Skimming back through some of the post-1-0 plays when we had the chance to set up with the ball, and we were effectively offering them the same easy turnovers as in the 1st half.

Brentford really squeezed up after the goal to take out the 1st phase options, but that left them stretched in the middle, leaving one of Leo or Øde free to pick out. Not with an immensely easy pass by any means, but still the sort of pinpoint passes Raya was using to find Gyök.

But by bypassing them to go straight to Gyök, even his genuinely good efforts today to take on direct balls into feet, he was then way too isolated to do anything to hold it up, as the supporting options were waiting way deeper more in support of us playing out.

We needed to pick a lane wrt approach. Long balls for quick progression into potential stabilisation up the pitch is fine but you have to set up to support it. Brentford were excellent at taking a mile when you gave them an inch (set piece threats from anywhere on the pitch)

We did have a couple of spells in their third after their equaliser, but we were slower and showed much less conviction in the little duels. Mosquera was partly costly when it came to a lack of sustainability to ground possession.

He was at fault for giving away a needless foul at the end of one spell (giving them an inch), and for the rest of the game was too scared to take charge on the ball like Saliba would, in terms of pausing on the ball, keeping angles open & trusting that we would have a spare man

And Raya was at fault for this too. Pumping the ball long when the same wall passes to bring the ball out from in the 1st half were still there but now vs a much more aggressive press.

Double pivot completely open here but opt for the long ball that Brentford are very prepared to collapse on since they're not marking the drop-off players so tightly as to leave too much space in front of Gyök.

Here's another. Zubi wall pass into Mosquera avoided, and so is any attempt to access Øde who's free in the centre. Again going straight to Gyök who's suffocated with minimal support = another turnover.

The only long ball success was for the Nelli chance but that came from a throw-in where Brentford were forced into much more of a man-for-man situation up and down the pitch as we squeezed collectively towards the near side.

The chaotic long ball plays looked more promising with Kai and a strike pairing but much less so here, especially in a game where we were ill prepared to win out those crucial duels.

The most dangerous we looked was quite easily when we crowded the left with Øde for 4-man combinations, so that we could not just avoid being forced back, but also gradually pick holes in their defensive organisation.

While the long ball approach can often be the safe one – avoiding intricate play closer to goal – it was instead the higher risk option given how ill-prepared we were to support it. And so we didn't give ourselves the platform to repeat those sustained spells when it mattered.