Brentford are now going into their third consecutive season in the Premier League and it would be fair to say that they haven't seen much difficulty so far. There tends to be many newly promoted teams that have a comfortable first season but then struggle the following year however Thomas Frank's men did just the opposite finishing in ninth place. Stabilising themselves as a Premier League regular will be their aim and they will be wanting to get closer to that goal with another successful season this year.
Who's in charge?
Thomas frank is going into his fifth season of managing Brentfords first team and it has been nothing short of a success but will he be able to keep it up for his third season in the Premier League? Let's have a look at how we expect him to set up. Frank tends to set up with either a 5-3-2 formation or a 4-3-3 and we expect him to do the same again this season. These formations help him utilise his footballing philosophy which is being defensively solid but also having the ability to break with a fluid counter attack.
However these speedy counter attacks tended to built around Ivan Toney and with his suspension his approach could be slightly affected. Another main stand out point from the Bees is how successful they were from set pieces, a lot of sides lower in the Premier League table struggle to capitalise from set pieces and tend to concede many themselves. Where as Brentford have it drilled into their system how important they are and they evidently practice a lot of them on the training ground.
I expect a similar approach from them this season, with s light adaptation due to them missing their main man.
The In's and Outs
In's
Nathan Collins - Wolves, £23m
Romeo Beckham- Inter Miami undisclosed
Ethan Brierley - Rochdale, undisclosed
Mark Flekken - Freiburg £11m
Ji-Soo Kim - Seongnam, undisclosed
Kevin Schade - Freiburg, £20m
Ethan Laidlaw - Hibernian, undisclosed
Out's
Mads Bidstrup - Red Bull Salzburg, undisclosed
Halil Dervisoglu - Galatasaray, undisclosed
Alex Gilbert - Middlesbrough, free
Pontus Jansson - Malmo, free
Joel Valencia - Zaglebie Sosnowiec, free
Tariqe Fosu - Released
Saman Ghoddos - Released
Matthew Cox - Bristol Rovers, loan
Tristan Crama - Bristol Rovers, loan
Daniel Oyegoke - Bradford, loan
Fin Stevens - Oxford, loan
Ryan Trevitt - Exeter, loan
Brentford's standout player
Ben Mee! Yes I appreciate it isn't a wild shout considering he won Brentfords player of the year last year but I feel the impact he will make on the team will be vital once more. With the loss of Toney until later in the year Brentfords attack looks very slim (unless they make a last minute signing) therefore the defence this year is going to be a key part of them progressing from last year.
The Bee's need to make sure their defence is solid once again and with what looks like a less attacking season coming their way their back four or five are vital to making that work. Furthermore they now have the addition of the youngster Nathan Collins in their backline and the 33 year old's leadership skills will be detrimental in making that work. Ben Mee has brief experience being around the Irish man at Burnley and with this knowledge on him and his leadership qualities I'm sure he will be at the heart of making that defence tick.
Will it be a successful or unsuccessful season for Brentford ?
I think this season will be a steady season for Thomas Franks team, with the lack of attacking threat but still having the solidarity in defence I think a mid table finish is on the cards for Brentford. So a successful third season in the Premier League for Brentford is expected.
Harry Lucas
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