Set piece analysis. It’s my favourite type of analysis, I think – mostly because of the depth of the routines. In this article I will focus on the attacking corners of Würzburger Kickers in the German 3. Liga. While the club is sitting in 18th place on the table, they have been very good with attacking set pieces. You could say that the attacking corners are instrumental to their goalscoring numbers.
Methodology
In order to make a good and relatively complete analysis on their attacking corners, I ought to look at both their data, as well as their video. I’m writing this article on March 18th, which means that every game after that isn’t incorporated in this article, unless stated otherwise.
The data comes from two sources and that’s rather tricky. Wyscout and InStat both agree that 9 goals have been scored from corner this season, but their definition in the video of what still is a corner attack should always be taken into account. In general Wyscout cuts clips shorter than InStat in terms of set pieces, so it could differ on different ocassions. One should be aware of this.
The match data from 2021/2022 3. Liga will give us insight into the importance of corner goals in relation to the total number of goals scored, which will prove to be insightful as we will also look to rate the impact for Würzburger Kickers. Showing the data will visualise how we can use data, but the actual analysis will take place in the analysis part, where videos will be used in combination with annotations.
Data
If we look at the image above, we see that Würzburger Kickers has scored 9 goals from corners this season. In the season so far, the German club has had 168 attacking corners of which 42 resulted in a shot. Effectively, 26,25% of the corners result in a shot and 5,36% of the corners result in a goal.
Looking at the expected goals (xG) for shots on target, we see that Würzburger Kickers have an xG of 5,3 and have scored 9 goals from those situations. This is an overperformance of +3,7 and we will look at how the goals came to be in the next sections. Interesting, however, is the fact that 33% of Würzburger Kickers’ goals this season, have come from a corner and therefore it’s of instrumental importance in attack.
Analysis
Würzburger Kickers vs Borussia Dortmund II
In the video above we see Würzburger Kickers in their game against Borussia Dortmund II. The corner is taken from the right, by a right-footed player. This means that the ball will swing out, away from the goalkeeper.
Borussia Dortmund employs a four-player zonal structure with one player man-marking. Würzburger Kickers have 1 player in the six-yard box and have 3 players making runs in the box. They are divided in two units: 2 on the penalty spot and 1 on the far post zone.
At the moment the ball is played we see all runners move into the six-yard box, with 4 players making movement. There is one player going to the near post zone, 2 players are moving into the goalkeeper zone and 1 player is going into the far post zone. The ball goes into the goalkeeper zone and is headed in goal by Saliou Sané
Würzburger Kickers vs Magdeburg
In the video above we see Würzburger Kickers in their game against Magdeburg. The corner is taken from the right, by a left-footed player. This means that the ball will swing in, towards the goalkeeper.
Magdeburg employs a three-player zonal structure with two players man-marking. Würzburger Kickers have 4 players in the six-yard box and tries to pack the near post zone. They also have 1 player making a run into the six-yard, 1 players on the far post zone and 2 players guarding the rest-defence/cleared balls.
As soon as the ball is kicked, we see movement. We see the player on the far post zone, moving closer to goal and that there are 5 players in the near post zone, ready to attack the cross. That near post zone is where the goal is scored from, as Kickers had overloaded that zone and Tobias Kraulich scored with his head.
Würzburger Kickers vs Havelse
In the video above we see Würzburger Kickers in their game against Havelse. The corner is taken from the right, by a right-footed player. This means that the ball will swing out, away from the goalkeeper.
Havelse employs a two-player zonal structure with 1 player man-marking. Würzburger Kickers have 1 player in the six-yard box. They have 4 players who are making runs into the six-yard box, but they have to face 4 blockers by Havelse in a 4v4 situation on the penalty spot. There are 2 players concerned with cleared balls and/or rest defence on the edge of the penalty box.
As soon as the ball is played, we see the movement going forward. The ball goes to the near post zone, which attracts the most attention – as now there are 2 players in the six-yard box. Kickers connect with the ball and it’s headed into the far post zone. The deepest player is unmarked and has the time to make something of it, and Christian Strohdiek scores the goal.
Würzburger Kickers vs Kaiserslautern
In the video above we see Würzburger Kickers in their game against Kaiserslautern. The corner is taken from the left, by a right-footed player. This means that the ball will swing in, towards the goalkeeper.
Kaiserslautern employs a three-player zonal structure with 1 player man-marking. Würzburger Kickers have 4 player in the six-yard box. There is 1 runner coming into the six-yard box. There are 2 players concerned with cleared balls and/or rest defence on the edge of the penalty box.
As soon as the ball is played, we see the movement going forward. The six-yard box is packed and it’s individual strength that leads to the goal, as Kraulich wins his aerial duel and heads the ball in, from the goalkeeper zone.
