentford won a free-kick 10 yards or so out from the area after Mathias Jensen was fouled by Matt Penney. Saman Ghoddos was to take the free-kick as Jensen moved closer to the attacking line, this was a very simple free-kick with little tactical nous needed. Ghoddos whipped the ball in with an inward swinging cross from his right foot that drifted just over Ethan Pinnock, Mads Bech Sørensen was on the inside of Tom Lees and managed to stay strong holding Lees off. The ball was hit with a tilt of Sørensen’s head as he struck it centrally, the keeper did manage to get a hand to it but the header was too much for him and it bounced into the net.
Mads has struggled a bit recently as he has been asked to play more regularly at centre back, unfortunately Sørensen wasn’t able to provide the aerial cover that Jansson did and this was why Winston Reid was brought it. It was nice to see Mads manage to get on the scoresheet from a headed effort as it will surely boost his confidence after a rocky period filling in consistently at centre back.
Overall thoughts
After the loss against Barnsley, the loss against QPR and the loss against Coventry City, Thomas Frank kept asking for a reaction from his team. That is what he was after, an improvement, a surge in goals and a clean sheet. This was not the most exciting of games, we didn’t play particularly great, the first half was fairly drab and the second half was a collection of chances either scored or missed that came off of the back of some fairly innocuous gameplay. Sheffield Wednesday didn’t really press us with the same intensity that Barnsley and Coventry did, they didn’t offer the same threat up front and their defence wasn’t difficult to get behind. The Bees could play the ball around the defence, possession was able to be pushed up through the midfield rather than just over it and most importantly we had 3 different goal scorers on the score sheet and Ivan Toney wasn’t one of them.
It was important to pick up 3 points before our 3 game losing streak turned into a big blip, a win has put us in good contention to attack the game against Stoke on Saturday and provided our first clean sheet in 9 games. We are coming up to the final stretch of the season now and even though the performance wasn’t great we still could have won 5-0, it is important to be in a good head space and a good position in the table and this win will have helped with that. Swansea may have 2 games in hand and Watford maybe level points with us but this is all occurring after losing 3 games in a row. We now have the opportunity to put another run of games together where we consistently pick up points and in line with that, will be expecting Christian Norgaard to return to the first team soon along side Pontus Jansson shortly after. Rico Henry missed the game against Wednesday, both Ivan Toney and Josh Dasilva started the game on the bench as Toney’s injury was not as bad as first thought and following that good news Emiliano Marcondes also made an appearance from the bench. There have been shouts that we did not strengthen enough during the January window, clearly the DoF’s and Matthew Benham think otherwise, however we shall see how the fitness concerns for the squad plays out.