#HuddersfieldTownAFC v #BrentfordFC - 3pm The John Smiths Stadium

The Juggernaut that is the Championship continues to roll on as Brentford next travel north to Huddersfield in a match up that sees 3rd play 20th.

Back to the beginning of November, it was Huddersfield Town and the Cowley brothers in the reverse fixture that inflicted the last home defeat suffered by Thomas Franks’ side.

Finishing 0-1 to The Terriers, the game was won via the perfect away performance, the blueprint for taking points away from the Griffin Park fortress. The victory was also Huddersfield's 3rd League win in a row vs The Bees.

Teams that arrive in TW8 with a plan to open the game up will invariably lose. QPR were the latest victims to fall foul of trying to impose their own game on GP.

Rangers went about conceding numerous early chances, finding themselves 3 nil down within the first 33mins by allowing situations to develop that saw their own defenders isolated 1v1 soon after turning the ball over in midfield and dangerous areas.

Simply lifting forward passes and turning QPR towards their own goal caused chaos across an incoherent and easily disrupted back line. Their positioning and lack of tracking runners during defensive set piece situations doubled down and added to early misery.

In recent years, successful away sides have not arrived with the intention of outplaying Brentford.

They’ve ceded possession, thinking defence first by sitting in a low or mid block. Keeping a narrow defensive line across their own box and limiting Brentford to zero or minimal transitional situations is a part of the code.

Not every side has the ability or sense of self to shut a game down in this way.

Certainly not a West London rival, who now happens to be led by an attacking ex-Brentford head coach, so we should maybe not be too hard on QPR.

A variation of a deep sitting 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 out of possession with a single midfielder breaking forward to link with a wide forward player when the opportunity presents itself is as adventurous as it needs to get.

In the game vs Huddersfield at Griffin Park in November, O’Brien - the main offensive midfield threat to Brentford - was this midfield player.

Tasked with advancing the side and making the most of infrequent midfield possessions, the 21yr old is integral to the system and positioned ahead and to the left of deeper midfielders Bacuna, Hogg or Chalobah.

O’Brien is allowed to press in more advanced areas and is a player we are frequently impressed by. His positioning allows Grant to stay high on the left hand side.

Timing his attacking involvement so to follow in on knockdowns or weak clearances the coaches are looking to gain came to devastating effect against Barnsley.

How are Huddersfield attacking?

The Cowleys want free kicks won hit into the penalty area. These free kicks do not need to necessarily be in the final 3rd. Bacuna, across their last 5 games is regularly seen hitting long balls or crossed free kicks into the box, sometimes from areas close to the halfway line.

At a restart, play is not resumed short to steadily progress up the pitch through the thirds to create a scenario closer to the box, fouls for are used as a part of a process to hit balls into the penalty area.

It may appear dismissive to boil Huddersfield's attacking down to this yet this is what they now are. They are in a relegation battle and instead of trying to dominate the ball and play their way through it, they do not want to waste time in the build up phase but be as direct and efficient with their attacking as possible.

Players who won't feature for Huddersfield are Kongolo and Diakhaby. Two of Huddersfield's best players will be absentees and we also see a lot of ball progression gone with them. Told they are allowed to leave being too expensive and surplus to requirements in the club rebuild are the realities of the job at hand.

A post Christmas points malaise in 3 games against direct relegation rivals has not brought much cheer to the club Huddersfield. So how do you go from this to beating Brentford?

Unlucky to lose all three matches against Barnsley, Stoke and a resurgent Boro side, lose they did, conceding 8 goals in the process.

Outshot Barnsley 10-7, lost 2-1

Outshot by Stoke 15-6, lost 5-2

Outshot Blackburn 17-9, win 2-1

Outshot by Boro 14-8, lost 1-0

In Saturday’s fixture, we’d expect Huddersfield to employ a direct style and bypass the middle third as often as possible, opting to force Brentford's backline into aerial duels with forwards Grant or Mounie and then challenging the resulting knockdowns.

Karlen Grant performed the wide forward role well in the reverse 0-1 win, taking his big moment superbly when cutting in on his right foot after a long ball was brought down on the left hand side before he received a deep pass and fired a powerful low strike beyond Raya and into the bottom corner.

Away, they could wait patiently for one or two chances earned via a counter attack as Brentford pushed further forward, or the defence lost concentration as Centre Backs make more and more passes across the back 4 losing patience in looking for an advanced opening.

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With more at stake for the Terriers at home, the game will likely differ from the Griffin Park tie. Huddersfield will want the ball as far away from their own goal as possible and will have to deploy attacking players in advanced positions to do so.

Being risk averse in the early stages and playing as much of the game in Brentford’s penalty box, especially against a side that will dominate them in the central third, is the favourable tactic for Huddersfield.

Grabara is happy totting up a huge inaccurate long ball percentage, with 42% of his total passes being long balls that don’t initially find a Huddersfield player. Minimal chance will be taken around their own goal.

The urge for midfielders to push up and reduce the space between the front line and midfield line will then in turn bring the defensive line forward.

If Brentford manage to defend the first and second phase of aerial balls and knockdowns, the ball played forward to release one of the front three in either wide or central ares could be hugely profitable.

Swansea and QPR were notably undone in the counterattacking phases and due to Huddersfield’s desperation to hunt points at home, we could see something similar here.

Barnsley were relatively lucky to escape the Huddersfield free kicks onslaught rather than defend the situations well, Stoke, although the scorers of 5 goals themselves, found the level of attacking balls into their box difficult to deal with.

Brentford defenders, Jansson, Pinnock and Dalsgaard will need to be at their strongest to deny set-pieces aimed into the box. Silly fouls in the middle 3rd will need to be kept to a minimum.

If Thomas Frank finds himself ahead by a single goal going into the latter stages, do not be surprised if Jeanvier is introduced from the bench to regain some aerial supremacy.

Players used across last 5 matches.