Football Manager Guide to Set-Pieces: Attacking Corners
The ability to set the tactical option of playing for set pieces was introduced into FM19 and of course, is available in FM20; the purpose being to allow greater focus / better customization for set piece routines. The following guide is designed to give you an idea of how to approach setting up your own attacking corner routines in order to help you maximize their effectiveness, whether you use the play for set pieces tactical option or not. For the purpose of these instructions, I have used Liverpool FC as my team, but the same principles will apply regardless if you are Liverpool or indeed, Dulwich Hamlet.
This is the first part in a series of Football Manager set-piece guides that’s coming throughout the year as we look closer at free-kicks, corners and throw ins, and how to utilize this part of the game.
Part 1 – The Roles Explained
The above shows the standard attacking corner set up as you would expect to find when starting a new game for the left side. Each of the positions shown have letters against them identifying their role within the set piece and in respect to the above screenshot; these are the roles shown, which you can see for yourself when you mouse over the positions, with the exception of the taker in the corner who we will cover later.
The following is a complete list of roles or duties available with the important attributes identified in game. Where applicable, I have also added unlisted attributes that I consider to be key.
Stay back (SB)
These are the players who will stay back and be your defensive line, including the Goalkeeper. Ultimately these are the players you are going to rely on to either intercept long clearance balls or indeed defend against any runners on the counter attack. It is recommended to have a minimum of two players in this role as any less would easily be overwhelmed on a counter and depending on how fast / responsive / skilled your SB’s are (and indeed the opposition players who might be breaking) you can increase this accordingly.
Important attributes: Acceleration, Teamwork, Marking, Tackling, Positioning, Decisions
Unlisted key attributes: Anticipation. When it comes to set pieces, I genuinely believe that this is arguably the most key attribute, as depending on where the ball is delivered / cleared from, you want the players to have the best opportunity to get on the end of it.
Stay back if needed (SBI)
Much like the Stay back role, these players are there to provide security, albeit they will sit between the SB’s and the box effectively providing another line of defence, looking to either close down and tackle a runner or indeed pick up the clearance, just higher up than the SB would. Should said ‘SBI’ be avoided by the counter attacker or cleared ball, there is still the SB behind him. The Stay back if needed role will also come forward towards the box should the attacking team be in possession to provide a deep option, unlike the SB who is purely defensive. A good time to use an SBI is when facing a stronger more skillful team to add that extra layer or indeed to protect lesser quality SB’s.
Important attributes: Acceleration, Teamwork, Marking, Tackling, Positioning, Decisions
Unlisted key attributes: Anticipation and possibly Aggression; purely from the point of view that an SBI might be of more use if he is closing down the breaking player.
Lurk outside of area – LOA
LOA’s do as the role name suggests; they sit outside of the area looking to be available to receive a pass, pounce on a loose ball and ideally provide attacking danger from a distance. Depending on the players role within the team and his instructions, the player can also close down runners / pick up cleared balls but their approach is always going to be more attack minded than an SBI, for example. The number of players in this role can be increased or decreased as needed.
Important attributes: Finishing, Long Shots, First Touch, Passing, Technique and Decisions
Unlisted key attributes: Anticipation, Off the ball. Off the ball may not be of the most importance in terms of the actual corner itself, but at the point an attacking player has receive the ball, all other attacking players should be looking to make themselves a potential option.
Attack the ball from edge of area – Edge
This player will look to keep his eye on the ball and once the corner is taken, look to get on the end of it, either to challenge for a header or indeed take a shot on goal, as is reasonable. For example; this player would not likely be able to make contact with the corner if it is aimed at the far post but will be heading into the box and potentially be able to pick up a rebound / loose ball or became an option for the pass.
Important attributes: Jumping Reach, Strength, Heading, Off the Ball, Anticipation and Finishing
Unlisted key attributes: Decisions. Your player needs to be able to tell when to commit and when not to commit.
Go forward -(GF)
These are the players that will mill around in the box looking to challenge for headers / shots from the incoming corner, though will not be in the more forward position as those attacking the posts / marking the keepers.
Important attributes: Jumping Reach, Strength, Heading, Off the Ball, Bravery, Finishing and Decisions
Unlisted key attributes: Anticipation. Again, very important that these players, depending on where the ball is delivered to, they want to be able give themselves the best opportunity to get on the end of it, making this a good attribute to pair with Off the Ball.
Come Short (CS)
This is the player who will sit near the corner taker and be available as a short option; meaning the corner taker (if so instructed) can pass it to this player instead of delivering a corner, allowing him to make a pass or indeed put in a cross. A very useful option to consider if you lack skilled corner takers.
