Premier League corners take half a minute – what do groups do with all that point?

Premier League narrative can emerge at any second and, within the aftermath of Arsenal’s win at Everton final weekend, the size of time Mikel Arteta’s visiting staff had taken over their corners was raised by the Sky Sports activities commentators, inevitably turning into a furiously contested speaking level on social media quickly afterwards.

It took Arsenal 26-seconds to take their nook earlier than Trossard’s objective…👀⏱️ pic.twitter.com/nNZ5UjisHm

— Sky Sports activities Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 17, 2023

However the concept Arsenal have been being notably sluggish with their corners was shortly disproved.

Opta evaluation of set items within the Premier League final season confirmed that round half a minute elapsing between the ball going out of play for a nook and it being taken was, in truth, common. It’s simply not one thing that will get thought of — or raised on tv — fairly often.

As The Athletic defined earlier within the week, there was a thought course of behind how Arsenal took their corners at Goodison Park. Eight of their 11 have been performed quick — a plan designed to distract Everton and create an overload by way of a sequence of delicate actions.

And that degree of preparation from Arteta and his employees is instructive. Rome wasn’t inbuilt a day, and neither are the set performs that may resolve video games at this degree.

First, there’s the time spent on the coaching floor throughout the week as set-piece coaches drill their groups, each offensively and defensively. Then when matchday comes, there’s the time it takes for each side to maneuver into the right positions to assault or defend the upcoming set piece.

This section of the sport has develop into more and more necessary over the last couple of seasons within the Premier League, particularly at corners.

Final season, the speed of targets scored per 100 corners within the Premier League reached its highest level since 2007-08.

Trying on the per-corner stats permits us to degree the enjoying discipline when evaluating throughout seasons, as a result of one given yr might need extra corners than one other, and the three.94 targets per 100 corners recorded in 2022-23 exhibits their rising significance.

Corners are not about simply sticking the ball within the mixer and hoping — it’s now “a recreation throughout the recreation” as Gianni Vio, former Italy and Tottenham Hotspur specialist set-piece coach, informed The Athletic final month. “It’s a dead-ball state of affairs and we resolve the taker, we resolve what number of gamers to go within the field, we resolve the area to assault, and we resolve the timing. It’s fully completely different.”

As soon as the ball goes out of play, and a nook is awarded, each participant on each groups strikes to a devoted place. Normally, this isn’t seen on TV, as a result of the broadcasters are exhibiting a replay of the incident that led to the nook, however if you’re at a recreation, it’s positively price observing.

The execution of even the best nook will include three elements.

First, how the defending staff are positioned inside their penalty space, and the kind of marking they’re utilizing. Second, the positioning of the attacking gamers in that very same a part of the pitch, and eventually, the attacking staff’s gamers exterior the 18-yard field.

This isn’t, by any means, unique. There are numerous nook setups, however this one is the most typical.

The defensive gamers at a nook could possibly be marking man-to-man, zonally, or a mixture of each — the final possibility is probably the most frequent these days — and if the attacking staff is sending over a participant for the quick possibility, the defensive staff will do the identical.

On this instance from final season, Aston Villa are defending with 5 man-markers (on the white dots) — three to defend towards Manchester Metropolis’s practice of runners, plus Emiliano Buendia on Ilkay Gundogan slightly additional ahead and Ezri Konsa marking Erling Haaland within the six-yard field — and the remaining are enjoying zonal:

Usually, as Vio says, it’s the attacking staff who govern the nook, as a result of there are millions of routines that could possibly be used, leaving the defending facet in a reactive place.

The attacking routine could possibly be enjoying the ball quick, in the direction of the close to submit, to the far submit or into the centre. It may use blockers, dummy runs or late runs from deep. The thought could possibly be to isolate your greatest aerial menace in a one-versus-one state of affairs, create area in a sure zone, and even goal gamers initially stationed exterior the penalty space.

The 2 or three attacking gamers exterior the opponents’ penalty space are largely there to defend towards counter-attacks, as a result of area left behind them at nook kicks. Nonetheless, they will play an offensive function within the nook routine, as a result of the defending staff often have all of their gamers in or round their 18-yard field.

These attacking gamers exterior the penalty space can be utilized in a short-corner routine, for a late run into the field, or to shoot from rebounds if the preliminary supply is cleared.

Let’s take an instance from this season.

In opposition to Manchester United on September 3, Arsenal used a late nook to take the lead in stoppage time earlier than Gabriel Jesus made it 3-1.

After Martin Odegaard’s shot was deflected right into a nook, the tv feed targeted on him, on the tense house crowd, and on Bukayo Saka, who would take the set piece. Throughout these moments, the United and Arsenal gamers have been transferring into their devoted positions.

Erik ten Hag’s guests saved the identical defensive setup that they had used from the start of the sport, even after the substitutions.

United have 4 zonal markers clustered in the direction of the close to submit, Alejandro Garnacho (No 17) exterior the field defending the quick nook, Christian Eriksen (No 14) marking the central area, three man-markers (highlighted on the white dots) and Diogo Dalot (No 20) defending the far submit:

As for Arsenal, they’ve 4 gamers past the penalty space: Odegaard presenting himself to Saka because the quick possibility, and Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira and Ben White (who’s out of body in our subsequent screengrab) to guard towards any United counter-attack:

Contained in the 18-yard field, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Jesus and centre-back Gabriel (crimson dots) are dummy runners, making an attempt to filter out the far submit space for Declan Rice:

As soon as Saka begins his run-up, Tomiyasu makes a touch in the direction of the close to submit as Jesus and Gabriel additionally transfer away from the far submit to vacate that area for Rice.

Saka targets the right zone: in the direction of the far submit and away from Dalot…

… and Rice strikes to the right spot by the sting of the six-yard space.

Earlier than the England midfielder receives the nook, the roles of his three closest team-mates are clear: Tomiyasu’s run strikes Marcus Rashford (white) away from the far-post zone, Jesus’ run creates the concept Arsenal could be focusing on the central space, and Gabriel’s block on Jonny Evans permits Rice to assemble the ball underneath no stress…

… and Rice duly provides Arsenal the lead, after his shot deflects off Evans:

Final season, 33.2 seconds was the typical time within the Premier League between a nook being awarded and brought.

As we’ve defined, these half-minutes are important, because it’s when the gamers transfer into the setups they’ve been practising within the days earlier than the sport, however the second simply earlier than the taker lastly kicks the ball is simply as necessary.

That’s the second when the attacking routine begins — go too early and the attacking staff’s intentions could be made clear to the defensive facet, undermining all of the preparation that went into that particular set-piece alternative.

The half-minute between an assistant referee signalling a nook and it being taken could be one of many least intently noticed sections of a soccer recreation however for the best-prepared groups, it may be crucial 30 seconds of the week.

(High picture: Joe Prior/Visionhaus through Getty Pictures)