Brentford have become the first team in Premier League history to score in the opening minute in three consecutive games, just days after Thomas Frank spoke about their kick-off success.
The Bees, who currently sit tenth in the league, took an early lead on Saturday afternoon when in-form striker Bryan Mbuemo opened the scoring with just 36 seconds on the clock against West Ham.
Mbuemo’s goal was a carbon-copy of his effort against Tottenham Hotspur on September 21 – a goal that was scored after just 24 seconds.
And a week before that game in North London, Yoane Wissa gave Brentford an early lead at the Etihad as Thomas Frank’s side shocked Manchester City with a well-worked kick-off routine.
Speaking to Vavel ahead of Saturday’s game against West Ham, Frank reflected on Brentford’s previous two quick-fire goals, saying it “should get into the Guiness Book of World Records.”
So what’s the secret? The Brentford manager was keen to play down luck being involved.
“First and foremost, it is not a coincidence,” he said. “It’s not like we just roll it back and kick it forward; we maybe roll it back and maybe kick it forward, or maybe we do something, but there’s clear roles for everyone involved.”
Frank added: “The way we capitalised in the end is fantastic but also a bit of [the] margin going our way.”
Keith Andrews, who is the set-piece coach at Brentford, is partly responsible, whilst Frank revealed that plenty of hard work goes into the kick-off routines that change on a regular basis, depending on the upcoming opponents.
In fact, he admitted there was a so-called “secret” routine in the works ahead of this weekend’s game against the Hammers.
“I don’t want to do a spoiler alert now, but they are still too scared to do it,” Frank said.
“I think it would be amazing to do it. If we don’t do it well then it doesn’t look that well on TV, and, these days, it will be never forgotten. On the flipside, imagine the upside if we get success on it. Let’s see in the future.”