Important attributes: Crossing, Dribbling, Passing, Technique, Anticipation, Decisions
Unlisted key attributes: Vision. Given that once this player receives the ball he is going to be looking for the best creative output he can make. It could very likely be a cross but depending on who is available, a simple pass might be a better option.
Lurk at near post (LNR) / Lurk at far post (LFR)
I have grouped these together as effectively they are the same role, just at different goalposts. This player will hang around and look for an opportunity to get on the end of a cross or indeed, pounce on a loose ball.
Important attributes: Jumping Reach, Strength, Heading, Off the Ball, Bravery, Finishing, Decisions
Unlisted key attributes: Anticipation, Positioning. Whilst you are giving instructions on where this player should effectively be; once that ball is kicked, all bets are off and the player needs to be able to modify that position if need be, in order to be most effective.
Attack near post (NP) / Attack far post (FP)
These roles I have also grouped for the same reason. The big difference to bear in mind here between NP / FP and LNR / LFR is that when setting corner instructions; the delivery to the near and far post by the taker will be ‘aimed’ at these players as opposed to the lurkers, who technically are just opportunists.
Important attributes: Jumping Reach, Strength, Heading, Off the Ball, Bravery, Finishing, Decisions.
Unlisted key attributes: Anticipation and Positioning for the same reason as the post lurkers.
Mark Keeper (MK)
This role is similar to the lurker roles, in as far this player is an opportunist rather than a target. What makes him slightly different is that he will look to challenge the keeper and beat him to the punch, should the opportunity arise, as well as pouncing on rebounds, loose balls etc.
Important attributes: Jumping Reach, Strength, Heading, Off the Ball, Bravery, Finishing, Decisions.
Unlisted key attributes: Anticipation, Positioning
Set Piece Taker (TK)
And the only position without letters of course, is the corner taker himself. For his role, you have 6 options in respect to how / where the player delivers the ball.
Important attributes: Corners
Unlisted key attributes: Technique, Off the Ball, Decisions. Whilst only Corners is listed in game as an important attribute, it is quite well know that good Technique aids in all skill aspects of the game and Corners / Free kick taking are no exception. I have also added Off the Ball as there have been a number of occasions when the corner taker will lay off a short ball but if it gets passed back to him relatively quickly, he is often found to be in an offside position, effectively ending the routine. Whilst I cannot prove it, I strongly believe a good Off the Ball attribute would help that player get into a more ‘intelligent’ position in order to receive the ball and not be offside. There is an additional consideration that both Decisions and Vision ‘could’ also play a role for the set piece taker, especially when using a mixed delivery, as you want the player to take the best kick possible. However, given that Corners is a separate attribute to Passing or Crossing; it depends if the game engine takes these into consideration for said Corner attribute.
Set Piece Taker Instructions
This is an explanation of the set piece taker instructions
Mixed
It’s the first option and it is pretty self explanatory; it allows the taker to decide where they want to deliver the ball; whether that be to the near post, far post or indeed the edge of the area.
When setting up a routine, this is a good option if you have a wealth of suitable players to be considered for targets.
Short
This option looks for the taker to pass the ball to the CS player. This is especially useful if you have no decent corner taker but your CS has decent crossing.
Near Post / Far Post
These options are pretty much self explanatory, they look for the taker to deliver the ball for either the NP or FP respectively, to get on the end of.
Edge of Area
This delivery option looks to aim the ball at the incoming ‘Edge’ player. A very good option if you have a strong ‘Edge player’ picked.
6 Yard Box
This is arguably the most basic of delivery options outside of the Mixed option as it purely allows the player to kick the ball at the 6 yard box in the hope that one of the GF’s gets on the end of it. Another useful option if you lack skilled corner takers but want to maximize your opportunities.
Part 2 – Building a Routine – Liverpool Attacking Corner (Left)
For this I have set up an Attacking Corner Routine, using the Liverpool team with the aim to explain the role choices made.
The Takers
As you can see from the above screenshot, Liverpool do not actually have any ‘spectacular’ set piece takers in the starting squad, though they are certainly better than what you might find down in EFL 2 for example.
For the Corner takers, you can assign up to three players for left and right sides and given that not all of your best choice takers are always going to be on the pitch at the same time, it is important to choose as many as is reasonably possible. If you do not have any of your picked takers on the pitch, the AI will assign the next best choice.
