It’s the last minute of a game and, desperately chasing a goal,
an attacking side forces a defence to concede a corner.
The crowd rise from their seats as the big centre-halves rumble forward
and the ball is spotted, and the stadium is gripped by anticipation.
But it shouldn’t be. Between 2010 and 2020,
roughly 3% of corners taken in Europe’s top-five leagues resulted in a goal.
That describes a few issues, not least a lack of time dedicated to maximising set-piece potential,
but how could corners be made more dangerous? What could we do to make them live up to their billing.
Just for fun, Tifo had a think.
Firstly, why is the rate of return on corners so low? Well, because scoring from them is difficult.
Firstly, because of the goalkeeper: it’s incredibly difficult to position a cross
close enough to the goal for a chance to result, but far enough away that
the ‘keeper, who has significant reach advantage, can’t simply catch the ball.
The number of players in the penalty box is also a
problem. Even disregarding the goalkeeper, a scoring chance demands a near perfect delivery
if it’s to evade all the defenders between the corner taker and the attacking target.
And that’s to say nothing of the fact that heading the ball accurately while
under pressure – which is inevitable with so many players in close proximity - is a hard skill.
And a final, major difficulty: the angle. Corners have to be spotted up within, or over the boundary
of the quadrant by the corner flag, and that gives an advantage to the defenders. Because
the corner is taken tight to the touchline, there is no offside line from the first phase of play,
nor – as a result – is there any distance between the goalkeeper and the defenders.
There are two consequences: firstly, defenders are always able to face the play and see
what’s in front of them.. Secondly, there is no corridor of uncertainty,
which is such a fertile target for other types of attacking set-play.
So, what can we change? Well, several things, individually or in combination.
Let’s start with that corner quadrant.
Currently, its radius is one 1yard from the corner flag.
But what if we made that bigger – much bigger, in fact, making that radius ten yards from the flag
and it permissible to place the ball anywhere within that area.
The result – other than a slightly unusual pitch marking (we can work on that) - would
be the creation of many more interesting angles at corners, provided for far greater variety
and which, importantly, would create that vital offside line and the effects that come with it.
Consider, for instance, the difference between aiming a cross at the box from this position,
the traditional angle, and this one, courtesy of our new, expanded quadrant.
Outswinging crosses would have the room to tease. Inswingers would knife towards goal
with real menace. In addition to which, the inability to shut off the near-post entirely
would open a further avenue of opportunity , into which could be played crosses of low
and quick trajectory which could no longer be safely cleared away by a first-man defender.
And that would be progress; according to a 2019 statistic based on corners taken
in the top five European leagues, 40% didn’t beat that first man.
That sorts the angle, but we could go further – how about limiting the number of players
that can occupy the eighteen-yard box before a corner is taken?
Perhaps in fear of giving up a potential counter-attack,
the average number of attacking players pushed forward for a corner is now around 5. That means,
with defences rarely leaving more than two or very occasionally three players upfield, the attacking
team is often significantly outmatched. Look at this corner from 2019, which Burnley – attacking
in green – took against Southampton, defending in red and white. 9 defenders vs four attackers.
So let’s change that: let’s get rid of this player, this one, this one and these two here,
and move them to the outside of the box. Let’s also say that only four attacking players can
occupy the area at the point at which the corner is taken, and let’s give everyone room to breathe.
All players would be allowed to enter the box after the ball is struck but, like a penalty,
let’s give the attacking side a head-start.
A corner delivered into a more sparsely occupied box would create more compelling
individual contests, it would make shirt-pulling and general shenanigans easier to spot and punish,
and it would create a spectacle more worthy of the crowd’s excitement.
With a more obvious opportunity, perhaps it would encourage more coaches to be innovative
in their routines? And who knows what kind of tactics would be used outside the box.
Perhaps cavalier coaches would push more players upfield,
backing their centre-halves to win their battles and launch numerical mismatches on the counter.
Too revolutionary? Okay, one final change – and more of a compromise.
What if, instead of having to be ten yards from the ball when a corner was taken,
defenders had to actually be inside the penalty box,
or no closer than the distance between the touchline and near side of the area.
One advantage would be that it would allow attacking sides the few seconds and the space
needed to construct effective short-corner routines. It would provide the opportunity
for some real craft, with slick passes and well-worked moves allowing the corner takers
to manufacture their own interesting angles. They’d be closed-down quickly,
of course, because a defensive strategy would inevitably be to send one player
charging towards the ball, but good execution could tempt out the defensive line, could
manufacture those elusive crossing angles and make corners a dangerous weapon again.