Since I’ve started writing about set-pieces I’ve only concentrated on set-pieces in men’s football. This has no specific reason other than there is broader variety of leagues with good coverage. This, however, is starting to change. Thankfully. There are loads of interesting sides in the women’s game and that’s why I’m writing about them, because there are interesting to look and have exciting routines.
There are different countries with great leagues in the women’s game and different top teams obviously, although the traditional top countries in men’s football are starting to catch up. I’ve always been fascinated with Scandinavian football anad that’s why I choose to look at Sweden.
I’ve chosen to look at Sweden’s Linköping FC and their attacking routine as they are a side that performs well and is always up there to take into account. In this analysis, I will focus on the goals scored from attacking corners, because I want to illustrate what routines have been successful too. In the analysis below I’ve looked at four different goals scored from a corner in the Swedish Damallsvenskan .
A little disclaimer: the season has just started and I appreciate it’s a small sample, but I’m looking at four corner routines from the first two games of the season.
Linköping vs FC Rosengård
In the video above we see Linköping have an attacking corner vs FC Rosengård from the left. The ball is kicked by a right-footed player meaning the ball will swing in, towards the six-yard box. In the six-yard box we have one player standing close to the keeper and one player just outside the six-yard box. Those two play against the four-player zonal structure.
On the penalty spot we have three players of Linköping against three opponents, as they try to make a move forward in order to attack the ball. Outside the penalty area there are two players guarding the first line of defence in case of a counter-attack, but also to attack the ball in case of a cleared ball.
As soon as the corner is kicked, the unit of three moves forward into the near post area. The creativity in this routine is that they try to go like a train and have space between them. This makes it harder for the opponent to defend and gives the attacking side more opportunities to create something out of this set-piece.
Linköping vs FC Rosengård
Above you can see another corner routine by Linköping against Rosengård. The routine is different on a few details. In this corner we see a left-footed player taking the corner which means that the ball will swing out, away from the six-yard box. We see a player outside the penalty area on the left, which is there for the short pass option.
In the six-yard box we have one player standing close to the keeper and one player just outside the six-yard box. Those two play against the four-player zonal structure and one specific man-marker. On the penalty spot, we have three players of Linköping against three opponents, as they try to make a move forward in order to attack the ball. Outside the penalty area there is one player guarding the first line of defence in case of a counter-attack, but also to attack the ball in case of a cleared ball.
As soon as the corner is kicked, the unit of three moves forward into the near post area. The creativity in this routine is that they try to go like a train and have space between them. This makes it harder for the opponent to defend and gives the attacking side more opportunities to create something out of this set-piece. This time they don’t keep in an order, but the second placed player moves into the most front position.
Linköping vs AIK
In the video above we see an attacking corner by Linköping in their game against AIK. We see that the corner is taken from the left side by a right-footed player, meaning that the ball will swing in, into the six-yard box. There are two players in the six-yard box against a three player zonal marking structure.
On the penalty spot, we have the three players that make a run towards either the near post or far post. They act as a unit of three most times, but not always. Outside the penalty area there are two players guarding the first line of defence in case of a counter-attack, but also to attack the ball in case of a cleared ball.
As soon as the ball is kicked, the ball goes to the far post and the unit of three players becomes a 2-1 formation making a run. In the end they move to the central and far post, trying to make the most of this deep ball.
Linköping vs AIK
In the video above we see an attacking corner by Linköping in their game against AIK. We see that the corner is taken from the right side by a left-footed player, meaning that the ball will swing in, into the six-yard box. There are five players in the six-yard box.
Outside the penalty area there are two players guarding the first line of defence in case of a counter-attack, but also to attack the ball in case of a cleared ball. There is also a player there for the short pass option.
As soon as the ball is kicked we see that the unit of five players breaks and we have a 3-2 formation in that six-yard box. The front two players move the near post in order to head the ball towards goal or to head it backswards to the three playes that run more centrally.
Final thoughts
It has been incredibly interesting to look at the set-piece routines from a team playing in the Swedish Damallsvenskan. The difference in inswingers and outswingers can definitely make a difference when going forward to score a goal.
