End-of-season analysis: Brentford's tactical evolution evaluated | OneFootball

Modern football is relentless, but the end of a campaign offers rare moments to reflect - and any disappointment Brentford fans felt at missing out on a European place on the final day was eased by the simple fact they were in the hunt at all!

The west London club have morphed from League One also-rans into a respected Premier League force in the space of a decade.

The tenth-quickest club ever to record 50 Premier League victories, Brentford have confounded those who claim football is purely a numbers game loaded in favour of the wealthiest teams, and the Bees are lauded for their pragmatic and intelligent approach both on and off the field.

An ability to learn lessons fast, boosting strengths while mitigating weaknesses, lies at the heart of Brentford’s success, and their capacity to add layers to their game was in full effect last season.

Set-pieces, aerial duels and the importance of quality

Any discussion worth its salt regarding the Premier League’s most effective dead-ball specialists has to feature Brentford, and Keith Andrews has put his stamp on the Bees in his first season as set-piece coach.

Brentford have never played down how seriously they take free-kicks, throw-ins and corners, and the Bees’ efficacy from such situations in both attack and defence is borne out by the statistics.

Attacking set-pieces grab headlines, but defending them is an art too - and Brentford mastered it in 2024/25.

To concede only two Premier League goals from set-pieces all season - three fewer than any other team in the division - was a stunning achievement.

Offensively, Brentford were also one of the strongest set-piece sides in the top tier. Only four teams, Arsenal (14), Crystal Palace, Aston Villa (both 16) and Nottingham Forest (17) scored from more top-flight set-pieces than the west Londoners (13) in 2024/25.

Notably, the Bees underperformed by -3.71 xG against their expected goals from attacking set-piece situations - so, by rights, they should have scored even more!

Since their promotion to the Premier League, Brentford have traditionally been one of the more aerially dominant sides in the division, and that trend continued in impressive fashion.

Nathan Collins (second), Sepp van den Berg (11th), Kevin Schade (14th) and Ethan Pinnock (30th) all ranked among the best in the top flight last season in terms of aerial duels won, and collectively Brentford averaged more aerials won per game (16.6) than any other club.

What’s more, the Bees (14) scored more headed Premier League goals than any team - Playmaker’s personal favourite being Kevin Schade’s courageous and powerful effort against Crystal Palace back in January!

Brentford are renowned for their innovative and data-led approach and make no secret of the emphasis they place on creating high-quality chances. And, in 2024/25, they ticked all the boxes in this regard.

They finished the campaign with the best shots-on-target percentage (39 per cent) in the Premier League and this correlated to a meaningful extent with the Bees taking 14 per cent of their shots last season from inside the six-yard box. Arsenal (also 14 per cent) were the only other team in the league to fire in such a high proportion of close-range shots.

At the other end, the Bees reverse-engineered their offensive strategy and invited teams to try their luck from unpromising situations far from Mark Flekken (and Hákon Valdimarsson for one-and-a-bit games) in goal. In fact, no goalkeeper made more saves from outside the box last season than Flekken (46).

New layers in 2024/25

While Brentford continued to flex their traditional strengths, the 2024/25 season also saw them add new weapons to their armoury, as Vitaly Janelt discussed in The Long Read.

The Bees have been focused on improving control in ‘Phase 1’ (the build-up phase near Brentford’s own goal) for a few seasons now and, in 2024/25, they evolved their ability to retain possession in deep areas.

Compared to their previous Premier League high of 45 per cent, the Bees’ average possession share jumped three percentage points to 48 per cent, and the west Londoners tellingly took more touches (3282) in their defensive penalty area than any other team last term.

At the top end of the pitch (categorised as 'Phase 4' by Brentford’s coaching staff), the Bees hit new heights in attack.

Going forward, the Bees displayed a fresh and aggressive mindset that inspired them to play more on the front foot, and the fact Brentford scored four or more goals on EIGHT occasions in the Premier League last season - more than any other team - demonstrated an insatiable appetite for goals.

Central to their success further up the pitch was a willingness to embrace risk and press high, and only Arsenal (129) won more tackles than Brentford (121) in the attacking third, with only five teams forcing more high turnovers.

Brentford’s record-breaking goal haul owed much to their evolving tactics, but it would be remiss of us not to briefly highlight the impact made by the trio of Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade.

In each of Brentford’s three previous Premier League campaigns, only a single player hit double figures for goals (Ivan Toney did it twice, plus Wissa last season), but 2024/25 saw the Bees double their attacking threat.

With a whopping 50 goals between them, Mbeumo/Wissa/Schade forged arguably the most complete attacking unit in the Premier League, and the fact that three Brentford players hit 10+ goals lifted the club’s offensive output to a whole new level.

Schade, in many ways, personifies Brentford’s patient approach to developing players, and the stunning progress made by the German forward (as well as the likes of Mikkel Damsgaard and Keane Lewis-Potter) last season highlights how the Bees’ willingness to play the long game is paying dividends.

Another fillip to Brentford’s points total last season was their fantastic away form in 2025.

While evolution is, by nature, a gradual process, the Bees’ 2-0 win over Crystal Palace back in January was, in many ways, a defining fixture that helped spark Brentford’s outstanding run of results on the road.

Although the exact formula they discovered has been kept under wraps, Brentford hit upon a winning methodology at Selhurst Park and, impressively, they amassed more away points (23), conceded fewer away goals (6) and had a better away goal difference (+14) than any team after the turn of the year.

The next chapter?

The dust has barely settled on the previous campaign, but there have already been exciting post-season developments that could influence Brentford’s style and tactics in 2025/26.

Caoimhín Kelleher’s arrival from Premier League champions Liverpool is certainly exciting, and Brentford fans will be keen to see just what the “best No.2 in the world” is capable of as an established No.1.

Still only 26, Kelleher kept four clean sheets in 10 top-flight games last season and further strengthened his reputation as a penalty specialist by saving three of the four spot-kicks he faced last term (denying Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe, Southampton’s Adam Armstrong and Finland’s Joel Pohjanpalo).

Aside from his shot-stopping expertise, Kelleher brings composure and technical ability, along with sweeper keeper attributes which can help Brentford’s backline push further up the pitch.

Signing right-back Michael Kayode on a permanent deal constitutes very smart business from the Bees, as the Italy youth international adapted brilliantly to life in the Premier League during the second half of last season.

Kayode’s 69 per cent tackle success rate illustrated his outstanding ability in 1v1s, and the howitzer-esque range of his throw-ins offers a clear and present danger from set-pieces.

Igor Thiago’s projected return from his injury travails of last season will feel like a new signing, while youngsters such as Gustavo Nunes and Romelle Donovan will hope to emulate Yehor Yarmoliuk and rack up Premier League minutes.

The next chapter of the Bees’ scintillating story awaits - it might just be the most compelling yet.