Brentford stopped standing on the keeper, and started winning the back post

All 204 Brentford corners since August 2025, read player by player at the kick and in the seconds after it. Last season Brentford crowded the keeper on seven deliveries in ten and scored three times from 182 corners, the first at the 96th attempt. In five games this season the man on the keeper has almost gone, the far post has become the main target, and Brentford lead the league for shots and first contacts per corner.

Andrews said before Chelsea that you need to make life really uncomfortable for opposition defenders. The day after, a corner opened the scoring in a 3-0 win.

The routine library

Every corner is sorted by where Brentford's players stand at the kick and where the ball is aimed. Six routines cover all 204. Pick one to watch its most typical corner, then step through every corner of that routine. Hover a player for his name and job.

Mikkel Damsgaard from the left, inswinger, aimed at the back post. First contact: Jannik Schuster (Brentford). Goal: Jaidon Anthony, header, xG 0.64. On the keeper: Anthony.

BACK-POST OVERLOAD: 42 CORNERS

THE READ

The back-post overload was already the routine that won the ball most often last season (13 first contacts from 25), but it was only a sixth of Brentford's corners. This season it is 9 of 22: seven first contacts from nine, 1.66 xG and both goals, both of them from a far-post header back across or down for team-mates arriving in the six.

The six-yard crowd has gone. It was Jensen's corner last season (30 of its 49 came from his right foot from the left) and it produced the most xG of any routine, but Brentford won only 10 of 45 first contacts with it. It has been used once in five games.

The weak spot is the diagonal line. Seven corners this season, one first contact won, 0.07 xG: balls into the middle of the six with nobody left on the keeper, and a defender or the keeper gets there first.

Who does what

Each player's job at every delivered corner he was on the pitch for, from his position at the kick and his movement in the next two seconds. A screen is a Brentford player who gets within 1.5 m of the defender marking a team-mate, in the line between them, in the first second after the kick, while that team-mate runs into the landing zone and gains at least a metre on his marker. Click a row to see his runs.

IGOR THIAGO: START TO TWO SECONDS AFTER THE KICK, 2025/26

147 delivered corners, all drawn as if taken from the right. Hollow ring = where he stood at the kick, dot = where he was two seconds later. Run to the spot 32, On the keeper 25, Run into the six 23.

WHO FREES WHOM · screens, 2025/26

Screen-setter on the left, the runner he frees on the right. 30 of 162 deliveries had at least one last season, 1 of 19 this season.

WHO STANDS ON THE KEEPER · within 2 m at the kick

Corners with the player on the keeper, 2025/26 · 2026/27. Keepers came for 14 of 162 deliveries last season (8 of them with a man on them) and 1 of 19 this season.

What changed from last season

Stephen Rice joined as set-piece coach in August 2025, so this is his second season, not his first. Twenty-two corners is a small sample next to 182, so every share below carries its count, and nothing is called new unless it barely happened last season.

THE SHAPE AND THE BALL

Takers, 2025/26: Jensen 65, Damsgaard 43, Janelt 37, Ouattara 28. 2026/27: Damsgaard 10, Janelt 8, Lewis-Potter 2, Jensen 1.

ROUTINE MIX

WHERE THE DELIVERY GOES · delivered corners

JOBS THAT MOVED

On the keeper at 44 of 93 corners he played last season, the most in the squad. This season 2 of 19. He now holds in the six-yard box (7) or at the back post (4).

Stood on the keeper at 25 corners last season. None this season: he now runs into the six (5) or to the near post (4).

Stayed back at 147 of 151 corners last season. This season he is in the box at all 14 delivered corners he was on for, mostly in the six, and he scored the second-phase goal against Tottenham.

The busiest screen-setter last season (12 screens) and joint top for first contacts (11). This season he is set at the back post and leads the squad with 3 first contacts, including the header down for Kayode.

Jensen took 65 of 182 last season, 55 of them from the left. He has taken one this season. Damsgaard takes from the left (9 of 10), Janelt from the right (8 of 8), and all 18 curled deliveries have been inswingers.

Yarmoliuk was the edge man at 73 corners last season. This season the edge belongs to Janelt (9) and Sangaré (8), and Janelt is also the man the short corner goes to (all 3).

Against the league

Every Premier League side on its attacking corners. Small numbers next to each value are league ranks (1 = most). Keeper crowded = a player within 2 m of the goalkeeper at the kick of a delivered corner.

Where the back-post overload fits next

How the next three opponents, and every Premier League side, defend corners on the far side, and what corners aimed at the back post have produced against them for any attacking team. Both seasons are pooled for sample, 2026/27 is shown separately. Back post manned = an outfield defender within the area from just beyond the far post to 3 m inside it, up to 8 m out, at the kick.

