Stat Attack - Brentford v AFC Bournemouth

Written by Matt Stevenson

Here’s the xG from the Brentford game. Despite the fact that many would have readily accepted the point before the game, and we didn’t deserve three, getting the win snatched away in additional time still hurts. Brentford quickly went ahead, following a string of misjudgments from Neto. It was good to see him come for a cross, but it was slightly over him, and having juggled the ball, Schade nipped in and Neto gave away the freekick. From this freekick Neto’s position looked suspect (reminding me of Seaman vs. Koeman) and Jensen scored at the near post (rated 1 in 16). The next big chance fell to Solanke following a mazy dribble from Christie who ran into Solanke – Having watched the reply I’m not sure if Solanke could have got out of the way, but instead, he flicked a boot at it (rated 38%). Three minutes later, Schade who is very quick, got past Aarons and Neto stuck a foot out to deflect it onto the post (rated 1 in 3). In the 33rd minute, Pinnock had a free header (rated 2 in 5) although a replay suggested that the left-back had not held the line so the fault may not have been with the markers. Just before the interval, poor play in the Brentford box, led to Flekken, challenged by Solanke to punch weakly and Semenyo headed at goal (rated 1 in 4) that Flekken cleared with his foot. At the break, the xG reflected the evenness of the game: Brentford 0.96, AFCB 0.94.

The second half started with a big chance for Mbeumo, with the ball rolling across the area he carefully picked out a point just wide of Neto’s right-hand post (rated 45%). This was quickly followed by a shot from Janelt and then 11 minutes later by a shot from Wissa that hit the post (both ranked 1 in 7). Bournemouth were struggling to create chances and Brentford had a large xG boost from a Lewis-Potter miss (rated 1 in 2) although this would have been disallowed for offside had he scored. One minute later we were in front, a clever ball from Christie tried to set Tavernier through, although Henry got there first, but played an awful back pass. Tavernier latched onto it, and squared it to Brooks who sidestepped the keeper to fire into a largely unguarded net (rated 97%). Four minutes later Brooks had another attempt that just went wide of the left-hand post (rated 1 in 7) but this was our last attempt. Brentford threw on big men and were beginning to create small chances (Ajer’s shot was saved, rated 1 in 8) but we were holding on when we went to additional time. In the 92nd minute, Kerkez tried nipping in front on Mbeumo who turned well and ran through 1 on 1 scored (rated 3 in 10). There was still a chance for Brentford to snatch all the points with Wissa having a shot blocked (rated 1 in 8) but the game ended 2-2. The final xG was Brentford 3.07, AFCB 2.11, although Brentford’s largest rated chance would have been ruled out for offside.

Man of the Match against Brentford

Christie

Billing

Brooks

Solanke

Aarons

Someone else

The average positions show a standard back four, with Cook (4) and Billing (29) holding the midfield with Kluivert (19) and Semenyo (24) playing wide, although Semenyo was almost level with our striker Solanke (9). Christie, presumably meant to be playing behind Solanke had a close average position. This was the first game in which Iraola didn’t make 5 subs, although he did use the three windows. The first sub was on the hour mark (at 1-1) with Brooks (7) replacing Semenyo (24) although noticeably playing deeper. Normally Iraola’s first change has been two subs, but maybe there was a concern Tavernier (16) couldn’t play 30 minutes and he was brought on with 20 minutes to go replacing Kluivert (19). Tavernier played deeper, although this was not surprising given we were under pressure for the last 15 minutes. The final sub was defensive in nature and reacting to the very tall Brentford substitutes replacing Christie (10) with Mepham (6). This was the last chance to replace Kerkez (3), potentially with Smith, but maybe the state of his injury wasn’t known at that point.

Cook and Senesi had the most touches of the ball worth 53 each, followed by Philip (50). Christie had the most touches in Brentford’s half (33) followed by Philip and Solanke (31 each) with a similar picture for the final third.

We had 26 touches in the opposition’s penalty area with Solanke and Christie having 7 each.

Cook attempted most passes in total, 38, and in the opposition half, 23. Christie made the most passes in the final third (14). Of the starting 11, Solanke had the highest accuracy with 93%. Our passing accuracy was the joint lowest for the season (73%) along with the Liverpool game.

AFCB attempted 12 crosses, being successful with 2 (from Philip and Kerkez). In our first 4 games we have a median success rate of 15% (about 1 in 7)

Our players tried to take on a man 21 times, being successful 7 times. Christie excelled with 4 successes from 5 attempts, although Kluivert, none from 4, and Semenyo and Solanke, none from 3 each, were less successful.

We created 8 chances (two big – one from Christie (where he ran into Solanke) and one from Tavernier). Brentford created 14 chances with four big.

We had 12 attempts (3 big for Brooks, Solanke and Semenyo) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target 5 times. Brentford had 17 attempts, 4 big, and hit the target 4 times.

AFCB won 14 of 33 aerials duals with (surprisingly to me) the two players with 100% records being Christie and Semenyo. In three of the four league games we have won less than 50% (Spurs being the exception)

AFCB won an impressive 22 out of 26 tackles by far the best success rate in the league. The full backs were excellent winning all 11 of their tackles (Aarons 6, Kerkez 5). Senesi won’t be pleased with only winning 1 of 3.

Senesi had the most defensive actions with 11, although Philip, Neto, and Zabarnyi all had 10. Philip made the only interception, Neto made the most recoveries, and Senesi made most clearances whilst three players made one block each.

According to Opta, AFCB only error that led to a chance (but this was not scored from) was via Senesi. The Opta bar for defining a mistake must be high.

The referee let this game flow with only 6 fouls committed by each side. Christie and Kluivert both gave away 2 fouls, whilst for the third consecutive week Aarons was our most fouled player (3 times)

Brooks had the highest xG (1.02) largely from his goal. Solanke was second with 0.58. In terms of xA Tavernier was highest with 0.28, followed by Senesi with 0.17 with no one else being above 0.10. It appears that the xA might be from when the player received the ball, not the ultimate chance, otherwise, Tavernier’s xA would have been much higher.

AFCB had an xGc of 3.29 and let in 2, so did better than expected.