Brentford analyzed one million matches and no other team managed to score a goal in under a minute in three consecutive games. Here is the best example of the world record kick off routine they used against Manchester City, Tottenham, and West Ham.

In all three games, they lined up like this to kick off, with two on either side, two on the edge of the center circle, and three defenders at the back.

Nathan Pinnock kicks the ball long to the forwards, aiming for the first player on the right side of the forward line. The ball has to be aimed for this specific player so that the ball can be knocked back to Nathan Collins.

Nathan Collins’ positioning is interesting because he is a center-back; he is not a fullback, and he is further forward than Sepp van den Berg, who is a fullback. He is there to win the second balls and possibly charge into the box to attack the right post, the near post.

They did work the ball down the left-hand side against Tottenham to score, but the main goal it seems based on Manchester City, West Ham, and Wolves seems to be to work the ball down the right wing. That is why I think Kristoffer Ajer pushes over to the right-hand side.

Collins passes back, and then they want to quickly work it to the right wing, this time through Kevin Schade.

The first goal scoring opportunity arises here. If the pass is on, Schade can cross to the near post to Bryan Mbeumo, but that pass is not on, and Schade crosses to the far post.

If the near post cross isn’t on, they go to the far post, and the aim isn’t necessarily to score from the far post cross.

The ball goes to the left side, and then Ajer can ping a cross first time to the right side.

So we have gone back, forward to the front line, back to the second line, up the right wing, cross to the left side, and now we’re crossing to the right side. Constantly switching from side to side, West Ham can’t settle and press the ball; they are chasing the ball.

And then the player that receives Ajer’s cross crosses to the opposite side, the left side of the box.

The ball eventually bounces back to Fabio Carvalho and he heads it down to Byran Mbeumo, then Mbeumo scores on the half volley.

Always watch Bryan Mbeumo’s positioning. He is key. He will look to sit on the penalty spot. Once a cross comes in, the players in the box will head it towards the penalty spot. If Mbeumo is open, like in the Tottenham and West Ham match, they’ll try to get it to him.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank, after scoring from the three consecutive kick offs, after mentioning it was a world record:

We train on it. It’s a set piece. We train on it for a long time. Then sometimes, you know, when you train on things, sometimes you go quick, and then you score on four corners in a row, or then you score on three kick offs in a row. Of course, the likelihood of scoring a corner is bigger than a kick off, and of course we trained on it today as well.

Against Manchester City, they quickly worked the ball down the right wing in a similar fashion, crossed to the far left post, and the ball was headed back across goal to the right post for the goal.

Against Tottenham, they worked the ball down the left wing, seemingly because it was very open, and then they immediately crossed to Byran Mbeumo, who was standing on the penalty spot for the half-volley goal, eerily similar to the one he scored against West Ham.

Brentford didn’t score within the first minute against Wolves because they didn’t win the coin toss to kick off. Thomas Frank:

We’ve been practicing winning the coin toss all week, and we lost it. That’s why it took us so long [to score].

Nathan Collins scored from a header attacking the near post in the 2nd minute from a cross from the right wing.

It is almost as if they practiced this hundreds of times.

Matches: Manchester City 2-1 Brentford on 14 September 2024, Tottenham 3-1 Brentford on 21 September 2024, Brentford 1-1 West Ham on 28 September 2024, Brentford 5-3 Wolves on 5 October 2024