Defending corners

[Lorenz7]

I played every edition of Football Manager since 2009. One of the most frustrating things in this game is conceding a corner.
I feel so powerless when it happens. Now I'm currently playing with Wolves in a 4-2-3-1 (fluent counter attacking) and we did well.
We finished up 5th but lost in the play-offs. We scored a lot of corners (most of all teams). But we also conceded a lot.

The defending at corners was pretty basic:

Stay forward: AML (Ola John).
Mark tall players: Danny Batth (6.3 ft) + Kortney Hause (6.2ft) (central defenders)
Mark far post: Dominic Iorfa (right back)
Mark near post: Borthwick Jackson (left back)
Go Back: Price (5.6 ft), Cavaleiro (5.7 ft), Mason (5.8 ft)
Zonally mark six yard box near post: Böðvarsson (6.2 ft)
Zonally mark six yard box center: Saïss (6.2 ft)

Don't look too much to the players. Because during the season I need to make changes of course + the first season is finished and some players will come and go.
What I want to know:

- Is the pretty basic tactic on corners sufficient or do I miss important details?
- Is it useful to play with players on both posts.
- Is it very important to have strong/tall player on a specific postion? (okay preferably everyone needs to be tall, but that's not possible of course).
- Is there a difference between:

Checked or unchecked boxes. Will they both do the same? Is it important to check/tick the boxes for every player?

 

[dusziv]

1 hour ago, Lorenz7 said:

- Is it useful to play with players on both posts.

I've been experimenting with defendig set pieces recently and I found out that having two players on the posts is more or less useless if you are defending zonally. So I put four players to defend six yard box zonally, four players to stay back, one player is outside the penalty box and one stays forward (this is to spring counter attacks). 

[s1111]

Best header of the ball (usually CB) zonally marks 6 yard centre, one player 6 yard near post, another 6 yard near centre, another 6 yard far centre. Then the other CB man marks the tallest player. Quickest attacker stays forward, another on the edge of the area. The rest Go Back.

Using this I concede no more than a couple of goals a season with any team. Basically it blocks up the near post and near post centre, the most dangerous area, and keeps enough players back while allowing a counter attacking option too. I think zonal marking is more effective and simpler to implement in the game than man marking.

[vasilli07]

You should let your FBs do the zonal marking. Don't forget attributes like concentration, marking and positioning play a part too. As defenders, most should be better than the other attacking players.

If you can't really defend corners, you may want to opt for a counter attack instead. Put your 2 quickest players forward and 1 good passer with good vision on the edge to create a chance to counter. Opposition will also be more wary when you put 2 men forward.

[Kcinnay]

I rarely concede from corners (1 or 2 times max. in a season).

My settings - for a 4-4-2:

MR closes down corner

DR zonally marks 6 yard box near centre (can be a short player, he mostly intercepts)
DCR zonally marks 6 yard box centre (tall player)
DCL zonally marks 6 yard box far centre (tall player)
DL zonally marks 6 yard box far post (can be a short player)

MCR, MCL and SCL go back (short, tall, doesn't matter, although it would come handy if one of them is a good header)

ML on edge of area (good passer)

SCR stays forward (quick, good dribbler)

That's it!

 

[cns180784]

I've played 20 league games so far in my first season struggling with Aston Villa (14th in championship) but i've yet to concede a goal from corners and have scored two. Did concede from a corner in a cup game.

-Fullbacks marking posts

-Usually 3 of my tallest players man marking opposition tall players, but at the very least there will be 2

-3 players zonally marking 6 yard box near center, center and far center

-Like Kcinnay best passer on edge of area who also serves to close down a potential long shot if and when ball is passed or cleared there

-Quickest player stays forward, usually pacey striker (often Ayew or Kodjia)

Problem i'm having is sometimes one of my players isnt visible on the screen when editing set pieces. Like now i am looking at defending corners from the left and my DMLC isnt on the pitch which is really annoying. Has anyone else had this? must be a bug.

Noticed Kcinnay you dont have anyone marking posts but i've seen a number of shots resulting from corners cleared off the line by these guys. I would only bother having a player closing down a corner if its late in the game and the opposition are wasting time trying to see out a result.

[eriktous]

3 hours ago, cns180784 said:

Problem i'm having is sometimes one of my players isnt visible on the screen when editing set pieces. Like now i am looking at defending corners from the left and my DMLC isnt on the pitch which is really annoying. Has anyone else had this? must be a bug.

Yeah, I have that too, sometimes. He's on the pitch, but hiding under one of the other players. For me, he's always under the player marking the 6 yard box center. Move the player that's there to some other, empty, spot and the missing one appears. Definitely a bug. I think it happens when you switch back and forth between tactics, or you move players around in your formation. It's the player that was marking that spot by default. You give him another duty in that corner routine, so the check mark next to his role gets unticked, but making certain changes in the Tactical Creator puts that check mark back, so he will be back on the 6 yard box, but the player that you manually picked to take that position is also still there.

[cns180784]

8 minutes ago, eriktous said:

Yeah, I have that too, sometimes. He's on the pitch, but hiding under one of the other players. For me, he's always under the player marking the 6 yard box center. Move the player that's there to some other, empty, spot and the missing one appears. Definitely a bug. I think it happens when you switch back and forth between tactics, or you move players around in your formation. It's the player that was marking that spot by default. You give him another duty in that corner routine, so the check mark next to his role gets unticked, but making certain changes in the Tactical Creator puts that check mark back, so he will be back on the 6 yard box, but the player that you manually picked to take that position is also still there.

Ah right- well spotted, good one. Cheers.