Saman Ghoddos: Brentfords Swiss Army Knife

Brentfordfc.com – LONDON, Saman Ghoddos’s team ethic and adaptability has been a huge plus this season for injury-hit Brentford; the Iran international has slotted in at full-back, on both flanks, to do a more defensive job for Thomas Frank and his side; only three players in the Premier League have a better tackle success rate than the 30-year-old.

When Saman Ghoddos bid farewell to fans after Brentford’s end-of-season win over Manchester City in May, few would have guessed the Iran international would rack up a century of appearances for the Bees a matter of months later.

Although Ghoddos was unable to mark his 100th appearance for Brentford with a win, the 30-year-old delivered another impressive performance against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday and his team ethic has been a huge plus for the injury-hit west Londoners.
As boss Thomas Frank remarked after the 1-0 defeat to the Blades, Brentford lacked quality in forward areas and were ultimately undone by a fantastic strike from James McAtee.

Missing a number of key players, the Bees are relying on the depth of their squad and centurion Ghoddos is going from strength to strength in an unfamiliar role.

Ghoddos joined Brentford from Amiens in 2020 as a forward player and has spent the vast majority of his time in London playing as a winger. However, during the current injury crisis, the Malmö -born man has slotted in at full-back, on both flanks, to do a more defensive job for Frank and his side.

Despite being a forward by nature, Ghoddos’s new-found versatility has been showcased in a string of very good displays and he is putting up good defensive numbers at the moment.

For example, only three players in the whole league currently have a better tackle success rate than the former Östersund player, who has won 85 per cent of his tackles so far this season in the Premier League. Only Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa and Wolves’ Toti Gomes, fresh from their first international call-ups for England and Portugal respectively, as well as Arsenal’s William Saliba, have performed better in that regard.

Brentford have some excellent one-on-one defenders such as Kristoffer Ajer, Rico Henry and Nathan Collins, but no Bees player has been dribbled past on fewer occasions on average than Ghoddos (0.2 times per game) this term.

Depleted Brentford are reliant on their entire squad at present and Ghoddos, Keane Lewis-Potter, Yehor Yarmoliuk and the returning Mikkel Damsgaard are all likely to see an uptick in game time.

Ghoddos’s attacking quality could also come in handy during this festive period, particularly if he can pull out another stunner in the same mould as his Premier League Goal of the Month against Burnley in October.

One of only four Iranians to score in the English top flight – along with Ashkan Dejagah, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Andranik Teymourian – Ghoddos is a great example of how adaptable Brentford are as a club and his transition from free agent to key player within months has been astonishing.

Whether Ghoddos can nail down a starting berth in the Bees’ first team remains to be seen, but he has slotted in effectively and his good form will provide Frank with the right kind of headache when Collins, Ajer and Hickey return.