Harlee Dean believes he will enjoy playing under Marinus Dijkhuizen more than he did under former Brentford boss Mark Warburton.
The central defender was left exposed on several occasions last season with Warburton's tactics leaving the club thin on the back line and vulnerable to a counter attack.
But Dijkhuizen will take a slightly more pragmatic approach and look to be tighter at the back, rather than take the 'score more goals than the opposition approach' Warburton took.
Dean said: “If you look at individual centre halves in the league, I don't think there are many better than what we have here.
“Last year we didn't look like that. We got left two v one and two v two. We know we've got people around us and I hope we keep a lot more clean sheets and make ourselves look a lot better.”
Dean also hopes Dijkhuizen's and owner Matthew Benham's increased value on set-pieces will pay off with more goals after finding the net only twice; against Dagenham in the Capital One Cup and Fulham in the league.
He added: “Warbs' corners weren't the best. He wanted to play short and quick. As a centre half, we didn't enjoy that as we want to get on the end of them.
“We're focusing on set-pieces. If we can add to 10 from centre half combined then we've done well.
“We've just repeated set-pieces and free kicks and knowing where you've got to be. Last year we didn't have one session on set-pieces and it showed on the pitch. That was Warbs' way. Perhaps that's where we fell short?”
Benham's brave new world has left plenty of question marks hanging over the Bees going into the season.
While, Dean has every faith in the owner's methods he acknowledges there is a chance it might not go entirely to plan.
He said: “I think even Matthew is confident in his ideas but is probably thinking what if it doesn't work?
“I believe if it doesn't work, Matthew will find a different way then it will work. If it doesn't work the second time, it'll work the third time.
“The club will be in the Premier League because Matthew wants it to happen. We've got to embrace the ideas and try them. If it doesn't work then try something different.”
Dean is now one of the longest serving Brentford players behind Toumani Diagouraga and Sam Saunders and has been stepping up into a leadership role.
He added: “When people like Dougie leave, someone needs to step into their shoes. I've tried to do that.
“We're a new team with new faces and nationalities. You need to guide them. We lost a leader but we needed to gain one.”
Dean elected to shave his beard over the summer and said, with tongue firmly in cheek, that a hair-free face was a new requirement.
He joked: “There's an exodus of beards. You had to get rid of them. No, I had to get rid of mine so I looked my age to the new manager. I wanted to prove I was 23 and not 33.”
