There was high drama in Monday night's west London derby, as Brentford allowed victory to slip through their grasp in second half injury-time.
Thomas Frank's side have enjoyed an impressive start to the season, and looked set to claim another win on the road at Craven Cottage as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.
Vitaly Janelt's first-half wonderstrike had the Bees 1-0 up against Fulham, before a sensational injury-time double from subsitute Harry Wilson snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the home side.
The manner in which the game got away from Brentford will have been bitterly disappointing for Frank and his coaching staff, and is another dent in what has generally been a solid start to the Premier League campaign.
Two of the pillars of their early form in the league have been their exceptional set piece play and tactical set-up from kick-off, both of which have been fruitful in delivering goals.
The mastermind behind those set pieces is none other than Ireland's Keith Andrews, who has earned praise for the setup of Brentford from dead ball situations this season. However, one particular aspect of his pre-match routine raised a few eyebrows in Sky Sports' Monday Night Football studio ahead of the clash with Fulham.
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Fulham 2-1 Brentford: Keith Andrews tactic raises questions from Carragher and Berbatov
In the Sky Sports studio were Jamie Carragher and ex-Fulham striker Dimitar Berbatov. Pre-match, however, it was Brentford's training programme that piqued the interest of the Sky pundits.
The visitors could be seen carrying out a more structured and detailed set-piece training routine than we are accustomed to seeing ahead of Premier League games, with a full group of attackers and defenders seemingly preparing the starting lineup to defend set pieces.
"I'm just thinking what the thinking is, I'm intrigued by it" 🤔
Is this mind games from Brentford or genuine?... 🤨 pic.twitter.com/vbklnC387b— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 4, 2024
At the centre of it all was Keith Andrews, and Carragher said he was perplexed by the thinking behind carrying out the routine minutes before kick-off rather than on the training ground.
There's no doubt people have done this work in the lead-up to the game. I'm just thinking what the thinking is - I'm intrigued by it.
We see Keith Andrews there, the set piece coach. Is there a psychological play in terms of Fulham watching them? The Fulham staff, the Fulham players?
His view was shared by Berbatov, who questioned why a team would want to seemingly show their defensive tactics off to the opposition.
I don't know...everybody these days wants to be an innovator, doing something new, something cool, something that nobody else has seen or done before. You want to show off, basically.
Coming from an ex-player, it's difficult to understand why they are doing it. Is it mind games in a way? You don't want to show how you're going to defend, so why are you doing this?
Maybe they don't care!
Ultimately, it did not impact Monday's game too heavily, as none of the three goals came from set pieces.
It's fair to say that Keith Andrews' set piece work with the Brentford squad has made football pundits step up and notice. If they can continue to profit from dead ball situations, it will go a long way towards helping them to the top half finish that could be in their sights.
