Surprise has become practice: Brentford
We all remember Pato’s 24-second goal against Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League right after kickoff. Back then, such moments were seen as extraordinary, but in today’s football, the game has become highly logical and calculated. Experts surround coaches, and it’s no longer just about open play—set pieces like corners, free kicks, and throw-ins are all meticulously analysed as part of a strategy known as marginal gains.
One team that has become synonymous with exploiting marginal gains is Brentford. Not only do they surprise us with their innovative free kicks and corners, but they also catch opponents off guard right from kickoffs.
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The general trend of kickoffs
During kickoffs, a forward typically lays the ball back to a centre-back, goalkeeper, or defensive midfielder, who often launch long passes behind the opposition’s defense. Players like Van Dijk or Ederson excel at this, delivering 45-55 meter passes with accuracy in open play. At kick-off, they have even more time because the opponent’s pressing begins in their half, meaning they can’t mark centre-backs or goalkeepers who are positioned deep.
Why do teams adopt this strategy?
1. Adopt a low-risk strategy – the attacking team don’t want to risk losing possession in their own half at the start of the game.
2. To play the ball behind the defense and exploit the space in behind the high defensive line’.
3. To create a vertical gap between the defense and midfield units to pick up second balls.
Why target the wide areas instead of the central zone?
In the middle zone, goalkeepers can directly intervene and play a sweeping role and central defenders tend to be stronger in aerial duels. On the other hand, fullbacks tend to be shorter, less physical and weaker aerially, making them a better target for long passes.
Brentford kick-off routines
Brentford have used two main routines from kick off, depending on the opponent's pressing style. Let's discuss the first routine which they scored against Tottenham and Man City who used zonal pressing when defending kick-offs. Factors are common in both goals.
- Planning to attacking in multiple phases
- Overload a particular side
- Aggression to win second balls
- Playing with width to stretch the opponent's defence
- Mbeumo clever movements to find space in the box and attack crosses
Vs. Manchester City
Against Manchester City, Brentford scored by exploiting City's 4-1-4-1 zonal shape. Brentford's general formation resembled a 2-2-2-2 on the long kick side, with Ajer and Lewis-Potter creating an 8-vs-7 overload on Brentford's right side. Haaland pressed towards Brentford's goalkeeper, but the distance was too great for effective pressure. In defence, Brentford established a 2-vs-1 scenario, with Van der Berg and Collins as protectors against rebounds or counterattacks.
Brentford's goalkeeper launched a long ball towards Ajer, who, despite his qualitative superiority over Grealish, couldn't win the aerial duel. However, Janelt and Nørgaard—both aggressive, ball-winning midfielders—were crucial in regaining possession. In midfield, Brentford created a 4-vs-3 advantage, allowing them to dominate.
Upon winning the ball, Wissa and Mbeumo targeted City's Akanji and left-back Rico Lewis, pinning them back. This allowed Ajer, on the right side, to find space and cross the ball to the blind side of Walker. Initially, Lewis-Potter played a more central role, but when Brentford regained possession, he moved forward to provide width. Lewis-Potter made a deep run, making it nearly impossible for Walker to track him.
Gündoğan attempted to press aggressively, creating a gap in City's midfield. Brentford easily bypassed City's second line of defense, and although Grealish tried to recover, Ajer had enough space to deliver the cross. In the box, Johnstone, Akanji, and Rico Lewis were focused on protecting the space between the defense and the goalkeeper—the zone of uncertainty. However, a misunderstanding between Johnstone and Ederson allowed Brentford to capitalise and score, making it 1-0 in the 25 seconds.
Vs Tottenham
Tottenham employed a 5-4-1 zonal system against Brentford, with manager Ange Postecoglou using a deep pivot to stretch his full-back to man-mark Brentford’s width. Brentford, on the other hand, attempted to push Tottenham's back line higher, trying to exploit the space between the lines. As usual, Solanki pressed Brentford's goalkeeper, who opted for a long kick—not towards the wide player, Ajer, as he was well-marked by Udogie. Even Son dropped back to create a 2v1 situation, so the goalkeeper accurately aimed for Carvalho instead.
