Andrews: Thiago always puts the team first

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Brentford manager Keith Andrews on how Thiago always puts the team first  27/09/2025  Gtech Stadium, London, UK

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00:00I haven't had many games as a manager, so it's probably pretty high.

00:15Listen, it's obviously fresh, it's just come off it, whatever it is, half an hour ago,

00:2240 minutes ago, so I'm just very proud, I've said this before, a lot will get made of me

00:28in a new role, etc, a lot of changes at the football club, blah, blah, blah,

00:33but I think that's the one thing I would take straight away from the game

00:38and the performance after last weekend in particular, I'm just proud of what we've produced

00:44against a talented set of players.

00:48You went for them very early and it really worked,

00:54Amarim's just said they prepared for it all week, but it certainly didn't look that way on the pitch.

00:59I thought it was a balance of how we approached it, I thought going with a back four

01:05gave us a better base with the ball, gave us better passing opportunities,

01:10fluidity in midfield with Damsgaard and Jaromar kind of dovetailing a little bit,

01:16Jordan trying to be more secure.

01:17I think when you entice players onto you and if they vacate space,

01:22what we have at the top end of the pitch, we want to take advantage of that.

01:26I thought we dovetailed nicely between playing with control, enticing them

01:31and then trying to hurt them where we wanted to bring them, I suppose.

01:34I thought the courage and conviction of the players today right from the off was really good,

01:39both with and without the ball.

01:40So, two goals for Igor Thiago, what do you make for his performance?

01:46Selfless, I think will be the first thing that springs to mind.

01:50Always puts the team first, sometimes at the detriment of his own performance.

01:56I think he's such a team player.

01:59He's getting real rhythm in his game now and confidence in his game.

02:03And he's shown exactly, I suppose, what he's all about and why the football club brought him here

02:1015, 16 months ago, whatever it was.

02:12And obviously everyone's aware he's had a difficult season last year with injuries.

02:15He's such a powerful player and a big part of our...

02:20He was a big part of our dressing room last year with the type of character that he is.

02:24Very, very positive individual.

02:26And again, I'm touching it, just really, really selfish.

02:28But to see him, he's a centre-forward, he wants to score goals.

02:31And to see him score the type of goals.

02:33Everybody might think the second goal isn't particularly...

02:36He's the one who gets the first contact.

02:39He has the desire to actually get in the area where you're going to score goals.

02:42I think it's a really good lesson for young centre-forwards to be in those positions

02:46where you're going to score and not just on the periphery.

02:48So I was really happy for him.

02:50Can you speak about that in the second goal?

02:51Is his all-round play really so important to that?

02:54Yeah, spot on.

02:55He gives us that base.

02:57He fights against some of the strongest centre-halves in the league,

03:00which he had to do today.

03:01And he gives us that base to be able to bring players into play.

03:05Like I alluded to before, if teams press us effectively and aggressively,

03:09we know we can miss that.

03:11Play to Thiago and players can join in off the back of it.

03:13And with Dango and Kev, we've got real pace to get in behind teams.

03:18Keith, you mentioned the midfield security.

03:21When you're preparing for United,

03:23is that two in midfield really an area you look at?

03:26You mentioned the midfields that are really interesting with Jordan Henderson.

03:29And is that an area you really felt you could outnumber them?

03:31Because the midfielders are fantastic.

03:33Yeah, I think it's the natural way you prepare for games.

03:36You try and create overloads, I suppose.

03:39One of which would be if we have a three-man midfield,

03:42they have a two.

03:43But you could flip it and say when their wide players tuck in

03:47and they have a four.

03:48So there's different ways of looking at it, I suppose.

03:50But I certainly felt how we tried to entice them onto us

03:54and try and play around or through at times would be on.

03:58And I felt, going back to it, the players did that with real courage and conviction today.

04:03Thanks.

04:04Hi, Keith.

04:05Hi.

04:06Michael Carraday, I was really impressed by his performance.

04:08He's already 21 as well on the main stage in the team.

04:12How impressed were you by his performance and how good do you think he would be?

04:15Yeah, I was impressed with him as well.

04:17I thought he was excellent.

04:18I think he's having a really good season.

04:19He's such a good person.

04:23He's settled into the club so well since his arrival in January.

04:27Everybody will kind of just target his long trail, I suppose.

04:32It's quite eye-catching.

04:33But it's his general desire to be a defender.

04:37I don't think all defenders actually love defending in this day and age.

04:41He does.

04:42And whatever, it's 1v1, defending the back post.

04:44Just a real pride in what he does.

04:46And again, the type of person he is fits exactly into the way this club is.

04:52So really happy for Michael that he's started the season so well.

04:55Keith, were you checking the penalty for a red card?

05:00Were you concerned about that?

05:02I was just planning subs, to be honest, in case it wasn't going to go our way.

05:08In terms of who was going to come on and we might tweak it, what it would look like.

05:11I think that's just the natural way you have to process things pretty quickly

05:15and working out what it might look like.

05:19So obviously delighted it wasn't.

05:21Is that everything?

05:23Cheers lads.

05:24We'll leave you there.

05:25Thank you very much.

05:26Take care.

05:36I'll take care.

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