Brentford: analysis behind the numbers & player ratings

Magnificent Macc exit FA Cup after own goal heartache

I don’t think there’s much more I can say than has already been said about the magnitude of Macclesfield’s phenomenal FA Cup run.

The club’s profile has literally been transformed overnight which could provide a major boost to our short-term and long-term ambitions, such as boosting our chances of achieving promotion to the National League and attracting overseas investment.

From Atherton Laburnum Rovers in the second qualifying round, to the unforgettable, unbelievable upset to knock out the FA Cup holders Crystal Palace, culminating in the Silkmen going toe-to-toe with Brentford only to be denied by a heartbreaking own goal. We may never see anything like this ever again. What a ride its been.

This edition of the Silkmen News will provide a more in-depth view of how the players performed against Brentford and attempt to ‘go behind the numbers’ and focus on analysis you may not have read about.

How good were Macclesfield in the first half?

In short, very. John Rooney’s men started on the front foot and took the game to their Premier League opposition. Paul Dawson headed James Edmondson’s inswinging free-kick over the bar after a couple of minutes (though it wouldn’t have counted due to offside). Then on ten minutes, Luke Duffy latched onto a misplaced pass and lashed an effort on the half-volley high and wide from a central position 20 yards out.

But how different might the tie have been had Paul Dawson’s 25-yard effort nestled in the bottom corner in the 18^th minute? D’Mani Mellor did brilliant to win possession and feed Duffy, who slipped a perfectly weighted ball into Dawson’s path whose eventual shot was fractionally wide.

Dawson’s shot was the Silkmen’s last notable effort of the half as Brentford began to grow into the game and dominate the ball – unsurprisingly the visitor’s enjoyed 77% possession overall. In the first half, the Bees had seven attempted efforts on goal, six of them inside the box, but crucially five of these were blocked thanks to some brilliant defending by Macclesfield.

This restricted Brentford to only two strikes of note. Furo flashed a header wide from a left wing cross, whilst Reiss Nelson’s well-struck shot inside the penalty area produced an excellent reactionary save from Max Dearnley on 36 minutes.

Overall, Macc were magnificent defensively. In total, we made 18 tackles (11 from Brentford), 44 recoveries and a whopping 46 defensive clearances. The Silkmen also won 41 of 72 contested ground duels compared to 31 from Brentford. Outstanding.

Brentford’s pressure eventually paid off

At half-time you sensed the whiff of another unbelievable upset. However, to their credit, Brentford showed their quality and bossed the second half. They had nine shots, eight were inside the box and six of them were on target. In contrast, Macc just had two headed attempts from Duffy and Mellor.

The Bees notably upped the tempo and turned the screw ten minutes into the second half and had three efforts in four minutes as the Silkmen heroically hung on. It’s somewhat disappointing, or perhaps heartbreaking is a more appropriate choice of word, that it took an own goal from Sam Heathcote to separate the two sides after 70 minutes.

At the time, Macclesfield were down to ten men as Luke Matheson was waiting in the wings to replace the injured Lewis Fensome. I’m not quite sure why Rooney decided to introduce James Gale for Isaac Buckley-Ricketts for his first substitution on 68 minutes before fetching on Matheson for Fensome. Maybe he was waiting to see if Fensome could recover whilst Matheson was warming up?

Did it matter? Well, given the goal originated from a left wing cross in an area where Dawson had gone to fill in at right back, combined with Duffy switching off for a split second in failing to track Brentford’s runner, then YES, this was pivotal to breaking Macclesfield’s hearts.

However, despite the extra man advantage for the away side, I’m not sure whether a fully-alert Duffy would have been able to prevent the cross. And in truth you can’t really legislate for Sam Heathcote failing to adjust his positioning and heading into his own net instead of putting it behind for a corner. It’s impossible not to feel sorry for Sam who was having another solid game on the back of a fine season.

How well did Macclesfield respond?

I can’t praise the players highly enough for rolling their sleeves up and not feeling sorry for themselves after going a goal behind in agonising circumstances. At the time, it appeared that Rooney’s men had weathered Brentford’s second half storm as they had gone 12 minutes without registering an effort.

Despite this, to their immense credit the Silkmen refused to let their heads drop. D’Mani Mellor’s strike on 81 minutes was blocked in a move which saw Brentford’s Michael Kayode handle the ball, not once, but twice in the melee. Replays suggested it was ball to hand on both occasions, but it was a heart in mouth moment for the travelling supporters. Mellor also saw his header saved a minute later where he couldn’t get enough power on it to trouble Valdimarsson in goal.

Macc kept going and gave themselves a chance to the very end by maintaining their defensive discipline, despite Brentford forcing seven corners and flashing a left footed shot high and wide from Donovan from inside the area.

If there’s one tinge of frustration I could level at the players, it would be their failure to make the most of set-plays and general deliveries of crosses into the box. We actually won 14 free-kicks to Brentford’s seven, but how many of these asked questions of the visitors? Very few.

