After Manchester United played a series of fruitless short corners during their 2-0 FA Cup victory at Wigan Athletic on Monday evening, former United midfielder Paul Scholes took to Instagram to offer a concise analysis.
“Short corners are s**t,” read the message.
The way United played them against Wigan, usually involving Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, certainly wasn’t a good advert for the concept. That said, their corners in the second half of that game, when they put more of them directly into the Wigan box, weren’t particularly successful either. Late on, Fernandes actually shot directly from a corner.
But short corners can be useful — as detailed in this article, originally published by The Athletic three years ago, which outlines 10 advantages they offer.
1. A two-versus-one out wide
Perhaps the simplest positive is a two-against-one situation in a wide area.
If the opposition switch off and only bring one man across to close down, two attackers can usually work the ball past him.
A good example came in Brighton’s 2-1 win over Arsenal in 2019-20. Solly March took a corner short to Leandro Trossard, only Dani Ceballos came out towards them, and the return pass allowed March to dribble into the penalty area…
… before he fired the ball into the six-yard box, which eventually resulted in Lewis Dunk turning home a scrappy goal from close range.
2. A three-versus-two out wide
Defensive teams are usually alert to the danger of a two-against-one situation, however, and generally push two players out if the opposition opt for a short corner.
So, inevitably, the best way to beat two players is by working a three-against-two, which usually involves a player in a deeper position joining the action at a late stage.
Here’s an example from a few seasons ago: Manchester United’s Ashley Young takes a corner short to Juan Mata and makes a run around him. Two Fulham players move out to shut them down, but the key player is to the right of the screen — Jesse Lingard, who will play the crucial pass.
Mata passes backwards to Lingard, then makes a run in behind the two Fulham defenders, creating the angle for a through ball from Lingard and collecting the return pass…
… and from there, he fires across the six-yard box for Romelu Lukaku to convert into an empty net.
3. A two-versus-two out wide
An overload isn’t always necessary to create a good opening, however, as a Sheffield United goal against Chelsea in 2020-21 demonstrates.
This move features Oliver Norwood taking the corner short to George Baldock, then making a run around the back of him.
Chelsea push two men out to close down. Baldock returns the ball to Norwood, which seems to tempt both Chelsea players up the pitch, then makes a run in behind. It’s notable how the two-against-two situation seems almost entirely detached from the rest of the action.
Norwood then again feeds Baldock, who is free to get to the byline…
… and he plays a cutback to Sander Berge, whose shot is turned in by David McGoldrick.
4. A better crossing angle
The three routines described above all concentrated on getting the corner taker — or the recipient of the short corner — into the box, from where he can play a precise pass rather than a more typical crossed ball. But sometimes, teams work a short corner before playing in a cross from a much better angle.
Here is an example from Manchester City’s home win against Aston Villa in 2019-20. David Silva takes the corner short to Kevin De Bruyne, who plays a one-two with Benjamin Mendy before delivering a first-time, inswinging ball into the box. De Bruyne loves crossing from these narrower zones and this delivery is played so expertly that it initially seemed to have flown in, although a minor touch from Silva meant he claimed the goal.
This is also, therefore, an unusual example of a short corner allowing the corner taker to get into the box and turn home a cross.
5. A shooting opportunity
It’s not entirely uncommon for a corner taker to find himself shooting.
Here’s a goal scored by Willian, then of Chelsea, away at Tottenham Hotspur in 2020. He takes the corner short to the edge of the box for Mateo Kovacic, who makes a late run away from Lucas Moura to receive possession.
Kovacic then returns the ball to Willian, with Spurs slow to get out and shut down this two-against-one situation.
Serge Aurier eventually shows up but is thrown off balance by Willian’s stepover…
… which allows the Brazilian to cut inside and smash the ball into the far corner.
Of course, it still takes a powerful and accurate shot to score from this situation, but again it’s worth pointing out that the two-against-two battle out wide is almost completely detached from everyone else. Once Willian shifts the ball and finds half a yard away from Aurier, there’s nobody within 10 yards to block the shot, which makes it easier for him to find a path to goal.
6. Dragging men out of the near-post zone and exploiting that space
The aforementioned examples have concentrated on what has happened outside the box, looking at the players involved in taking the corner. But, of course, all that influences what happens inside the penalty area, too — if you play a short corner and drag two defenders out of the box, there’s space to exploit somewhere.
Here’s an example from a 1-1 draw between Wolves and Spurs in 2020. Joao Moutinho is shaping up to whip the ball into the box and the possibility of him playing a short corner attracts not only the visitors’ Matt Doherty, who closely follows Daniel Podence towards the ball, but, because of the threat of a two-against-one, Steven Bergwijn vacates his zone at the near post, too.
In the end, Wolves don’t actually take the corner short. Moutinho, potentially spotting that Tottenham are now weakened at the near post, whips his delivery into that zone — you can see Bergwijn realising he’s gone too far towards the ball and desperately starting to backpedal…
… but he’s in no position to help. Moutinho sends the ball into his zone and Romain Saiss gets in front of Harry Kane, now the only man at the near post, to nod home.
Granted, in this situation, Wolves didn’t actually play a short corner, but the principle remains.
