Quirky Brentford are at it again - why Andrews hire is no surprise

Brentford have always been a bit quirky as a football club - they always seem to know the solution before a problem happens.

It started when the Bees sacked Mark Warburton in 2015 after earning their highest league finish in nearly 70 years.

When their top scorer Neal Maupay was sold to Brighton in 2019, the club's response was not to buy an alternative option but convert winger Ollie Watkins into an effective striker. It happened again when Ivan Toney departed last summer, with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa stepping up in a similar vein.

On the last two occasions they have sold their first-choice goalkeepers, David Raya and Mark Flekken, they already had their replacements signed up. Three seasons ago, they even secured a ninth-placed Premier League finish with their first-choice back four being entirely left-footed.

But replacing Thomas Frank with their set-piece coach Keith Andrews - who has no prior managerial experience - may just be the quirkiest move yet. But a surprise? Absolutely not.

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Brentford have always been a club that embrace promoting from within when it comes to the top job, no matter their prior experience. That is how new Spurs boss Frank got his first head-coach role in England, but there was a legacy before that. Their last five promotion-winning managers were all internal appointments.

The desire for continuity and to build on the Premier League journey that Frank started is a main reason why they have gone for an internal candidate again in Andrews.

In the final week of April, Frank led a review of Brentford's season in a coaches' meeting alongside director of elite performance Ben Ryan with a view to deciding areas to improve next season.

The groundwork and preparations were already under way. Andrews, who was in that meeting, has the responsibility to take that plan forward.

But why Andrews? Because set-pieces are a vital way in which Brentford operate - and the west Londoners have paved the way in this department for some time.

They became the first team in England to hire a designated set-piece coach a decade ago, rather than the traditional method of delegating those duties to an existing member of staff. The rest of the Premier League has caught on.

Brentford's first set-piece coach Gianni Vio was pinched by Leeds, then turned up at Tottenham's door and is now working in the same role for the USA.

Then came Nicolas Jover, who was picked up by Manchester City and is now gaining plaudits for his dead-ball antics at Arsenal, who hired another set-piece guru from the Bees in Andreas Georgson, now part of Frank's Spurs backroom staff following a spell at Manchester United.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City also hired Brentford's Jack Wilson - who held the same role at Wolves until last season - to run their set-piece department, while Chelsea pinched Andrews' set-piece predecessor Bernardo Cueva last summer.

Brentford have been a central cog in an ‘arms race’ for set-piece coaches. Whoever has the best ones has the best chance of getting those marginal gains towards success. Everyone wants a piece of the set-piece pie - and Brentford baked it.

"Brentford were the first club that was really invested in this," former Brentford set-piece analyst Marc Orti Esteban, who worked on the club's set-pieces for two years before leaving for New England Revolution in February, tells Sky Sports.

"They started hiring set-piece coaches when no one else had one. That kind of paves the way for that coach to go on and do well.

"Then the rest of the clubs that have never heard of or never had a set-piece coach, if they are looking to hire one, they're going to look at the guys that are doing it well and the guys that are doing it from the start."

The latest set-piece quirk that caught the headlines last season was their ability to score straight from kick-off. The Bees scored from the match's first kick-off in four consecutive Premier League games, with three of them coming in the opening minute of the match.

The man responsible for that was Andrews, who came into the set-piece role at Brentford and surveyed where he could add to that expertise. Kick-offs and throw-ins were the areas to work on.

"He deserves big credit for it," says Esteban, who worked on those kick-off ploys with Andrews and provided reports to the Irishman on all set-piece matters.

"He knew it was an opportunity every game, maybe not to score a goal but to start on the front foot, and it's paid out really well.

"I don't think this is normal to score four or five goals from kick-offs. It's not easy to repeat but there was a game plan for sure."

But while scoring from kick-offs was another set-piece ploy, it required the same principles seen by Brentford in terms of their open-play game.

A key part of the 'scoring from kick-off' tactic was the ability to press. Of all the Premier League players last season, the Bees had the most frequent presser in Mikkel Damsgaard and counter presser in Mbeumo.

"It's quite similar to what you can see from Brentford from open play, not only set-pieces," Esteban said about the goals from kick-off.

"It's about being aggressive, making sure you're close to those second balls, crowding areas where you know the ball is going to go, and then from there, try to get people in the box and try to get crosses, try to create situations as soon as you can."

Andrews was also responsible for Brentford's effective throw-ins last season, working closely with renowned throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark, who was also hired by Liverpool during Jurgen Klopp's tenure.

Brentford scored six goals from long throw-ins last season - the remaining 19 Premier League clubs managed two between them. Again, it was the desire from the club's set-piece department, led by Andrews last season, to squeeze every single ounce of advantage in a smart way.

Brentford succeeding with their throw-ins, prioritising them rather than neglecting them, makes you wonder why other teams are yet to follow suit.

It adds to the feeling of Brentford being ahead of the curve, even though many will point to Andrews' appointment as head coach being a major risk to their Premier League credentials.

That argument has been contested by Brentford, who say Andrews was not just a set-piece coach at the club last season, but had greater areas of influence on Frank's philosophy and culture.

They also baulk at the need for Premier League experience. In a recent interview, director of football Phil Giles brought up the acceptable argument that Real Madrid would do well in England's top flight, despite having very few players with Premier League football on their CV.

There is a lot of instability at Brentford at the moment. Frank has gone, Mbeumo may follow suit and Christian Norgaard is heading to Arsenal. With the three promoted clubs looking for the Premier League regulars they can finish above next season, Brentford look most unstable and uncertain. Andrews’ risky appointment does not help.

One thing is for sure, though: Brentford owner Matthew Benham has got the majority of the decisions right since bringing in a statistical-based approach 10 years ago. You would be foolish to bet against it.

Sky Sports to show 215 live Premier League games from next season

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