The curtain fell on Brentford's 2023 with a 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last Saturday with Thomas Frank praising his side's effort and mentality, but bemoaning the Bees' lack of decisiveness in both boxes.

A fifth consecutive defeat represented Brentford's worst losing streak of the calendar year and Frank afterwards stated that he will study where his side "could have done better" prior to their FA Cup outing against Wolves this Friday.

The Dane will look to apply many of the lessons he has learned from his very successful time at the club, and a quick review of Brentford's numbers in 2023 could perhaps act as a starting point.

One literal positive to take from 2023 was a goal difference of +5: Brentford scoring 58 goals and conceding 53 over the course of the year - the Bees winning 15, drawing 11 and losing 17 of the 43 games they played across all competitions.

The Bees scored in 32 of those 43 games (74 per cent) and kept 10 clean sheets in total, three of them by goalkeeper Mark Flekken since his arrival in the summer.

A breakdown of where Brentford's goals have come from shows that they remain a potent threat from dead-ball situations: 17 of their goals (31 per cent) scored from corners, throw-ins, free-kicks and penalties with 38 (69 per cent) from open play (these numbers do not include own goals).

The Bees have been formidable at home over recent seasons and their form at Gtech Community Stadium has remained strong: 10 (66 per cent) of their victories in 2023 coming on their own patch.

Injuries and suspensions have hit Brentford hard recently and the numbers highlight just how big a blow it was to lose Bryan Mbeumo to the ankle problem he sustained against Brighton in early December.

The Cameroon international was out on his own as the Bees' most productive player in 2023, the forward scoring 13 goals and supplying 10 assists throughout the year - with Danish midfielder Mathias Jensen chipping in with an impressive eight goals and five assists to make him Brentford's next best source of goals.

Although he is set to feature for DR Congo in the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations, Yoane Wissa has seen plenty of action, particularly with Ivan Toney suspended this season, and he was actually the only player to feature in every Brentford game in 2023.

In terms of actual game time, though, it is perhaps little surprise that Ethan Pinnock (3,690 minutes) led the way - the reliable defender clocking up almost 600 more minutes than any other Bees player over the duration of 2023.

To bring this whirlwind annual summary to a close, we'll tweak the formula slightly and finish with a calendar year statistic from 2022!

Throughout 2022, you see, only one player (Harry Kane, 26) scored more Premier League goals than Ivan Toney (20) - the striker's return for Brentford's next top-flight clash against Nottingham Forest undoubtedly a huge plus for Frank and his side to look forward to.