Attacking Corner Routines ?

[Jebedaias]

Hello,

I'm interested to know if anyone can recommend some attacking corner routines with which you've achieved reasonable success ?

In my current game I scored only 4 corner goals in 41 matches in total (of which 2 were in friendlies against much weaker opponents, so they don't REALLY count). To be fair, I also conceded just 4, so in general, at least on this save, corner goals seem quite rare. Top rated team in the league for this stat has, I think, 8 in 30 league games.

I had Attacking Corners & Set Piece delivery regularly trained throughout the season, but I don't know if that made any impact... Obviously I wouldn't expect to score every game, but would like to improve this aspect.

I'm interested in "proper" (classic) routines, meaning the taker crosses directly in the box or around that area, not "short" trickery, but I'm open to ideas.

Thanks !

[Chevie]

Not able to get to my computer right now but can explain how I have the players set up from memory.

- Goalkeeper is left as default to stay back

- Two players who stay back at the half-way line (usually my full backs)

- One player set to stay back if needed (usually my most defensive midfielder)

- One player attacking the box from deep (usually the most physically imposing midfielder / third central defender depending on formation)

- One player lurking on the edge of the area (usually my most technically gifted midfielder/winger who isn't taking the corner)

- One player attacking the near post (usually one of my central defenders)

- One player attacking the far post (usually my other central defender)

- One player set to mark the goalkeeper (usually the least physical player)

- The final two players are set to go forward (one of these will be the player who takes the corner so only one is actually performing this duty)

- The corner taker is set to aim for the 6 yard box

I can't get specific numbers for you but I can say that I do score enough from corners for it to be noticeable. Usually the player attacking the near post either scores directly or flicks it on for the player attacking the far post.

Hopefully this helps!

[zlatanera]

I'm a big believer in "don't just copy other people's tactics, you have to take into account your squad's strengths and weaknesses". With that said, I'm just going to show a screenshot of mine, which scored 22 goals from corners over 59 games. This was with a Lyon squad that isn't really the most physically dominant (only five players who aren't GKs / CBs over 180cm in the first team, and of those five, only two of them are actually any good in the air) but did have good set piece takers and a high level of technical quality throughout. 

GK - Stay Back - because I'm not a maniac. 

DR / DL - Stay Back - my full backs have pace, to help with recovery, and are neither good finishers or set piece takers, or tall, so this is the place for them. Only PSG, Liverpool and Barcelona had the pace and technical ability to counter us off corners. 

AML - Attack Ball from Edge Of Area - My main guy in this position was Memphis, who is by far my best attacker. Pace, power, flair, creativity, finishing and long Shots in abundance. His backup only really had pace and finishing ability so this was the one area of the routine significantly weaker when I rotated. I can't remember Memphis actually doing anything with this role, and would probably look to change it, but perhaps he induced some chaos that helped others score with his movement. 

AMC / AMR - Lurk Outside Area - Both of the first choices in this position, Nabil Fekir and Houssem Aouar, are not the strongest or tallest but have ability to score from close in or from range, and the vision to pick out a pass to maintain pressure should the ball fall to them as well. 

It should also be noted that I don't select a corner taker, it'll normally be one of the AM trio. This was directly inspired by this routine on strikerless.com and I can't argue with his logic that not selecting a taker keeps the opponent guessing by removing a different position depending on personnel. So sometimes we'd have nobody attacking from deep but two lurkers when Memphis took a corner, or instead one of Aouar / Fekir would take one and we'd have a lurker and a runner from deep. Occasionally even MCR would take one so we'd have even less presence in the box but the opposition would have to be very good to get the ball away past 3 guys at the edge of the box. 

MCR - Go Forward - I just didn't know what to do with this position. 1st choice Maxence Caqueret is one of the best playmakers in world football on my save, but not much of a finisher or an aerial threat. His backup, Titouan Thomas, is a natural AP playing DLP-De as a sort of budget Frenkie de Jong, has a bit more finishing ability but again is not an aerial threat. But it figured one more body in there could help draw markers away from the actual aerial threats.

STC - Mark Keeper - My strikers are aerial threats, although both are better with the ball at their feet only our centre backs are better in the air. So I put them on this role to get them in and around the six yard box, whilst also hopefully doing what the role suggests and disrupting the opposition keeper. I figure if there's a goalmouth scramble this more static advanced corner role will combine with their striker's instincts to mean they're more likely to pounce on the ball than anyone else.

DCR / DCL - Attack Near / Far Post - The roles are reversed for the other side, which I figured might get a marginal gain in recovering from a corner if they don't feel they need to swap over whilst sprinting back into position. These guys are the main goalscorers from the corner - either the near post guy heads straight at goal, or flicks it on to the man rushing in at the far post. Both my DCR options are physically dominant, whilst the DCL options one is only 178cm (but good aerially) whilst the other, Dan-Axel Zagadou, is 196cm tall. I think there was a slight favouring of flicking it on when Zagadou played.  My four rotating CBs got 11 goals between them.

MCL - Lurk at Far Post - Similar to MCR I wasn't 100% on what to do with them. My MCLs were a bit more physical than my MCRs, and I knew I wanted someone lurking at the far post for knock-downs and ricochets, so this position ended up there. My MCL role is CM-De, really unadventurous, so of the 5 goals my two rotating MCLs scored between them I'd say its safe to say 3-4 were from corners (memory is foggy it was a couple of weeks ago). 

 

Hope by giving a detailed explanation I can give your more ideas  I can break down my defensive corner one too if you'd like, but its much more of a blatant copy from the website I linked mid-way through this. Still, only 5 conceded from corners whilst hitting 22 shows we worked well at both ends!

[ultrAslan]

On 10/09/2019 at 17:38, zlatanera said:

Hope by giving a detailed explanation I can give your more ideas  I can break down my defensive corner one too if you'd like, but its much more of a blatant copy from the website I linked mid-way through this. Still, only 5 conceded from corners whilst hitting 22 shows we worked well at both ends!

Can you break down your defensive corner setup pls? I've created my own setup for the attacking based on your approach thanks for that. 

[zlatanera]

@ultrAslan So it's even more heavily based off this routine from strikerless than the attacking one. His is a mix of zonal and man-marking, whereas my Lyon team doesn't have enough aerial threats to do both so its purely zonal, with more of an emphasis on creating opportunities on the counter:

I only have 3 guys who are over 6 foot and good at both jumping and heading, so they're in the key positions on the 6 yard box: Near Centre, Centre, and Far Centre. In this case that's my striker and two centre backs. DR and DL are switched when defending on the other side, as I figure its highly unlikely a corner will make it to the zone of the guy on 6F anyway. AML is my best, paciest attacker (Memphis / Lenny Pintor) so is on Stay Forward ready to sprint towards any clearances and then leg it towards the opponent's goal, whilst my AMC is my most creative option (Houssem Aouar / Evander) and thus is chosen to be the one hopefully making that killer ball to the AML. Then I put the other 3 on Go Back because I figured more bodies in the box can't hurt - none of them are especially aerial threats or good at marking so no point at putting them on man-marking duties like in the strikerless routine. 

I should point out that the effectiveness of my defensive routine is not a given as we tend to dominate the ball, and the game, to such an extent that the opposition might only have 1-2 attacking corners per 90.