Another day, another set-piece analysis. Like, I previously said I wanted to look more into football on continents outside of Europe and that’s why I’m turning my eye towards Asia, India to be more precise. In this set-piece analysis I will look at the attacking corner routines of Kerala Blasters, playing in the Indian Super League.
The videos used in this analysis are form Instat and I have chosen to look at the successful routines, to see what works in this particular league and which routines are interesting to look at.
Kerala Blasters vs Mumbai City
In the video above we see Kerala Blasters in their game against Mumbai City. Kerala have a corner on the left, which is taken by right-footed player, which means the ball will swing in. The ball will be placed towards the six-yard box and the positioning of the attacking side is tailored to that.
Mumbai employs a five player zonal structure and Kerala don’t have a man in the six-yard box, which also leads to no man-marker in that box. Kerala have six players in the penalty area and they are divided in three. One unit plays on the penalty spot, with another unit standing deep just inside the penalty area, and the other unit is standing between them on the left.
As soon as the ball is kicked we see movement from all the units. We see that the unit on the left and in the middle both move forward, but they split up. One of each unit goes to the front post and one of each goes to the goalkeeper zone, which confuses the blockers. The ball is delivered to the front post and it has been successful, resulting in a goal for Kerala.
Kerala Blaster vs GOA
In the video above we see Kerala Blasters in their game against GOA. Kerala have a corner on the right, which is taken by left-footed player, which means the ball will swing in. The ball will be placed towards the six-yard box and the positioning of the attacking side is tailored to that.
GOA employs an one player zonal structure and Kerala have one man in the six-yard box, who is man-marked. Kerala have four players in the penalty area in the central zones, with one player standing just outside the six-yard box and three players ready to make runs into the goalkeeper zone and front post. At the deep far post zone, we have another runner coming in.
As soon as the ball is kicked the players move into the goalkeeper zone and front post zone, creating space at the far post for the runner who will go to that specific area. Because there is no zonal coverage at the far post, he can easily score a goal.
Kerala Blasters vs Hyderabad FC
In the video above you Kerala Blasters against Hyderabad. Kerala have a corner on the left, which is taken by left-footed player, which means the ball will swing out. The ball will be placed between the six-yard box and the and the penalty spot.
Hyderabad employs an one player zonal structure and Kerala have one man in the six-yard box, who is man-marked. Kerala have three players in the 11 meter zone, with one player standing on the left to receive a short pass, but he will go into the penalty area as well. At the deep far post zone, there is another runner of Kerala.
As soon as the ball is kicked, the unit of three moves towards the central zone – with the third man remaining on his position. We have two units of two, one in the front post zone and one in the far post zone. In the end the player from the orginal three player united manages to head the ball home, because he’s unmarked.