The Targets
They are also not overly abundant in tall target players, although they do have a couple of stand outs in Van Dijk and Matip who are 6’4” and 6’5” respectively and have good Positioning, Anticipation and Heading attributes. There are also a number of players who have okey long shot attributes (including two of the identified set piece takes, Salah and Shaquiri) coupled with good anticipation.
The Corner Routine
Based on the analysis of the players available, the above is the example routine I have crafted and below, I will explain who is in what role and why I chose them.
Set Piece Taker
James Milner (MC) – Aim for Far Post
Milner is one of the listed better skilled corner takers; add to that he is also not particularly tall or indeed skilled in long shots to make him a priority choice as a target. Given that we are aiming the ball at the far post from the left corner, the fact that he is right footed will mean the corner will be in-swinging towards the net for the player at the far post to get on the end of.
Alisson (GK) Robertson (DL) and Alexander-Arnold (DR) – SB
Whilst you can move your GK around if you want to, it is pretty much standard practise to keep him in goal, so he will always likely have the role of SB. Both full backs in this case also represent the best option for SB’s as they lack the desirable attributes for either taker, target or lurker.
Salah (ST) & Mane (ST) – LOA
Both players have decent shooting at range ability, good anticipation and off the ball, making them ideal choices to keep an eye out for rebounds / cleared balls, with a view to creating opportunities on goal from a distance.
Henderson (MC) Fabino (DM) – GF
Both players are over 6’ and though have decent attributes for targets, however they are not first choice to necessarily attack the posts, for example. They will be useful options looking for rebounds / loose balls within the box.
Van Dijk (CD) – MK
I have chose Van Dijk to mark the keeper as he is slightly shorter of the two top target players but has the better marking attribute.
Matip (CD) – FP
As the biggest of the players and the most suitably skilled; he is the best choice to be the primary target for the corner.
Firmino (AMC) – LNR
Finally, I have chose Firmino to lurk at the near post. Firmino, whilst not tall enough to be a primary target; does have excellent off the ball rating making him ideal to hang around and pounce on an opportunity. I equally could have given him the GF role as he is still 5’11” but having him nearer to the goalmouth and also away form the far post, could make all the difference in a loose ball situation.
Part 3 – Best Practice
Regardless of whether you have a wealth of talent to choose from when it comes to set pieces or indeed, scratching around for skilled players; there are some things you should consider when both setting up your initial set pieces but also when living with them over the course of the season.
Set up your routines with your best XI
This is important, especially when starting with a new club as it allows you to define your routine to your strongest side and whilst you not going to stick with the exact same 11 players every match, the core will often be regularly present, allowing you to get the best out of the routine and for the players (if you are training for set pieces) to become more familiar.
Check your routines before big matches
Ideally, the best way to keep your routines healthy is to check them before each match but given how much time that might add will often make it prohibitive to do so. Consequently, it is better to check them before important games (as a minimum) in order to make sure that you are going in with the best possible chance of the routine being successful. You should also check the routines when you sign new players as their impact may be quite significant!
Have a minimum of 2 SB’s and 1 LoA
This is more of a defensive point than an attacking one and excludes the keeper (who should ALWAYS SB), as it is important to be able to stop teams as quickly as possible when they are breaking from a corner to counter attack. If you find this is happening too much, try considering either a further SB or indeed an SBI to provide additional defensive support. Whilst the LOA isn’t technically a defensive role, having that extra man can make the difference; even if it’s only to delay, allowing your players more opportunity and time to get back. From an attacking point of view; having at least 1 LOA offers greater opportunity to capitalize from rebounds, poor clearances etc.
There is room for 3 routines, use them!
I cannot stress how important I believe this to be. 3 routine slots allows for 3 different routines to be made for each side and because of the available roles and how you assign them to your players, you effectively multiply your chances of success. For example, if you rely purely on a far post routine but your main target is constantly marked by someone bigger, badder, taller and tougher than he is; chances are that your target player is going to struggle to make it count; thus neutralizing the routine. Try to mix it up a bit, whether with a Far Post, Near Post and Mixed option or indeed using one of your better crossers of the ball as a short option.
If you are taking your set pieces seriously, consider training for them!
If you want to get the best out of them, even with a team that lacks quality takers / targets; consider your training. Whilst there are options within the existing training schedules in FM20 that do offer set piece training, due to the fact that all set piece training elements are relatively low impact, it is very reasonable to add them to the existing schedules in the slots that are not used. Alternatively, you can find my very own set-pieces training schedules pack here on Passion4FM that is designed specifically for set pieces and the associated key attributes.
