Categorie: Set piece

Last week I posted the first part of the offensive corners analysis on Hansa Rostock and today I’m sharing part two of the offensive corners analysis. In this part I will look more closely at the offensive corners employed by Dundalk FC, playing in the League of Ireland. As also said in the previous article, I want to look at leagues that are really interesting but not as known with the bigger public as the top-5 leagues are. The League of Ireland is such a league in my opinion.

Dundalk FC are currently 9th in the top tier of Ireland after 5 games played and are waiting for their first win. In this analysis I will look more closely to their corner routine in attack through four examples that can be found below in video-format.

This analysis deals primarily with the fact of how Dundalk weaponed itself against dominant man-marking in the box and how their runs were constructed in the attacking corners. I found that the corners that were swinging in or out had no significance effect on the routine, therefore this is not included in the four examples I have looked at.

Dundalk vs Bohemians Dublin

In the video above you can Dundalk playing against Bohemians in an attacking corner against a team that does mostly man marking. The key in playing against these kind of defences is to get away from your direct marker, so you need to be creative in your runs – and so does your routine.

There is one player in the six-yard box standing between the keeper and defender to make sure to give them both a difficult time. There is also one player just outside the penalty area who seems to have two task: getting the cleared ball, but also trying to break a counter attack if there would be one.

The routine is focused on the five players who stand inside the penalty area and their runs. There are two runs that open the defence. The number 9 is going behind the defenders and going left towards the near post, while number 17 is going behind the defenders as well towards the far post. In doing so they are dragging defenders with them, opening up space in the middle.

The triangle in the middle is what remain with the two front players moving forward in order to attack the corner. Import here is that the back player stays on his position, which could confuse the defenders in what decision to make.

Dundalk vs Shamrock Rovers

In the game against Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk employed an attacking corner which was consisting of three couples or three duos. First of all you see the short pas option to the right side as well as a player just outside the penalty area tasked with the cleared ball and/or breaking the possible counter attack through the middle.

There are three duos, one in the middle of the penalty, one on the far post side, and one just on the edge of the box. They all have different runs, as you can see in the video. The two in the middle move forward, but they split – one goes to the near post and the other remains centrally but progresses. The duo on the far post splits up and both run in opposite directions of each other, dragging defenders out of the box and near the far post. The duo that makes a run from the edge of the penalty box moves to the far post.

Again the intention is to create runs in different directions to drag the compact defensive unit away from each other so that there opens more space in the area the ball is played into.

Dundalk vs Finn Harps FC

In the game against Finn Harps Dundalk sought to attacking in corners with the three duos again, but with slightly different roles in moving forward. As you can see in the video above, there was one player just outside the penalty area with another player behind him for the rest defence and to act on the cleared balls from the corner.

The duo in the middle – at the penalty spot – moves forward and towards the near post as soon as the ball is kicked from the side. The duo playing more to the right breaks up at the exact moment with the right player making a run towards the near post as well to join the other the two players, while number 5 doesn’t make a run and keeps on his position.

The duo who runs from the edge of the penalty area moves as a unit forward, but are not going to the near post. They are going into the space opened in the middle, because everyone is going to the near post. This duo moves forward in the hope that the ball will arrive deeper.

Dundalk vs Shamrock Rovers

In the previous routines, we saw that Dundalk used three separate units that made runs into the box and in different directions. As you can see in the video above, this is slightly different in this routine employed by Dundalk in another game against Shamrock Rovers. They move in two separate units in this case.

In the beginning, we see six players in the penalty area and one player for the short pass option standing next to the corner-taker. There is one player standing just outside the six-yard box, while five other players are standing just inside the penalty area. When the corner is taken they form one massive unit – which makes it difficult for Shamrock Rovers to handle.

When the ball is taken, the unit of six breaks and there are three entities formed from the six players. Three player go to the near post to attack the ball, two players are going to the far post and move more centrally when the ball lands at the near post, and one player remains centrally and goes a bit more back to the edge of the penalty area to anticipate any cleared ball.

Final thoughts
After analysing Hansa Rostock, this was a completely different league and set-piece routine to look at, but very interesting as well, because it dealt with man-marking in the box. The art of luring and dragging defenders in opposite directions can be very useful when confronted with dominant man-marking defending with set-pieces.

This website is a place for me to share my work with you in the hope that you find it useful and can develop it into something that works for you. It’s also a project for me as I work towards different types of analysis. That’s why I’m introducting a new series on this website: set-piece analysis. In this series I will look at the different approaches of set-pieces by clubs that are not widely known as Europe’s elite. In the first part I will look at the attacking corners routine of Hansa Rostock, currently second in the German 3. Liga.

Hansa Rostock is a former East-German champion and has played in the Bundesliga for more than a decade, but since then has struggled to come back from the 2. Bundesliga and now even playing in the 3. Liga. This season they are performing excellent as their second place tells us, just behind league leaders Dynamo Dresden – another former East-German great.

