René Hake Set-Piece Tactics At Go Ahead Eagles 2023/2024: Rendering Set Pieces Efficient Without Aerial Duels – Tactical Analysis

As of now, Go Ahead Eagles hold the seventh position in the Dutch Eredivisie.

They have accumulated 23 points after 17 matches, with moderate performance in both offensive and defensive aspects, netting 28 goals and conceding 26 goals, respectively.

Moreover, out of the 28 goals scored, 10 were from set-pieces—a proportion of 35.7%—which illustrates the significance of set-piece situations for them.

Under René Hake tactics, they scored the most goals from set-pieces in the league, tied with PSV, the leader of the standings.

However, it is commonly agreed that in order to be the best from set pieces, you should be the best in aerial duels so that the tactic concludes with scoring headed goals from the vicinity of the six-yard box or penalty spot.

The Go Ahead Eagles, though, have racked up just 4.24 xG from set pieces—tenth in terms of xG order from set pieces—so it is clear that they threaten the goal effectively but from further distances.

Go Ahead Eagles Corners

We will start with their attacking ideas from corners to prove their effectiveness, but not only by aerial duels, so we will begin with our first idea below, which is targeting the rebound area directly.

Here, the opponent defends with a man-marking defending system with only two zonal players, which means that they can control the markers movement far away from the rebound zone, so you can see the attackers standing on the far post dragging the markers far from the rebound zone and the near-post zone where they intend to shoot the ball.

There is a player who initially stands in the rebound zone to move towards the taker to drag the defender with him for a player who started at the back.

The blue attacker returned instead of the targeted player to secure the counter-attacks.

In contrast, the rest of the attackers moved forward, dragging their markers and blocking anyone trying to go to the rebound zone except an attacker who was still standing on the far post for the rebound from the goalkeeper if it happened.