Last weekend, two of the 10 Premier League matches were won by strikingly similar — and simple — goals.
Joao Pedro nodded home a late winner in Brighton’s 2-1 victory over Manchester United in the early Saturday game. Two hours later, and 60 miles along the south coast, Morgan Gibbs-White smashed home the only goal in Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win at Southampton.
Both featured a key attacking player popping up entirely unmarked at the back post. But how were they allowed to find such space?
Well, the simple explanation is that these goals came in the second phase of a set play. This isn’t a new issue — here’s a similar article from three years ago. But it’s worth another look.
Teams have a defined plan when defending set pieces, usually a combination of zonal defending and man-marking. But if they clear the first ball unsuccessfully, and it lands at the feet of an attacking player, there’s a temporary chaotic situation, which defensive sides usually struggle to cope with. There’s no defined organisation. There’s a question about whether they should transition to a different form of organisation. There are strong aerial players in the box who wouldn’t be there in open play. And often, teams completely fail to defend properly.
Let’s start with Brighton’s late winner. The shocking thing about this, from Manchester United’s perspective, isn’t just that Joao Pedro has oceans of space to nod home: it’s that Brighton had another player at the far post, also unmarked, and also in a position to convert.
It’s all the stranger when you consider that, 13 seconds beforehand when the corner was about to be taken, United had no fewer than four players defending that near post zone. In the end, this outswinging corner evades everyone and drops towards the edge of the box.
This often seems to cause teams problems — in the panic to shut down the man on the ball, too many players commit themselves. That, inevitably, means teams shift across too far as a unit, and leave space at (what has now become) the far post.
This Manchester United situation has a slight complication, though. Simon Adingra is half-dispossessed by Antony, which means some of United’s players effectively start a transition. Casemiro runs forward into midfield, and Noussair Mazraoui, who was defending the near post, moves across towards his right-back zone.
But United hadn’t won the ball cleanly. Brighton regain possession, and Adingra is found in space. Interestingly, one of the key players in this situation is corner-taker Julio Enciso, now unmarked at the far post. The concept of the corner-taker himself popping up in the box, because no one has thought to mark him, is worth considering.
United’s problem, in part, is that because Mazraoui has darted across to the other side, they now have both full-backs — him and Diogo Dalot — facing up to Adingra. Neither can stop the cross.
In the middle, the issue is that Scott McTominay doesn’t scan and realise that Joao Pedro is unmarked. The Scot is the furthest player back, and as soon as Adingra’s cross goes over his head, United are in big trouble.
Over at St Mary’s, Southampton’s concession was similar, because there was also a moment when it looked like their winger Joe Aribo had taken possession of the ball, and their players started their transition to their ‘normal’ shape. But possession is lost, and because the players had all shifted slightly towards the ball, they leave a gap at the far post as blatantly as United had earlier.
As Callum Hudson-Odoi prepares to cross, Southampton’s three centre-backs are highlighted. None can challenge if the ball is chipped towards Gibbs-White. Jan Bednarek at least spots the situation, but he can’t recover his position quickly enough.
Forest end up with a three-versus-one, overloading Will Smallbone at the far post.
Gibbs-White’s initial header is blocked…
… but he smashes home the rebound.
Another issue comes when a side attempts to play an offside trap.
Here’s Dominic Solanke’s headed chance on his Tottenham debut against Leicester from the opening weekend. Granted, this isn’t technically a second-phase situation, as the corner is taken short. But it’s essentially the same problem. Solanke, highlighted here with Bobby De Cordova-Ried marking him, is the only Tottenham player at the far post.
When Tottenham play the ball back to Son Heung-min, De Cordova-Reid decides he needs to sprint forward to shut down Pape Sarr, while gesturing for a team-mate to mark Solanke. This is a questionable decision, but it’s also worth considering this element of the ‘transition’ — 5ft 7ins (170cm) De Cordova-Reid is initially positioned close to Solanke as a ‘blocker’ rather than a ‘marker’, with Leicester content they’re occupying all the relevant zones from the corner.
But once those zones are no longer relevant, do you want De Cordova-Reid as the closest player to Tottenham’s main goal threat?
Probably not.
Anyway, De Cordova-Reid has pushed up to the edge of the box. Now, the furthest player at the back is Wilfried Ndidi. But he’s running out to play offside. Solanke has given himself a couple of yards’ room to make a run from an onside position.
Solanke ends up with a free — if slightly awkward — header, and probably should have directed it better than straight at the goalkeeper.
Here’s another example from the opening weekend: Kai Havertz’s opener for Arsenal against Wolves. Again, this is a corner taken short, rather than the initial corner being cleared.
But there’s a familiar chain of events. When the ball is laid back to Oleksandr Zinchenko, centre-back Gabriel is in space at the far post, shouting for a big diagonal pass. Interestingly, centre-back Toti Gomes can be seen instructing a team-mate to push over and mark him.
Midfielder Mario Lemina pushes over to close him down.
Zinchenko does play the ball to that side, but to Bukayo Saka instead. And that means Gabriel makes a lateral run across Wolves’ entire defence, switching from the right to the left.
When Saka goes to cross the ball, Wolves are actually in a decent shape by normal standards — a clear back four in place, albeit with Lemina temporarily at left-back. The problem, though, is that Arsenal still have more aerial weapons in the box after the set piece. Havertz is waiting to nod home. Gabriel is now creeping inside from the far post. Thomas Partey is also getting ready for a ball into the mixer.
And because Wolves are in an ‘open-play’ format and Arsenal are still roughly in a ‘set-piece’ format, Saka’s ball finds three Arsenal attackers jumping against two Wolves defenders. Perhaps that’s why goalkeeper Jose Sa comes out, although he gets nowhere near the ball as Havertz heads home.
From these four very recent incidents, we can pinpoint seven issues when a defensive side has to shift away from their initial defensive structure at a corner:
- Players naturally shift towards where the ball has landed, closing down the man in possession but leaving space at the far post.
- Players are overly optimistic about the possibility of a quick counter-attack, as with Liverpool’s opener against Brentford at the weekend, and get caught out of position if the ball is lost.
- Players sometimes shift too quickly back to their outfield position, leaving gaps in defence.
- There’s often a switch from a (partial) man-marking system to more of a zonal system, which means opponents can go free.
- Players (usually smaller ones) who are deployed as blockers against tall opponents may end up becoming markers in the second phase, without the security of other team-mates defending zones.
- Players can rush out to play an offside trap, leaving them exposed to a well-timed run in behind.
- The opposition leave aerial threats, usually centre-backs, high up the pitch and the defensive side is overloaded.
So, all things considered, the second phase of defending a corner often seems even more dangerous than the corner itself.
