He who dares, wins.

Standard defensive theory when dealing with corners dictates that you should drag as many players back into your own penalty area as possible with the aim of:

  • marking your opponents forwards;
  • defending the posts;
  • clearing the ball;
  • using the one or two players outside the box to catch your opponent on the break.

But is this the best way to play, or will it pay dividends to use a strategy based around the theory that attack is the best form of defence?

In order to test this I’m going use the same tactic and just alter the Defending Corner settings for a number of players. By default I’ll be having everyone that is defending the corner set to man-marking with the exception of one player (the most attack-minded player) who will mark the near post. So leaving three men up will look something like this…

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One man up – Leaving one man outside the penalty area is one of the most popular ways to defend corners. It guarantees that the penalty area is extremely congested with there being as many as 18 or 19 players jostling for position and the opportunity to get something on the ball. From a defensive point of view the advantage is clear – it’s very difficult for your opponent to force the ball into the goal due to the mass of bodies, however this sheer weight of numbers approach can also have its drawbacks namely:

  • ricochets – shots or attempted clearances are likely to pinball around the area and could easily end up in the goal or behind for another corner;
  • lack of options – any ball that is cleared from the box is likely to come straight back as the only player outside the box battles against the defence.

Using this in FM07 resulted in very little. Corners were played into the box, the defence cleared some with ease and struggled with others but none of the clearances resulted in a single goal-scoring opportunity on the break.

Two men up – Another default approach. Offers slightly more in terms of opportunities on the break without diluting the defensive aspect of having men in the box. Generally speaking if you leave two men outside your penalty area the AI manager will respond by leaving two, or even three, players back to mark them. As with leaving one man up, my defence coped well with what was sent its way, though we failed to create anything of note in an attacking sense.

Three men up – Potentially this is a more risky approach in terms of leaving the defence short of man power in the penalty area. However, in testing this wasn’t the case, the AI seemed to fear the three men loitering by the halfway line and left four men back to cover them. On a couple of occasions the AI even left a fifth man between the penalty area and the line of attackers and defenders stationed near the halfway line – meaning that I had eight players in the box defending the corner compared to the AI’s four attacking it (the AI’s other seven being deployed as the goalkeeper, the four defenders, the man torn between joining the defence and the attack and the player actually taking the corner). As a result, more often than not the corner was cleared and the fast forward players attempted to get counter attacks underway while the AI defence scrambled back.

Four men up – Dangerous? You would think so, but once again the AI chooses to play it safe and pull five (and sometimes six) men back to mark my four. Once again the possibility of catching the opponent on the break is there for the taking as many of the players staying back to mark my forwards appear keen to push forwards after the kick is taken. Any decent clearance could be seized upon and a chance created. The odds of conceding direct from the corner seem to have shrunk once more, as time after time defenders get the crucial touch on the ball as it is swung over.

Five men up – With the team now split firmly down the middle (five men up, five in the box), surely we’ve reached the point of defensive suicide. Will the AI will realise that there is a potentially significant advantage to be gained by flooding the box with players who simply cannot be marked due to a lack of cover? Kind of. For the first time the AI decides to risk not marking all the forwards at every corner – it sometimes chose to leave just four men back, though it did usually have a man covering the edge of the area. This kind of played into my hands as there was a numerical advantage when the ball was cleared.

Six men up – With more men committed to attacking than defending in what is essentially a defensive scenario it was odd to find that the AI still failed to put more men into the box. It was a straight 4v4 match-up in the area (the man on the post was changed to a man-marking role) while the half-way line saw a 6-5 line-up in my favour. Still defensively sound though.

All players forward – That’s right, all-out attack in a defensive situation. Proved very little except that:

  • the AI will not normally put less than four men in the box when it takes a corner;
  • Middlesbrough have a team of donkeys. Eight corners, four forwards versus a lonely goalkeeper and they still failed to score a single goal.

Conclusions – In terms of tactical gain there’s little to lose by leaving men outside the box/pushed forward while defending corners. The AI will not normally (depending on scoreline and red cards) have less than four players in the box to receive a corner, therefore as long as you have four (three if you’re brave) defenders in there to mark them you are no more likely to concede than if you have a box full of players. However, the more players you leave outside the area, the better your chance of hitting the AI on the break (over the course of the season that I did this testing I concede three goals from corners, one when I left one man outside the box and a further one each when I had two and four players outside the area), indeed with three, four or five players outside the box I threatened to score breakaway goals on numerous occasions. For what it’s worth, I’d recommend leaving four up, it struck a good balance between defense and attack and as mentioned above, for some reason the AI defence seemed eager to rush toward my goal as the ball was cleared, something which quite often resulted in the ball sailing over them for my forwards to run onto.

Disclaimer – Pitchside accepts no responsibility for goals you may concede through trying to copy these defensive shenanigans. Your defence is your responsibility and you should be mindful of changes in the AI’s approach to corner taking.