Olympique Marseille currently sit 2nd in Ligue 1, 7 points behind league leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
After a stint as Andrea Pirlo‘s assistant at Juventus and head coach at Hellas Verona in Serie A, Igor Tudor has finally been given the backing of a major European club in the top five leagues to attempt to lead them to consecutive UEFA Champions League places.
A major reason for their high position in the league table so far is their use of corner kicks to make a difference in tight games.
The majority of goals from corners have proven decisive by changing the game state, and Marseille has earned 15 points in the league as a result.
These points are the difference between a spot in second place, still competing for the league title, and a spot in mid-table.
From 8.4 xG from corners, Marseille have found the back of the net on 10 occasions, showing a slight overperformance in their heading abilities.
In this tactical analysis, we will examine the football tactics used by Olympique Marseille and in-depth analyze how dead-ball specialists can make corners a viable method of chance creation, regardless of the team’s size.
This set-piece analysis will examine the reasons behind the different routines used depending on the opposition’s defensive set-up.
Igor Tudor Attacking set-up
During offensive corners, Marseille have often set up in the shape pictured below, with five players attacking the area around the six-yard box, one player attacking the box from deep, and the three remaining outfield players surrounding the 18-yard box.
An attacking setup like this involves every player on the offensive team in the final third, ensuring the attackers can force the defending team back into their own third.
Whenever the ball is cleared, the Marseille players are positioned high up the pitch, spread horizontally to ensure they are always the first to reach loose balls, preventing opponents from getting out of their box.
Being so attacking also forces the defending team to defend with all outfield players, as leaving an attacker up the pitch will likely leave them outnumbered in their own box.
As a result, being extremely attacking from corners also forces defending teams to leave no one up the pitch, and so being attacking from corners can help reduce the possibility of being counter-attacked indirectly.
Flat far-post crosses
The key difference between Marseille and any other club in Europe is the number of dead-ball specialists in their squad, which means the quality and consistency of their corners each game are higher than for any other team.
Dimitri Payet, Alexis Sanchez, and Cengiz Under, to a slightly lesser extent, have all shown superb ball-striking qualities, whilst winter signing Ruslan Malinovskyi has further added to Marseille’s dead-ball firepower.
This ability to strike the ball through means Marseille’s corners can be whipped in with pace and precision consistently, making it extremely difficult for opposing defences to deal with the ball’s flight.
One of the clearest benefits of striking through the ball from corners is that it can reach its target area quicker than usual.
In most cases, a cross to the back post can be seen as risky, as defenders have plenty of time to judge the ball’s flight or reach it due to the added distance it travels.
However, when Marseille attempts these corners, the ball’s trajectory is very flat, meaning it can reach its destination much quicker than the average corner.
As a result, Marseille often attempts to whip the ball towards the back post, where attackers can attack it unopposed, whilst defenders struggle to backpedal.
We can see in the example below that Malinovskyi attacks the ball on the far side of the box, whilst no defending player has time to turn and attack it.
Usually, the cross has to be more looped to reach the target area, giving defenders time to reach the ball before it touches the ground.
Still, in Marseille’s case, the ball reaches the target area before defenders even have the time to turn their bodies.
Another benefit of having such an attacking system is the number of bodies in and around the six-yard box, which can all react to loose balls after a knockdown or rebounded effort.
In the image below, four Marseille players are spread around the six-yard box, meaning that, regardless of where the ball bounces, an attacker will be ready to react to and finish off a loose ball.
Having such a heavy presence around for second balls also means that the original corner doesn’t have to be aimed into a crowded area.
Corners can be frequently more accurate if they can be aimed towards either post before being flicked towards the centre.
This heavy central presence also helps prevent counterattacks, as an attacker will always be close enough to the ball to block any potential clearances.
We explained earlier how the whip of the crosses allows Marseille to put the ball into areas that aren’t accessible to most other teams.
In the example below, we can see the Marseille attacker cleverly use a body feint to give himself time and space to attack the unmarked back post.
It is impossible for defenders to defend the back post, as they cannot see both the player and the ball unless they start behind the attackers.
This would provide attackers with the separation they desperately look to find in each corner.
With the back post unmarked, Malinovskyi shows he can whip the ball into the target area without giving his opponents time to react or reach it.
In usual cases, the goalkeeper could reach the ball if it landed in the target area shown below, ahead of any attackers.
However, due to the flat, quick cross, the goalkeeper is unable to intercept it, and the attacker’s early movement allows him to reach the ball just in time for an unopposed header from within three yards.
Marseille has also shown adaptability, adjusting its routines to the situation in the game.
Unlike in previous examples, Brest had the back of the six-yard box zonally covered, so there was no space within the two posts from which an attacker could attack the ball.
As a result, Marseille have been smart in dragging their opponents out of position by playing short corners to attract pressure.
As in almost every scenario, the defending team becomes too drawn to the ball, with everyone’s eyes fixed on it and gradually moving towards it.
The short corner means that the defending team starts to lose its shape before a run from deep can go unnoticed because everyone’s eyes are peeled to the ball.
The example below shows just how much space can be created at the back post through a short corner where everyone gravitates towards the ball.
Near-post Deliveries
Like any other team, Marseille must be able to use a variety of corner routines to avoid becoming predictable.
Whilst the whip to the back post can be the most effective way to generate clear-cut chances for their players, the flick from the near post has also proven highly effective.
In the image below, Marseille deliberately leaves the near post open to prevent zonal markers from anticipating near-post deliveries.
Mateo Guendouzi then attacks the intended space through a run from the blindside of the defence from inside the goal.
Arriving from the defender’s blindside gives attackers a yard or two of space before the defender reacts and starts to mark them.
If the timing is right, it is usually too late by that point.
Marseille have again shown their adaptability in generating space inside the target areas through more short corners.
In this case, the short corner attracts pressure from the first zonal markers, who were initially marking the intended target area.
This is extremely hard to defend against, as the zonal markers are left with a tough decision: whether to defend the space or press the men on the ball.
Either way, this will cause problems for the defending team unless someone without defensive responsibilities applies the pressure.
After the defenders leave their zonal areas, the ball is delivered into that area, from which the flick-on can be made again.
Once a flick from inside the six-yard box is made, it becomes almost impossible to defend against.
Defenders cannot be caught out of position as they attempt to hold the offside line slightly further up the pitch.
With the ball travelling across the face of the goal, defenders are ahead of it and have no choice but to allow it to fly past them.
As a result, offensive players can easily attack the ball, requiring only a small touch to redirect it into the back of the net.
As long as the attacker has a slight amount of separation, they should be able to use that momentum to break past the defensive line and into the path of the flick-on.
Summary
This set-piece analysis has demonstrated the numerous ways in which Marseille have created high-quality chances through set plays, guiding them to the Champions League spots for back-to-back seasons.
While Marseille hasn’t used a wide variety of methods, such as screens or decoy runs, they have demonstrated that it is possible to consistently threaten from corners if the team possesses a dead-ball specialist.
The value of specialist free-kick takers could rise in the future, with corners and free-kicks providing a more straightforward path of creating chances for teams, no matter whether they have a big or small team, as long as the delivery is laser-accurate.
