How Andrews has brought about Brentford's tactical evolution News

Navigation: Home / News / Euro Soccer Update / How Andrews has brought about Brentford's tactical evolution

How Andrews has brought about Brentford's tactical evolution

By Daily Sports Nigeria on October 28, 2025

After years of success under Thomas Frank, Keith Andrews faced a daunting task when he took over at Brentford this summer.

After a 10th-placed finish last term, few felt the Bees could replicate that sort of form this season given the departures of captain Christian Norgaard and star winger Bryan Mbeumo.

But Saturday's 3-2 victory against Premier League champions Liverpool lifted them into 11th, and the Bees' home record - aided by wins against Manchester United and Aston Villa - is the joint-fourth best in the top flight.

Only Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Bournemouth have scored more than the 14 goals Brentford have in nine matches.

Six of those have been scored by Igor Thiago, making him the joint-second top scorer in the division behind Erling Haaland.

Andrews, in his first Premier League managerial role, has quietly gone about his business - so how has he done it?

The former Republic of Ireland midfielder has overseen a tactical evolution rather than a revolution.

Not one for imposing his own coaching ideology, he prefers to maximise the talent in his squad and has made a series of tweaks that he hopes will build on Frank's success.

"The one thing we have got is individual brilliance," said the 45-year-old.

"I think we really have that in the squad - players capable of moments. That comes from the environment, the support they get, the training model as we are big on developing players' individual qualities."

Brentford are having less of the ball in games under Andrews, but overall their stats remain remarkably similar to when Frank was in charge.

Given his background as Brentford's set-piece coach, the expectation was that his team would score more than ever from that source, but goals via set pieces are actually at the lowest level since they gained promotion to the Premier League in 2021.

That is not to say it is not from a want of trying. They have had the sixth most attempts via set pieces this season, with Michael Kayode's long throws an extremely potent weapon. After Manchester City edged a 1-0 win at Gtech Community Stadium last month, matchwinner Haaland said: "It was a tough game, and reminded me of Stoke City with Rory Delap 15 years ago!"

In their 2-0 victory at West Ham last Monday, 10 of their 22 efforts on goal came from headers, the most by a team in a Premier League game this season.

Andrews' side have been hitting teams on the break, with their average number of fast breaks more than double what they were under Frank.

And their four league goals on the counter-attack has already matched the tally throughout last season, with only Bournemouth scoring more so far in 2025-26.

Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade scored a combined 50 goals last season, and while few would expect that total to be challenged this campaign there are promising signs their new-look attack might be very effective.

In Saturday's brilliant win over Liverpool, Dango Ouattara, Thiago and Schade all scored in the same game for the first time.

Thiago, whose first season at the club was wrecked by injury, has scored six goals to give fans hope that he will follow in the footsteps of the prolific Ivan Toney, Mbeumo and Wissa.

"His heart is huge. His spirit, his courage, the adversity he faced last year around his injury, settling into a new country and culture," said Andrews.

"I think what he got here was real support and a real belief in him. As a person he really settled into this club.

"I speak pretty much every day about his game and how we can improve him. He's a nightmare to play against - that's the reality of the way he plays the game with such hunger. Sometimes you have to calm him down slightly. He's proving to be a major player for us, which we thought he would be."

Brentford have proudly never been in the bottom three at the end of a Premier League matchweek since they were promoted, a statistic Andrews has made a good start in maintaining.

Source BBC Sports

Posted October 28, 2025