Scoring from corners

Having looked at how to defend corners in some depth, I’m going to try and highlight how to get the most from your corners, especially as good set-piece routines can be the difference between losing/drawing and drawing/winning. As I’m sure everyone knows there was a highly successful corner routine available for both FM05 and FM06. Effectively a “cheat” routine the method involved loading as many players as possible onto either the near or far post before playing the corner to a long-shot specialist, standing on the edge of the area, who would then shoot at goal.

 

Is it worth trying to defend corners?

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?