Outside of Edmondson’s dangerous whipped in ball in the second minute, I can’t recall the Silkmen producing a ball into the box of similar quality, with perhaps the exception of a Louis Lacey cross. Duffy, Elliot Osborne and Edmondson couldn’t quite find the desired level of quality on the rare occasions Macclesfield were presented with openings. Only four of 13 attempted crosses (31%) found a blue shirt, but I appreciate this is me nitpicking.

Player ratings

Dearnley 7 – no chance with the Heathcote own goal as Sam’s header flew into the net from close range at pace. Max showed generally sound handling (apart from dropping and reclaiming one ball) and made one crucial stop from close range to keep it at 0-0 in the first half.

Fensome 7.5 – maybe the result would have been different had Fenners not been forced to go off injured which left us briefly down to ten men. Let’s hope his injury isn’t serious. As with the Palace game, Fensome justified his selection over Luke Matheson with a solid defensive display. He made seven defensive clearances, and won five out of six ground and aerial duels he contested.

Heathcote 7 – he’ll be feeling terrible and I don’t want to stick the boot in. Sam made an unfortunate mistake and it proved to be costly. He doesn’t make many. Generally he was resolute – five out of seven ground and aerial duels won and six clearances. He even found himself playing upfront in the final stages and whipped in a deep cross as an unconventional right winger.

Borthwick-Jackson 8 – the left centre back spot appears his to lose now following another assured display. Physically he was less dominant than Fensome and Heathcote, winning only two of seven ground and aerial duels. However, Cameron’s reading of the game was impeccable as he made a huge 17 defensive contributions overall, comprising 12 clearances, 1 interception and 4 blocked shots. A very effective and confident performance by the former Manchester United man.

Lacey 8.5 – no, that’s not a typo. After a shaky start in the first ten minutes up against the dangerous right winger Donovan, Lacey was magnificent and performed even better than he did against Palace. The left back was a revelation, both in terms of defending and leading the charge for Macclesfield in an attacking sense. Luis made 16 defensive contributions, including eight clearances and two interceptions.

No Macclesfield player made more tackles than Lacey (five) and he also blocked a shot. He also won 13 out of 18 contested ground duels, and won all three aerial duels. In contrast, Donovan lost possession 22 times and Lacey’s constant terrier-like harrying was a big factor in this.

Going forward, Luis was also very good and did more than any other player to get us up the pitch. He successfully completed five out of five dribbles, two out of two crosses and his passing accuracy at 71% was higher than any other Silkmen player. Much maligned at times this season (with justification), but he’s shown the quality he does possess against Palace and Brentford. The bar has been well and truly set – can he make this level of performance the norm, rather than the exception?

Osborne 7 – played as the midfield shield just in front of the back four, as Rooney adopted a 4-1-4-1 formation. Understandably he struggled against Brentford’s possession heavy style but did win two tackles and make five recoveries of the ball from the middle of the park. His passing accuracy at 53% was better than most, but his normally pinpoint long passes were off the mark – just one of six finding at teammate.

Dawson 7.5 – how close did he come to another magical FA Cup moment? His shot on 18 minutes was a yard or so past the post. Like Lacey, he tried his upmost to take the fight to Brentford, as evidenced by three out of four successful dribbles and he also attempted seven carries – a description which indicates when a player attempts to advance forward with the ball rather than electing to pass, where he was less effective with a passing accuracy of 39%. He was booked late on, but thankfully kept his head!

Edmondson 7.5 – worked tirelessly and acted as a strong, defensive foil when Dawson went roaming. Edmondson made seven defensive contributions and won four of his seven ground duels in the engine room. He attempted the most passes (22) compared to Dawson (18) and Osborne (17) and more tackles (three). Covered a lot of ground. Had a penalty shout late on but hit the deck way too easily after encountering slight contact.

Duffy 7.5 – in general play he was really good and showed excellent leadership qualities in driving us on. Duffy had more attempts on goal (four) than any other Macclesfield player and on another day would probably have hit the target instead of slightly snatching at his half-chance on ten minutes when Brentford presented the ball to him. He rarely had the ball, but utilised it well when he had it – 70% accuracy and he played a good pass into Dawson’s path which led to the skipper narrowly shooting wide on 18 minutes.

Where I think Duff’s can be slightly disappointed are on his set players – his corners and free-kicks seldom beat the first man. And he also switched off for a millisecond in not tracking the runner who put the cross in for Heathcote’s OG. I’m not sure he’d have cut off the supply regardless though.

Buckley-Ricketts 6 – one of the heroes of Round Three was unfortunately a peripheral figure against Brentford. Isaac only touched the ball 14 times and lost possession on seven occasions, completing only one of his three passes. A really difficult night for him against a very strong Brentford midfield.

Mellor 7 – toiled upfront as the lone striker feeding off scraps, until he was switched to wide left when Gale came on. D’Mani did brilliantly to rob a Brentford player in possession in the build-up to Dawson’s near miss in the first half. In total, he won six ground and aerial duels and made four tackles – Mellor never stopped and he tried his best late on with a headed effort.

So much still to play for

The Silkmen’s season isn’t done yet. With 18 huge league games to go, and Macclesfield sitting just outside of the National League North’s play-offs, we could be set for a grandstand finish!

I’ll do some analysis on the race for the play-offs in due course, but for now I’m going to catch my breath back.