7. Dragging zonal markers out and exploiting the space behind them
Playing a short corner makes particular sense against a side who are defending zonally. There’s a fairly basic logic to this: teams defend zonally so they don’t get pulled around by opponents. They’re content to be standing in the shape they’ve determined is the optimum approach, which they’ve practised several times on the training ground. So, rather than launching the ball towards them, why not shift them out of their preferred positions?
Here’s an example from December 2020, in Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Wolves. Earlier in the game, Jordan Henderson had whipped a corner towards a pack of defending players and it was easily cleared. This time, he plays the ball short to Mohamed Salah, which immediately forces Wolves’ five zonal defenders to sprint higher up the pitch.
By the time Salah cuts inside further and shapes to cross, four of those zonal defenders are level with their penalty spot and one has advanced further, to the edge of the 18-yard box. Now, there’s space to feed the ball in behind the defence; the corridor of uncertainty, to borrow the cricket phrase, which makes perfect sense in these situations.
If the delivery is right, it can create almost an almost unmissable chance. Joel Matip times his run well, gets in behind the defence, and crashes home a header.
Here’s a similar situation, involving Tottenham and Leicester City. Corner taker Kieran Trippier is a fine crosser, but Leicester’s zonal defending were often very effective at winning the first ball. Therefore, Trippier plays a short one back to Christian Eriksen…
… whose whipped ball into the box finds Davinson Sanchez on the run in behind the defence to power home. Again, this chance is almost unmissable and surely much more presentable than opportunities you ever witness from a “direct” corner.
8. Dragging the zonal markers out and exploiting gaps between them
It’s not just about the space in behind, however. It’s that when a defensive side get forced out of an organised, compact shape, gaps between their defenders are more likely to emerge. This West Bromwich Albion equaliser against Liverpool is a good example.
Initially, Liverpool are protecting the space around the six-yard box with six zonal defenders. As West Brom play the corner short, these players have to push forward.
By the time the ball is delivered into the box, there’s a larger gap than you’d expect between Fabinho and Trent Alexander-Arnold at the far post. Perhaps Fabinho should have moved back a couple of yards, perhaps Alexander-Arnold should be tucking in, but either way, it’s more space than West Brom would have found if they’d whipped the ball in directly…
… and, from that space, Semi Ajayi gets up and heads home off the far post.
9. Forcing man-marking to collapse
It’s not always about zonal defending, though, and it’s not all about Ajayi, although he also scores in this example from West Brom’s win over Blackpool in a 2021 FA Cup tie. This time, the opposition are using a primarily man-marking system (albeit with zonal defenders at the near post) and Ajayi is being picked up by Arsenal loanee Daniel Ballard.
The problem is that when a corner is played short, a man-marking system is usually scrapped in favour of a zonal approach, as the defending side push out to play offside and position themselves in one solid line. In this “transition” from man-marking to a zonal system, there is disorganisation and attackers often go free.
As West Brom are working a three-man short corner routine, Ajayi — the main aerial threat — finds himself in a huge amount of space and a prime goalscoring position…
… and when the cross eventually comes in, Blackpool have three players seemingly marking one another at the near post. Ajayi finds space behind them to score with another header.
10. Dragging the defenders towards the ball and exploiting space at the far post
Finally, a specific problem with defensive sides reacting to a short corner is that they’re invariably dragged not merely up the pitch, but also slightly towards the ball, which leaves space at the back post. That’s inevitable, particularly when two players defending the near post find themselves charging towards the ball — everyone else has to shift over and cover.
Here’s Sheffield United doing so successfully in a 1-1 draw against Burnley in 2019-20. Ben Osborn takes the corner short to McGoldrick, who plays the ball on to Berge and runs around both to receive a pass.
Then, Osborn chips the ball into the box towards the head of Billy Sharp…
… who flicks on for John Egan, who finds himself in an extraordinary amount of space at the far post, to volley past Nick Pope.
This is arguably an unusual goal, with the flick-on contributing to defenders at the far post being sucked towards the ball, but a short corner followed by a deep cross can be hugely effective.
Here’s a meeting between Norwich City and Wolves, with Moutinho playing a one-two with Jonny for the latter.
Norwich end up with two men out closing down, leaving their team-mates forced to cover more space in the danger zone. Again, they’ve seemingly all shifted towards the near post, so the space is at the far post, where Moutinho’s deep delivery finds three Wolves players up against one Norwich defender.
Saiss, the central of the three attacking players, heads home, but he could equally have acted as a blocker for Doherty, behind him, to provide the finish.
That, for example, is how Fulham scored from a short corner against Chelsea a few years ago.
Ryan Babel took the set piece, dragged defenders out of the box and then whipped the ball towards the far post. With Dennis Odoi stopping anyone from retreating to the far post, Calum Chambers was left completely unmarked to volley in. Yes, block-offs can happen from corners sent directly into the box, too, but would an attacking player ever get this amount of space from one?
Are short corners actually more effective?
It’s difficult to use statistics to prove whether they are more or less effective than “regular” corners, for various reasons — there’s a debate about when a set-piece situation is considered “finished”; some short corners are simply intended for the attacking side to keep possession rather than to create a goalscoring chance, while others are “timewasting” corners in the final stages of a game.
But there are several good reasons for playing a short corner.
Whether it comes off is down to the players but, by shifting opponents around and forcing them to make split-second positional decisions, working a corner short often makes more sense than just sticking it in the mixer.
(Top photo: Getty Images)
