Andrews on 2-0 defeat at Arsenal's hands

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Brentford boss Keith Andrews on 2-0 defeat at Arsenal's hands  03/12/2025  Emirates Stadium, London, UK

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00:00It's a no shame you're coming to the Emirates and losing to any of the sides that have done that,

00:04but you didn't make it easy for them.

00:07No, that was the plan, clearly. Plans always don't work out.

00:12Conceded an early-ish goal, thought we could have done a little bit better on that,

00:15defended 2v2 on the sides a little bit better,

00:18but equally, they're top players, they'll cause you problems with their movements,

00:22a little bit of a breakdown in communication maybe on our part,

00:24and after that I felt they didn't have too many clear-cut opportunities,

00:28restricted them to very little.

00:30I felt we grew into the game, confidence grew, second half in particular,

00:34how much more we dominated the ball and caused them problems with the ball,

00:38not so much from our defensive structure,

00:41and we made it very, very difficult and uncomfortable for them

00:45right up until they got the second goal, I think.

00:48Another game, Michael Arteta gave a really loud and obvious rallying call

00:53about the 7.30, if I'll be here, is that a tribute to you guys?

00:58I'm not sure.

01:02I preferred the 7.30 kick-off because I'll get to bed a bit earlier,

01:05but you'll have to ask him.

01:08I think he would have known we weren't going to give an easy game,

01:12we would have to earn it.

01:14They're a top team, I said in the press conference before the game,

01:17I've got the utmost respect for this football club

01:20and the way he sets the team up, he respects all phases of the game,

01:23he's a top coach obviously, so I think he would have known it was a difficult game.

01:29And you made five changes from the team that beat Burnley,

01:32obviously there was an injury and a slight injury in there as well,

01:36but was it more than that?

01:37Was it tactical or was it just thinking you've got another big game in Northland

01:40coming up and potentially, given their own record,

01:43there's more of a chance of securing three points?

01:45A bit of everything really, a couple of knocks,

01:49a couple of bits of players maybe needed a little bit of a rest

01:54and not to start, more so to come on.

01:56Utilising the squad, which I have so much confidence in,

02:00picking the team on a weekly basis is difficult at times

02:04because the players do push each other.

02:06I felt a lot of the players that come in tonight

02:08absolutely deserve to start the game.

02:11Hi.

02:15I want to ask you about Michael Coyote.

02:17Once again, another new game for him.

02:19How have you seen him grow during the season

02:22and it feels more and more comfortable to grow in the front of the season?

02:26Yeah, I agree.

02:28He's grown and grown, hasn't he, week to week.

02:30He's been a big part of how we've played.

02:33He's such a big character and personality.

02:36You see the smile on his face and how much he loves playing the game.

02:39I think the evolution of his game, the confidence that he's getting

02:43from competing at this level, week in, week out,

02:46he's obviously been a mainstay and a really important part of how we play.

02:52I can only see him getting better and better.

02:56You've had success with the ball back this season,

03:03and you've changed the backfield,

03:04was it just because of the knocks,

03:05or was it something else that you were trying to do?

03:07Again, probably a little bit of everything,

03:11the personnel that I wanted to play, opposition.

03:14I don't think it needs to change too much, really,

03:17in terms of how you can approach the game.

03:20They still wanted us to be pretty proactive, aggressive, front-footed.

03:25At times, the opposition doesn't allow you to do that

03:27because they're very good.

03:29But I still think you can be that.

03:31We were touching it before the game,

03:32around how we've done it before against Chelsea, Man City this season,

03:35and how effective it's been.

03:38I think the key is with your centre-backs in particular,

03:41they have to feel comfortable pushing through

03:43and being aggressive through the middle

03:45because your wing-backs get pinned a little bit

03:47with the way they play with Maratinelli one side

03:49and Madiweke the other,

03:50so that doesn't allow you to let them jump and be aggressive.

03:53So, yeah, it was a little bit of flexibility, I suppose.

03:59Hi.

04:00I love you today.

04:01I've got two questions.

04:02My first one is,

04:03a winner today would have put Brentford into the top ten.

04:06How big of an opportunity did you see this game?

04:10Yeah, I see that as an opportunity to come here

04:15and show what we're about and what we're growing,

04:18what we're developing.

04:19I want us to come and approach the game in a fearless way.

04:23I feel like we did that.

04:24I feel like we gave a really good account of ourselves.

04:27I'm really proud of the performance.

04:28Obviously disappointed with the result.

04:31The second goal is on me.

04:33I wanted us to push and push hard for the equaliser,

04:35left ourselves a little bit open.

04:37I'm pretty comfortable with that rather than sitting back

04:41and just taking a 1-0 lead that maybe looks a little bit better.

04:44So, immense pride in the way the boys approach it.

04:48My second question is,

04:50an exciting talent Ramal Donovan made the bench today.

04:54How close is he to Premier League minutes?

04:57He's on the bench tonight,

04:58so he's taking the right steps.

05:01Reece Nelson wasn't available, obviously.

05:04And Ramal's done particularly well in the B-team games.

05:07Whenever he's been involved in our training sessions,

05:10he's really impacted it.

05:12So, yeah, he's heading in the right direction.

05:15You've benefited from a settled team this season.

05:18So, how impressed were you by the players who came into that?

05:21Yeah, impressed but not surprised.

05:23I see it on a daily basis.

05:24They train really, really hard.

05:25They push each other.

05:26They push me to make the tough decisions around the team selections.

05:31I think the likes of Vitaly, Matthias Jensen has played the last couple,

05:36Ethan Pinnock, Rico.

05:39These players have been on the journey with the club,

05:41now the club inside-out, now the system inside-out,

05:44which is probably a big part of the way I felt comfortable flipping with

05:48one or two training sessions to be able to come here

05:50and play a different system that we haven't played in probably a couple of months now.

05:54I thought they were excellent.

05:56Yes?

05:59Without Gabriel and Saliba in the Arsenal conference,

06:03was the aerial aspect an area that you tried to exploit tonight against Arsenal?

06:07How did you adapt to that without obviously facing Saliba and Gabriel tonight?

06:13Did it alter the way I'd set up the team?

06:17Probably not, to be honest.

06:19It was more about us and the person I wanted to play

06:23and the structure and the system and the way.

06:25I thought Thiago did that really well in the second half,

06:28when he came on and gave us a real platform.

06:30He's more of a natural centre-forward than Kevin and Dango.

06:34They're more wide forwards.

06:36So, no, I wouldn't say it was specifically around those two missing.

06:41In terms of aerial, did it give you more opportunities, possibly,

06:44in terms of Mascara and Papier rather than facing Saliba and Gabriel

06:50in terms of aerial platforms?

06:51You clearly think so, do you?

06:53Yeah.

06:55You probably know the answer, didn't you?

06:59Okay.

07:00We're done. Thank you very much, everybody.

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