The season has well started in most of the leagues and that means that set-piece analysis of goals from attacking corners can be done. My attention goes to the Belgian Jupiler Pro League and I will analyse KAS Eupen’s attacking corners in the 2021/2022 season.
KAS Eupen is one of the suprising performing teams of the Jupiler Pro League and one of their remarkable performances can be found in the execution of their set pieces. In this analysis I will look at two of their successful attacking corner routines.
KAS Eurpen vs KRC Genk
In the video above we see KAS Eupen in their game against KRC Genk. They have a corner from the left and it’s taken by a left-footed player, meaning the ball will swing out towards the penalty spot, rather than towards the goalkeeper. KRC Genk employs a seven-player zonal structure, meaning that KAS Eupen will do something different in the six-yard box.
There’s one player on the left, being used as a short option and there are two units of three that have attacking options going forward. The first trio is situated on the penalty spot and is tasked to move as close as possible to the six-yard box and attack the ball when it comes in that specific zone of the pitch. The other trio consists of two players on the edge of the box and one player who stands a bit deeper. Two of this particular trio are tasked with cleared balls and/or the rest defence.
As soon as the ball is kicked the ball moves towards the penalty spot. The trio on the penalty spot spreads wide in order to enhance goalscoring opportunities, but also to make it more difficult to defend this corner. At first Genk can deal with the ball, but the cleared ball comes back to a player from the deeper trio who has made a run forward, and has a quality finish from that second contact.
KAS Eupen vs OH Leuven
n the video above we see KAS Eupen in their game against OH Leuven. They have a corner from the right and it’s taken by a left-footed player, meaning the ball will swing in towards the six-yard box, rather than towards the penalty spot. OH Leuven employs a four-player zonal structure, meaning that KAS Eupen will do something different in the six-yard box compared to their game against KRC Genk.
We have one player in the six-yard box who’s man-marked by the opposition. There are four player zonally marking against a trio of runners who are trying to break into the six-yard box. There is one player concerned with a short corner option and there are two players outside the penalty area who are tasked with cleared balls and/or rest-defence.
As soon as the ball is kicked, there are three different movements happening. The first one is that the player for the short corner option will move into the penalty area, meaning there is one more player in the penalty area. Secondly, the trio splits again, one to the front post, one to the goalkeeper zone, and one to the far post – the far post has two players because the player already in the six-yard box goes to there as well. Thirdly, we see the front post player moving forwards as well which means he has an inch of space that gives him an advantage. That advantage is enough for him to head the ball into the far corner and score.
