It’s day 9 of blogmas already with this time attention for the Championship in England. In this article I will focus on attacking corners done by Huddersfield Town, as they are the most successful with scoring from corners. Currently they have scored 7 goals from attacking corners.
In this analysis, I will analyse 3 different successful corners, look at their routines and explain why these were so successful in the league. The video footage is from Wyscout and has been retrieved at December 9th 2021.
Huddersfield Town vs Peterborough
In the video above we see Huddersfield Town in their game against Peterborough United. They have a corner from the left and it’s taken by a right-footed player, meaning the ball will swing in towards the goal, rather than away from the goalkeeper. Peterborough United employs a two-player zonal structure, meaning that Huddersfield Town will have more opposition in the second line of the set up.
There is one player in the six-yard box, pinned against the goalkeeper and man-marked by Peterborough. We then see a unit of runners, posing as a train. These are five players who will go forward into the six-yard box as soon as the ball is played.
When the ball is played we see movement. The unit breaks up as the ball is played with two runners going to the near post zone, two players going into the goalkeeper zone and one player going to the far post zone. The ball is header from the far post zone into the goalkeeper zone, where Ward connects with the ball and scores the goal.
Huddersfield Town vs Blackpool
In the video above we see Huddersfield Town in their game against Blackpool. They have a corner from the right and it’s taken by a left-footed player, meaning the ball will swing in towards the goal, rather than away from the goalkeeper. Blackpool employs a four-player zonal structure, meaning that Huddersfield Town will likely make runs into the six-yard and be dangerous.
There is one player in the six-yard box, pinned against the goalkeeper, but isn’t man-marked. There is one player for the short corner option on the right and we have a unit of runners to the left, beginning at the far post zone. Again, this a unit of five players. On the edge of the penalty area there is another player who is tasked dealing with cleared balls and is the first line of rest defence in the evens of a counter-attack.
As soon as the ball is kicked we see that the player for the short corner option sprints to the edge of the penalty area. At the same time we see those five runners making their way into the six-yard box: goalkeeper zone and far post zone. These runs will have more effect, because there is a zonal marking scheme. In the end, the ball goes to the goalkeeper zone and because of the runs and movement, the player closest to the keeper can head the ball in and score a goal.
Huddersfield Town vs Fulham
In the video above we see Huddersfield Town in their game against Fulham. They have a corner from the right and it’s taken by a right-footed player, meaning the ball will swing out away from the goal, rather than towards the goalkeeper. Fulham employs a two-player zonal structure, meaning that Huddersfield Town will have to be creative in their runs.
There is one player in the six-yard box, pinned against the goalkeeper, and is man-marked. There are two players standing outside the penalty area who are tasked with dealing with cleared balls and are the first line of rest defence in case there is a counter-attack. There is a unit of five who will try to make runs in the six-yard box, but they are guarded by blockers, making it a 5v5 in the deep zone.
As soon as the ball is kicked we see movement going on. The unit of five splits in one unit of four + a player making a different run. The four players move towards the goalkeeper zone, while the other player moves into the near post zone. By moving in different directions and making runs against the zonal structure, they create space for themselves in the six-yard box, which Pearson utilises and scores a goal.
