Bryan Mbeumo swiftly adapting to life in the Premier League

Premier League newcomers Brentford have got off to an unprecedented start to life in the Barclays Premier League taking eight points from five games so far. Manager Thomas Frank has superbly moulded a team that has taken in the rigours of such a demanding league like a duck to water, making them tough to beat, organised, rugged and extremely dangerous and efficient on the counter.

Whilst Ivan Toney has been grabbing all the plaudits in attack, defenders Rico Henry, Pontus Jansson and new signing from Celtic Kristoffer Ajer, have rightly all been receiving praise for their stunning performances so far. Though, Bryan Mbeumo is perhaps a name that has somewhat flown under the radar thus far.

The French winger lining up alongside Ivan Toney in Thomas Frank’s 3-5-2 setup has been excellent. He only turned 22 last month and has long been a permanent fixture and a real source of energy, incision and pace in the Bee’s front-line.

Mbeumo joined Brentford at the beginning of the 2019/20 season, signing for £5.8 million from French side Troyes. His impact was immediate, notching 16 goals and seven assists in his debut Championship season, whilst last season he scored eight and laying on 10 assists in the league too. Whilst he is yet to grab an assist this season, he has started the campaign in good form, with one Premier League goal, and one in the EFL Cup too.

However, the amount of goal contributions Mbeumo records only tells a small part of the story of how he has impacted Thomas Frank’s side over the past couple seasons. The 22-year-old is a silky forward, blessed with great trickery, unerring strength, sheer speed with the ball at his feet and an understanding with Ivan Toney that will certainly frighten even the best sides in the Premier League this season.

Mbeumo has established himself as a vital cog in the Brentford system. Given his fine performances over the past two seasons, there will be plenty of sides around Europe closely monitoring how he adapts to life in the Premier League this season, and with very valid reason.

So has the Mbeumo impacted Brentford’s system so far?

Mbeumo may line up as part of a front two, but that position is too restrictive for where he actually influences the play. He enjoys relative freedom to move away from the front line and link-up with the midfielders, becoming the link-man between both the midfield and Ivan Toney in attack.

As seen in the image below, Mbeumo diverts from his starting position alongside Ivan Toney, to present a passing option for the defence to play out from the back. As he receives the pass, there are only three Brentford players clearly deeper than him. Moving into the deep areas from such a high starting position, Mbeumo is able to evade tight marking from the opposing defenders to lay the ball off to the wing with a one-touch pass. 

He is a player who is constantly on the move, arguably the most efficient in the Brentford team. While Toney also holds the mobility to come deep and effect the game, it is Mbeumo’s drive, pace and excellent ball control in tight areas that allows him the freedom to wreck havoc in the middle third disrupting the opponent’s defensive organisation.

The space left open in Brentford’s midfield allows him to not only drop into these sort of areas, but to provide plenty of options for which positions he may choose to drop into.

The 22-year-old never shies from his responsibilities in attack, however. Just after receiving in midfield and laying off to the wing-backs, he is immediately on the move within the central attacking areas, looking to hit the space between the opposition centre-backs and offering a dangerous option for a dissecting through ball or a long pass over the top.

Bryan Mbuemo is an intelligent player, he knows where to run, where to show for the ball and also where to operate in tight spaces so that more freedom and space can be afforded to his partner Ivan Toney as shown in the above image.

He is a constant option for Brentford to play to in between the lines. Mbeumo regularly positions himself in spaces where he can receive the ball and Brentford can break opposition lines.

The off-the-ball movements he performs are often well-timed owing to his incredible understanding of the system when Brentford are in possession. He starts high, even higher than Toney at times, but holds an excellent burst of pace and close-control where he will burst away from his marker and into the open spaces.

He will react to the positioning of the ball but also recognises triggers in Brentford’s build-up play to begin his off-the-ball movement. One of these is a lateral pass from one teammate to another, where the new ball-carrier is facing the opposition goal, and has possession in the same channel that Mbeumo is operating in. The French forward will then drop into the half-space receiving between the lines, preferably on the half-turn.

It’s when he receives the ball that he becomes so effective drawing on opposition defenders to allow gaps and spaces to open up for others to exploit, like Toney or Sergi Canos, or one of the three midfielders to break into.

Further forward, Mbeumo engages in the kind of movement you would expect from a centre-forward of his ilk playing alongside someone with Toney’s tremendous attributes.

Toney is strong, quick, aerially dominant with an impressive frame, and as such provides an excellent outlet, alongside many other of his telling attributes. Any pass into his strike partner and Mbeumo is always on hand to aid his partner and provide an option as shown in the below image.

Toney receiving a pass in these sorts of areas is yet another trigger for Mbeumo to move. As you can the see, the Wolves defensive-line is so high, and that’s because of Toney’s excellent positioning engaging them. As soon as he receives the pass, he knows Mbeumo will be on the move exploiting the space in behind.

This can be particularly devastating and effective if Toney can find a nearby central-midfielder perfectly capable of instantly playing the through pass, but Toney also has the individual flair in possession to conjure up a telling pass in behind, even from a position like the one shown above. 

