FM15’s First Attempt At Corner Exploiting

Set pieces are an essential aspect of the game. If you are unable to break down a particularly sturdy defence, a set piece may be all you need to pry open the defence. Hell, you can win games by making sure your offensive set pieces are good. Just look at Rehhagel’s Greece, in the knock-out stages of the 2004 European Championships, they scored some crucial goals from set pieces. Stoke City are another example of a team that are making the most of these dead ball situations.

Different teams have different use for set pieces. Some use it as main staple for scoring goals, others rely more on open play to get the goals. The quality present in each team dictates the frequency on relying on set pieces to score goals, as well as the proportion of goals scored from set piece plays. The better your team is, the less likely the chance is that they need a set piece to score a goal. On the other hand, even the top sides can use set pieces to force a goal when all else fails.

With set pieces becoming more and more important, it makes sense that managers like you and me are trying to find a way to beat the system, to discover some sort of way to turn set pieces into weapons. Can we find a way to increase the chances of us scoring a goal from a corner?

The answer is yes. Sort of anyway. It’s a method that focusses on isolation, getting a player free somewhere in the box with time to shoot or head the ball towards goal. It should look a little something like this.

The idea would be that the ball is distributed to the penalty spot and this leaves both players on the edge of the box with sufficient time to shoot towards goal. How is this set up?

Is it effective? Meh… A bit hit and miss… I started out with 5 goals from 4 matches using this, but against better teams, the distribution was a bit of a let-down. On the other hand, I’m using a bunch of real shit-kickers, so it might work better with a team full of actually good players.

Table of Contents

Guido

Guido is the founding father of Strikerless and main nutjob running the show.

Strikerless

TLDR; Download-links

I have debated whether or not to post this article. Should I offer a downloadable version of my tactics, just for people to generally ignore why they work in a specific way and complain to yours truly about their perceived lack of progress or success? Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to approach things with FM. If you're getting more success from downloadable tactics and that feels fulfilling enough, then crack on. This article contains links to the latest formation of my "Riders (on the storm)" series of tactics, using both a deep and middle block in defence.

Strikerless

A Tactical Roadmap To Evolution

As my tactics setup evolved and developed, I noticed my build-up from the back was far too easily disrupted by high-intensity pressing sides. They targeted my deep-lying playmaker and, at times, my ball-playing defender. Players Read more…

Set Pieces

My Throw-In Setups For FM23

Set pieces in football, and thus in Football Manager, have received much attention and study. But what about the innocuous throw-in? Apart from when a team develops a long throw-in programme (see Delap, Rory, or last year’s trebuchet-styled throw-ins), it is largely ignored. This doesn’t do the humble throw-in justice, as they are essential to your Football Manager game. Just throwing the ball somewhere willy-nilly not only robs you of a potential goalscoring opportunity (depending on your location, of course), but it also increases your risk of losing the ball and ending up on the wrong side of a devastating counter-attack. So again, throw-ins are far more important than you might think.

11 Comments

Woland · October 30, 2014 at 7:39 pm

Intersting. Your line up taking a shape:)
P.S. Thanks for sharing of your corner tactic.

strikerlessGuido · November 1, 2014 at 8:14 am

You’re welcome.

fmturkiye.netxozgur · November 8, 2014 at 10:22 pm

Can I translate share this in fmturkiye.net?

Thanks 🙂

fmturkiye.netxozgur · November 8, 2014 at 10:23 pm

translate and share*

strikerlessGuido · November 9, 2014 at 11:02 am

Be my guest, mate 🙂

fmturkiye.netxozgur · November 9, 2014 at 10:58 pm

http://fmturkiye.net/forum/index.php?/topic/705-fm15-kornerler-i%C3%A7in-ilk-denemeler/

strikerlessGuido · November 9, 2014 at 11:04 pm

Tom · November 10, 2014 at 10:51 pm

which one takes your corner mate ?

strikerlessGuido · November 10, 2014 at 10:52 pm

The guy set on short option, mostly.

Nikolaj Aarslev · November 22, 2014 at 4:44 am

As i am not a native english speaker, I am wondering what youre sweepers job is in the set piece, as i cant solve the puzzle about him attacking the ball from… 😀 Would you care to tell me what his job is?

strikerlessGuido · November 30, 2014 at 4:47 pm

Sorry for the late response. He is supposed to head the ball in if it’s not close to the near post.