Set-piece principles: Sustaining pressure at attacking corners – set-piece analysis

It is important for teams to have principles of play so that players have clarity about what moves to make during different phases of the game. Each team has principles to abide by to carry out the coachs intended style of play. While this is common for teams, we rarely see this level of clarity for sides during set-pieces.

This is the start of a series of articles where the different principles of attacking and defending set pieces will be explained in detail to make the foundations of successful set plays clear for everyone. The first fundamental principle we will be diving into is called sustaining pressure, where we look into how teams can set up to keep the ball in the final third and sustain pressure on their opponents as a means to fall back on, no matter how accurate the delivery is or if the movement of the attackers isnt quite right.

This tactical analysis??will look into the tactics behind the first set-piece principle of attacking corners, which is labelled Sustaining Pressure, with an in-depth analysis of how teams can set up for corners to maintain the ball in the final third. This set-piece analysis will examine how teams often manage to defend against corner kicks, how attacking teams can set up to ensure the ball remains in the final third and the roles and responsibilities of the rest defence outside the box.

Preventing the Ball from Leaving the Final Third

There are five different outcomes in which a direct corner kick can be successfully defended whilst remaining in play, with staggering levels of success for each:

1. Goalkeeper Claim
2. Headed Clearance
3. Volley Clearance
4. Second phase (following a shot/aerial duel)
5. Cross misses everyone

The most success comes from a goalkeeper claiming the ball, where the defending side instantly regains possession. A volleyed clearance then provides the next-most success, as the player clearing the ball has the opportunity to clear the ball into the oppositions half, whilst a headed clearance has a lower range, where a powerful headed clearance will still remain the final third.

Second-phase clearances have varied potential, depending on how much time the player on the ball has. If he finds himself in space, inside his box, with time to look up and find a teammate, it could be the most successful, but the second phase also has the potential for defenders to find the ball at their feet, with attackers breathing down their neck instantly. In these scenarios, there is no time to clear the ball, and they are at risk of being tackled inside their own box, leading to a dangerous turnover.

When a cross misses everyone, it all depends on how quickly each team can react and get to the ball before it goes out of play. These situations can lead to defending teams starting counterattacks, but also to attacking sides having a second opportunity at crossing the ball in.

One of the biggest killers to a potential attack, or wave of pressure from attacking corners, is the positioning of the zonal defender on the near side of the six-yard box. This zonal defender can instantly end an attack if the corner is either underhit or an attacker mistimes his run into that zone.

Whilst every defender in the box has the possibility to clear the ball, only this player can kill the attack. If the cross fails to clear the first man, he can either clear the ball first-time with a volley or control the ball and dribble out of the box before picking out a pass like in the example against Inter??below. However, if the ball clears the first man, every other defender competing for the ball will only be able to clear the ball with their head.

The potential range on a header, compared to a volley, is much less. A headed clearance will only clear the box, meaning it can remain in the final third, whilst a player volleying the ball has the range to reach the halfway line, where the defending side will be able to step up and prevent the attacking side from sustaining pressure in the final third.

One of the vital elements to sustaining pressure is to prevent this near-sided zonal defender from even having the chance of clearing the ball. This can be achieved through either the use of a screen where a player is ball-side, relative to that defender, or through timing a run in front of the zonal defender.

Either way, an attacker must be in a position where he can make the first contact on a cross that is arriving at the near side of the six-yard box, as this area is the one where most counterattacks can stem from. Brentford is a side that uses this principle for their corners, and as can be seen in the example below, they make these movements to the near side, even when the corner is aimed towards the back half of the penalty area, just in case a corner is mishit. With this one movement by one attacker, the volleyed clearance can be nullified, leaving opposition sides with only four other methods of defending the corner kicks.