Although Carvalho was not tightly marked at first, van de Ven suddenly stepped out from defense to challenge for the ball. At that moment, Ajer shifted sideways, creating a 2v1 situation for the first ball. However, the ball ended up going towards Kulusevski. Brentford anticipated this, applied aggressive pressure on the second ball, and created a 3v1 situation, blocking all the passing lanes for Kulusevski. Carvalho won the ball, eventually playing it to Lewis-Potter, who held it near Tottenham's right-back Porro, patiently waiting for a gap to appear between Tottenham’s first and second defensive lines. When the gap opened, he delivered a cross to Mbeumo, who struck the ball brilliantly, producing a stunning finish and scoring at 25 seconds.
Vs West Ham United
This goal was different from the other two setups. West Ham applied aggressive pressing upfront, so Brentford opted for short passes to find the free man, having planned more than one phase in their kick-off strategy. Initially, West Ham pressed Brentford with three men and marked two Brentford players responsible for either breaking the counterattack or acting as blockers. This created a 5v3 advantage for Brentford in their half, but in the opponent's half, it became 5v7, increasing the chance of a rebound or counterattack.
When the ball rebounded, Kudus attempted to launch a counterattack, but van den Berg stepped forward aggressively from defense, won the ball, and passed it back. This highlighted the importance of "rest defense" in winning the second ball and breaking the opponent’s counterattack, allowing Brentford to start their next phase. Brentford played several crosses into the box to stretch West Ham’s defense, patiently waiting for space to open up between the defense and midfield lines. Mbeumo capitalised on this with his excellent first touch to score. He finished two goals from the same space, and the difference between his xG and xGOT demonstrated his exceptional one-touch finishing ability. In both goals of Mbeumo the opponent was not aware of his space and position, they were more focused on preventing the cross.
Brentford are heavily focused on second ball winning and try to numerical advantage in that situation and attack and break the opponent's last-line defence.
The general pattern of kick-offs: Brentford
The goals against Man City and Tottenham were similar. Brentford attacked with four players on a specific side (mainly the right wide area), while six players-maintained rest defense, creating a 6-4 formation. The attacking four forced the opponent's first line of defense to sit deep, widening the gap between the first and second defensive lines. Brentford aimed to win the first or second ball and establish numerical and qualitative superiority.
In these situations, Brentford typically deployed three players in the right wide area, pinning the opposition’s centre-backs and full-backs. If the opponent won the second ball, they had limited options to escape the pressure. At this point, two aggressive players, mainly Damsgaard and Yarmolyuk, would close down quickly, regain possession, and switch the ball to the opposite wide player.
Against Man City, their four defenders, with full-backs tucking inside, focused on protecting the central areas. This gave Brentford’s wide player, Lewis-Potter, more space in the box to exploit. In contrast, Tottenham used five defenders, with Bentancur dropping deeper, providing extra security to the full-backs. This allowed the full-backs to cover wide areas and press Brentford’s wide player more freely. Here, Lewis-Potter held onto the ball, moved towards the early crossing zone, and waited for Tottenham’s second line of defense to shift horizontally. This movement created space for Mbeumo to finish.
A key error by both opponents was their central midfielders. They were responsible for protecting the zone in front of the centre-backs but often dropped too deep, aligning themselves with the back line and leaving space for Mbeumo to exploit or They shifted too wide from the goal mouth. Even when Brentford’s initial phase failed, their rest defence structure remained intact around the box, allowing them to continue pressing in subsequent phases.
Conclusion
The game is constantly evolving, and every moment is crucial in trying to capitalise on chances. In the future, we may see more innovation and tactical approaches during kick-offs. However, for now, success heavily depends on doing the basics well such as playing long with accuracy into the right areas, winning second balls, sustaining attacks with crosses and making incisive movements to find space in the box. Hopefully, as the game continues to evolves, we will see more creative routines from kick-off in the future.