Villa always have bodies on the far side, but no longer one owner. Last season Morgan Rogers held the back post at 126 of 159 corners; he is at Chelsea now. This season it has been John McGinn (6 of 19), Wan-Bissaka (4) and Kamara (4). Keepers came for 3 of 41 back-post deliveries over both seasons, none of the 5 this season. Against them, back-post corners have produced 16 shots and 1.70 xG from 41, close to the league rate.

Adapt. Standing Collins at the far post runs him into the zone Villa already fill. Start the far-post men deep and late, the way Solanke did for Tottenham on 19 September, and put a screen on the widest zonal man so the late runner arrives free. Stay off the near post: Villa conceded 0.013 xG per corner aimed there last season, under half the league rate.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 Aston Villa, 19 Sep 26, 66'. A Tottenham Hotspur corner: Savinho inswinger from the right; Dominic Solanke wins the first contact at the back post, shot by Dominic Solanke (header, xG 0.06). Orange rings: Aston Villa players at the back post at the kick.

Liverpool put one man on the back post and leave him there. Last season it was Ryan Gravenberch at 100 of 139 corners; this season Szoboszlai (10 of 20) and Mac Allister (8), and over both seasons Szoboszlai has won 1 of 6 aerial duels in the box on defended corners. Attackers win that header 79% of the time (league about 58%). What Liverpool rarely concede is the next action: 0.042 xG per corner, 2 goals (West Ham and Leeds, both with Gravenberch alone), and 3 first contacts won this season without a shot.

Yes. This is the side the routine was built for, because Brentford's version is about the second touch: the far-post header back across the six for Kayode or Anthony. Keep two men arriving in the six on every back-post ball and the first contact Liverpool concede turns into the chance they usually don't.

Liverpool 5-2 West Ham United, 28 Feb 26, 75'. A West Ham United corner: Jarrod Bowen inswinger from the right; Valentín Castellanos wins the first contact at the back post, goal by Valentín Castellanos (header, xG 0.24). Orange rings: Liverpool players at the back post at the kick.

Hull were not in the Premier League last season, so this is 24 corners in five games. Their markers go where the attackers go, and nobody holds the post: when the attacking side leaves the far post empty, so do Hull. When attackers stack it, up to five Hull players follow them there. Keeper Tzolakis has come for 1 of 4 back-post deliveries, and Regan Slater is the man most often left there (7 of 24).

Yes, with a screen. Against markers the back-post overload needs the screens that Brentford used last season (Collins set 12, Van den Berg 6): one runner screens the man following Collins so he arrives alone. The replay is Maguire against them in August: he starts deep and wins the far-post header with his marker a step behind.

Hull City 2-0 Manchester United, 22 Aug 26, 78'. A Manchester United corner: Bryan Mbeumo inswinger from the right; Harry Maguire wins the first contact at the back post, shot by Matheus Cunha (header, xG 0.06). Orange rings: Hull City players at the back post at the kick.

ALL 20 SIDES, RANKED BY XG CONCEDED PER CORNER AIMED AT THE BACK POST

Both seasons pooled; sides promoted this summer have five games. Across the league a corner aimed at the back post gave the attacker the first contact 58% of the time last season and 60% this season, worth 0.040 and 0.054 xG per corner. Back-post man = the defender most often in that area at the kick this season, with how many corners out of the side's total. The next three opponents are highlighted, Brentford's own row in red.

What to take from it

What works best: the back post, attacked from the far side

Against zonal defences, over both seasons, the back-post overload has produced 18 shots, 2.56 xG and 3 goals from 38 corners, and 19 of 31 first contacts won. Three of Brentford's five corner goals since August 2025 came from it (Burnley, Tottenham, Chelsea). Damsgaard at Burnley was unmarked at the far post; at Tottenham and Chelsea the far-post header went back into the six for the finish.

What opponents will start reading

Janelt from the right has aimed at the back post with 5 of his 8 deliveries this season, and Collins is set there. The next staff to prepare for Brentford will put their best header on the far post. The counter is already in the squad: Schade's near-post run (7 of 19 corners this season) with Damsgaard's inswinger from the left.

The output that dropped

Balls into the middle of the six. With the six-yard crowd and a man on the keeper last season, Brentford won few first contacts there but still made 2.75 xG from 49 corners. Without the crowd, the diagonal line into the same area has won 1 of 7. Either the six gets its bodies back or the ball goes somewhere else.

Where the next goal is

The knock-back. The back-post overload has won the first contact 7 times in 9 this season, and both goals came from what happened after that header, in the six. Kayode and Anthony are the players arriving there. The short ball to Janelt at the box corner (2 shots from 3) is the variation that keeps the far-post set honest.