This analysis is dealt into two different aspects. I will look at how Hansa Rostock does attack when confronted with zonal marking – or where most players are marking zonally – and concentrates on attacking with a man-marking opponent. The footage is downloaded from Wyscout.

Hansa Rostock vs Türkgücü München

Hansa Rostock’s attacking corners are usually taken by swinging the ball towards goal – so in this case on the left by a right-footed player. As illustrated in the video above there are few elements to digest here. There’s a man available for a short pass and give a cross that poses more threat. There are two players outside the penalty area who could try to shoot from distance, but also guard the rest defence.

Türkgücü is marking zonally in a 4-3 with one man marker in the box. Two players of Hansa Rostock are in the xis-yard box. Four players of Hansa Rostock are runners who make their move forward as soon as the ball is played. Instead of all four going in one direction, there is a divide: the three left players move to the near post, while the right player goes to the far post. Because the two players in the six-yard box also move toward the near post, there’s a lot of space on the far post and they utilise it well.

Hansa Rostock vs FC Magdeburg

Above you can see a corner routine with a quite similar situation as the one against Türkgücü, but this was a little bit different in the game against Magdeburg. There were two players in the six-yard box, where the opponent marked zonally with five players. They also had three blockers against the three runners of Hansa Rostock. Hansa Rostock employed three runners in this case and left space open for the player outside the penalty area.

In this scenario there was no option for the short pass and this had to do with the transition ability of Magdeburg, because they were very strong transitioning from defence to attack, and therefore the rest defence consisted of more players.

The three runners create the distraction as they make their move forward, dragging the three defending players with them. This gives the set-piece taker the room and time to pass the ball to the player outside the box, who tries to volley the ball towards goal. This is an extremely difficult technical thing to do, but the run by the three runners makes it possible to even control it too before shooting.

Hansa Rostock vs Dynamo Dresden

In the game against Dynamo Dresden, Hansa Rostock needed a different approach to their attacking corners, because of the rigid zonal marking employed by Dynamo Dresden. They have five defenders on the deepest line and three in front of that. This meant that Hansa Rostock employed four players between those eight players. There’s is short passing option here and two players on the edge of the penalty area.

The four players in the six-yard box make a run towards the near post and even more forward with two possible options: they either try to head it to the far post or convert into a goal. The two players on the edge of the penalty area make two seperate runs with the left player moving towards the far post – anticipating getting the ball from the four players at the near post.

It’s worth noting that Dynamo Dresden has a man at the post, so the free player on the left would have difficulties converting it, but he had space to do something with the ball – when he would receive it.

Hansa Rostock vs Hallescher FC

In the game against Hallescher FC we saw the attacking routine above. There are two players in the six-yard box against three players of Hallescher who are man marking here. They are tasked with eyeing the direct opponent. Hansa Rostock has three players or runners in the penalty area who make moves forward and they are confronted with three blockers from Hallescher. On the right side we another Hansa Rostock player, but he is also man marked by a player of Hallescher FC.

On the left we see the short pass option again and two players nearing the penalty area who could shoot from longe range, but also guard the rest defence in case of a transition.

The focus lies on the three runners who act like a triangle. Two front and one the back. The two front runners go a different side each, one to the near post and one more to the center, while the ‘back’ player also runs forward towards the center of the goal. The far post area is occupied by the player on the right who makes a run into that area.

Hansa Rostock vs VfB Lübeck

In the game against VfB Lübeck, Hansa Rostock tried something different with the corner takers. This time the ball was kicked by a right-footed player from the right, meaning that the ball would turn away from the goal. Again, there are two players in the six-yard box against four defenders from VfB Lübeck. 

We see the shorter pass option again with the two players guarding rest defence as well. What’s interesting to see is that is a player just on the edge of the penalty area and he is anticipating when the ball is cleared and to shoot or pass the ball into a danger area.

The triangle of three runners is doing their thing again with a slightly different approach. The two front runners move toward the near post – as are the two players in the six-yard box – while the back runner moves behind everyone else towards the far post. The ball is headed by one of the front runners towards goal, but if he connected it to the far post – it could have been a goal. The player at the far post had space and time to do so.

Hansa Rostock vs Fortuna Köln

In this last corner routine, I look at, Hansa Rostock is playing against Fortuna Köln. Again this out swinging ball from the left side and again, there is the shorter pass option. We can also see one player outside the penalty area and the reason why this is one player instead of two, is because of the pace of transition employed by Fortuna Köln.

There is one player in the six-yard box double marked with four runners on the edge of the penalty area, who are defended by four blockers of Fortuna Köln. We have seen the triangle before but this time it’s a 3-1 formation making the run – with the same player at the back making a run behind towards the far post. The other runners + the sole attacker in the six-yard box move towards the first post – creating space.

Final thoughts

It was incredibly interesting to see how this team that is fighting for promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, was doing in terms of offensive corners and the different variations to them. Although they have not been the most prolific team from corners, they seem to give the opponent real trouble whenever they have a corner and I will keep on watching closely on how their routines will evolve in the future.

Game footage: Wyscout
Telestration: Metrica Play