How a corner can decide top matches in football

The cameras must be turned off now, gestures Feyenoord’s press secretary. Players get ready on a neatly mown field at the beginning of January during a training camp in Marbella: practicing corners and free kicks. It is an aspect of football in which every detail counts, and you do not want the competition to see the images.

When the cameras are off, dozens of crosses are given. Players must defend fiercely and clear quickly. “Win the game and out!” shouts assistant coach John de Wolf. “Always be on, even with the last ball that is introduced.” The former defender shows how players should position themselves defensively. “Not closed, but open.” Defender Thomas Beelen is scolded when he half-clears a ball. “That is not possible!”

The extra attention to standard situations is necessary, they realized at Feyenoord. An important reason for the elimination from the Champions League last autumn was the way in which corners, free kicks and throw-ins were defended. No fewer than five of the ten goals conceded came from set pieces – not even counting two penalties. Feyenoord itself scored three times from its dead set piece. The team did receive many corners but, to the frustration of coach Arne Slot, was second to last of the 32 clubs in terms of efficiency.

The importance of standard situations in football is increasing. It is for that reason that Feyenoord has (partly) released an extra specialist for this season and is training more on it. Where international top clubs, such as Arsenal and Manchester City, have had a separate ‘set piece coach‘ to have. Tactically, top football has developed so much that it is difficult to find an opening through normal field play. Corners and free kicks can make the difference, acting as a crowbar in a deadlocked duel.

“It is increasingly difficult to score from open play,” says Marino Pusic, who was responsible for the standard situations as Slot’s assistant at Feyenoord before he left for Shakhtar Donetsk in October. “If that doesn’t go well, standard situations can be a crucial weapon. Expensive goals to concede but cheap, beautiful goals to score.”

How do Dutch top clubs train for set pieces? How feasible is a good corner? It could play a role this weekend; Saturday is Ajax-PSV, Sunday AZ-Feyenoord. That it can be decisive was evident last season: the header from a corner by Feyenoord defender Lutsharel Geertruida (the 2-3) away at Ajax was of vital value in the title battle. Where a similar goal by PSV defender Olivier Boscagli (the 0-2) away at Feyenoord in December seems to be important on the way to the national title this year.

Saboteurs

Two days before the race, shortly after lunch. Then André Ooijer, assistant coach at PSV until this season, was with a group for the standard situations. He was responsible within the technical staff under coach Ruud van Nistelrooij. He explicitly involved the players, included them in his analysis and strategy, and tried to organize it in such a way that it became “really something of the group”. “That ultimately it is their choices.”

Boscagli, André Ramalho, Luuk de Jong were in the group. Just like Joey Veerman, who takes a lot of corners and free kicks. It started with the opponent analysis: is the space at the first or second post? Who are good headliners? Do they use man coverage? In that case they had to make more effort to break free. Where with zone coverage it is attractive to attack the zones and block opponents, “which frees up space,” says Ooijer.

You can “completely figure out” an opponent, after which things turn out differently in a match, says Ooijer. Then the space at the first post will not become available as expected. “With Luuk de Jong and Ramalho, PSV has two boys who immediately recognize this, who instruct the boys: this is how we are going to do it now.”

It is a mock game on the square meter, with diversionary maneuvers, sudden runs in the opposite direction and ‘saboteurs’ who pull opponents away. The latter is the specialty of PSV defender Jordan Teze, emerged from an analysis by VI. The goal: create chaos and therefore space.

Unpredictability is the key word, with variants being refined. The ‘train’ with four or five players who cut like a ribbon through the goal mouth is popular, almost impossible to defend if done properly. Also widely used: the short corner, from which the goal is sought through combination or a sharp cross follows. More classic is the high turning corner, most recently executed excellently by PSV in the cup match against FC Twente with taker Malik Tillman and (inside) header De Jong.

Just like this year, PSV was leading in corner kicks last season. They tried a new variant every match, says Ooijer. Partly due to two goals from corners, Feyenoord was defeated 4-3 at home. They had agreed with the group that there was room at the first post. “We had to attack that zone.” That’s exactly where the goals were scored. He was less happy with the two goals conceded from set pieces in the diptych with AS Monaco in the preliminary round of the Champions League in 2022. “There were a few snoring there.”

Statistics provided by NRC were requested from sports data agency Stats Perform, underline the importance of investing in standard situations. Last season, 124 of the 935 goals in the Eredivisie came from corners: more than 13 percent, in line with other years and other competitions. That is substantial. At the same time, a lot of corners are going there not in: only about 3 to 4 percent lead to a goal, according to figures from the past ten Eredivisie seasons.

“There is no perfect strategy, what you try to do is: reduce risks and increase opportunities,” says Pusic. According to him, “after looking at all studies”, the five-meter area directly in front of the goal is the most difficult to defend. That’s where you want to get the ball as an attacking team.

Pusic expects the leaders to arrive with the “ambition to attempt a goal.” Feyenoord defender Geertruida, who regularly scores from corners, is “a running leader and therefore difficult to defend”. Where captain Gernot Trauner, who has not yet scored for Feyenoord, is a more ‘static’ leader. “That may make it easier to defend.”

Pusic usually opts for two or three corner variants in the first half. And keep some options at hand to adjust the strategy during halftime. “It’s not necessarily about how long you train on standard situations,” he says. “You have to have everything figured out well up front. Fifteen or twenty minutes a week is more than enough. It’s all about the quality execution during the practice session.”

The risks at Ajax

In absolute numbers, PSV (8 out of 137) and Feyenoord (7 out of 142) score the most from corners this Eredivisie season, which is not surprising because they get the most corner kicks. The difference between the two is mainly in the goals conceded: PSV is flawless, compared to three at Feyenoord. Boscagli’s headed goal in De Kuip, in which PSV cleverly blocked two players, was discussed for a long time by Feyenoord players and coaches. said defender Dávid Hancko VI. “It turned out that we were all standing half a meter wrong.”

What is striking is the low number of corners used by Ajax this season: 2 out of 135 attempts. The lack of automatisms due to the many changes in staff and selection in the past year will be a factor in this. Own corners are sometimes a risk for Ajax. Earlier this season, Feyenoord scored in Amsterdam from the transition, after a corner kick from Ajax.

It is exactly what Vosse de Boode, head of football analysis at Ajax, talked about in September 2022 spoke in podcast POM. A few years earlier, her department had calculated that the return from corners was only about 2 percent. Even more remarkable was that 14 percent of the corners Ajax received resulted in a dangerous moment in front of their own goal. From an opponent’s counter. De Boode, at the time: “So I was sitting in the stands with my buttocks clenched when we got a corner, where everyone thought: yes, we have a corner.”

In the following two seasons, this was improved by paying more attention to the defensive organization at attacking corners, De Boode said. But this season Ajax is repeating those old mistakes again. In response to questions from NRC, De Boode said through an Ajax spokesperson that she did not want to comment further on the matter at this time.

To share





Email the editor