Mbeumo will constantly scour for spaces along the width of the forward-line. He positions himself where he cannot possibly be tightly marked, placing himself between two defenders. There was an instance in that Wolves game where he broke free to set up Ivan Toney to score but Mbeumo was ruled to be offside. Despite that, his constant movement is telling. Once he receives such a pass, he possesses the technical ability and trickery to wreak havoc.

The ex-Troyes forward is an excellent technical player who holds a first touch many other players would kill for. He can receive the ball on either foot but greatly prefers to do his work with his favoured left foot, where he can be incredibly deceptive and drive at his marker.

Mbeumo possesses a maturity in Brentford’s possession play that belies his tender age. He reads the space around him well, scanning and using his peripheral vision to assess how immediate any pressure is, whilst looking for a passing option too. He is quite comfortable holding up the ball with his back to goal, but much of that work is left to Ivan Toney, as explained above. Once Toney is in such a situation, Mbeumo is always on hand to move beyond him into any spaces vacated.

Much of Mbeumo’s best work comes when using his dribbling ability to hold up the play whilst also waiting for teammates to join the attack. He uses his body well when in possession which means he can keep the ball for as long as he likes; remember how Eden Hazard used to manipulate the ball to his advantage. Mbeumo is equally adept at such a situation. He will take many small touches when holding the ball up, keeping an upright body position, whilst changing direction if pressured by a defender.

So far this season he has recorded a 58.3% completion rate on his 3.6 dribbles per 90. He’s also recorded 1.06 dribbles into the final third per 90 highlighting his importance to Brentford when progressing the play into dangerous areas.

The 22-year-old is a devastating outlet for Brentford in transition as Wolves found out constantly on matchday 5.

Brentford regularly keep their attackers close to their midfield in the defensive phase. As such, Mbeumo can at times recover the ball himself, pinching the ball away from opposition midfielders, making a late, well-timed move to dispossess them from their blindside. Upon regaining the ball Mbeumo is very direct, quick and unstoppable when in full-flow. He can quickly progress the ball and begin a swift counter-attack. He is confident driving forward on the ball and is a competent ball-carrier, but can show quality with his forward passing on quick breaks too.

He currently averages 2.13 progressive carries per 90 whilst also recording 2.57 shot-creating actions too. These are all impressive numbers especially for a player enjoying his first few games in Premier League football. Such numbers recorded shows how key he is to Thomas Frank’s efficient and organised system.

However, Mbeumo does have a bad habit for giving up possession too cheaply on occasion in transition. These instances arise specifically when Mbeumo receives possession in a deeper area, often inside his own half and close to the wide channel.

Mbeumo can look to receive on the half-turn despite being marked tightly. For a player who can show outstanding awareness this is a puzzlingly poor habit of his, but one he will no doubt work on as the season progresses. For a player of his slight frame, he does have incredible strength, so he must use that to his advantage when faced with such a situation.

Playing at such an elite level, Mbeumo will need to work on his efforts in the final third. If Brentford are to build on their good start and avoid any relegation issues, they would need to be ruthlessly clinical when it matters most and that will include Mbeumo improving his game in those situations too.

Last season he recorded 10 assists along with his eight goals, which was quite a decent return in front of goal but for a player of Mbeumo’s quality, he can do better. He vastly over-performed against his 12.02 xG in his first season at Brentford but since then has underperformed against it.

He should have two against Wolves at the weekend, blazing his second attempt on to the bar when a much calmer and composed finish will have sufficed.

Mbeumo so often looks to break the net with his finishing, opting for power, even when he looks to shape the ball toward goal. This often leads to him striking the ball in the air, which isn’t needed most of the time. Seeing Mbeumo spurn such opportunities has become all too familiar, and its a trait he must cut out if Brentford are to have any chance of staying in the top-flight.

He can nevertheless forge a chance for himself or his teammates regularly through his unerring dribbling ability shifting the ball from one foot to the other with lightning-quick speed and precision.

Yes, at times he may be wasteful but his movement in the penalty box is quite impressive as shown for his goal in Brentford’s assured win over Wolves where the French forward made an initial movement towards the front post, latching onto Toney’s fine pass to double their lead.

Mbeumo actually made this movement twice, checking his run initially and preventing himself from going too early which would have been ruled offside. However, he was able to still hit the space towards the back post, receiving the ball across goal, and finishing unmarked.

Because of Mbeumo’s ever-improving qualities coupled with Ivan Toney’s brilliance, Brentford will indeed cause a lot more problems for established Premier League sides this campaign.

The 22-year-old Frenchman has quickly become a vital cog in Thomas Frank’s impressively built machine, already adapting to the rigours of the Premier League so effortlessly. However, the player knows his importance to the team which means he must carry on his form and impact alongside Ivan Toney to give his team a chance of survival come May.

He was always ready to take his game up a level showcasing his quality consistently throughout his time in the Championship with Brentford, but now that must be translated into the English top-flight. Five games in, and Mbeumo has already proven his ability to the masses, and long may it continue.