Set piece plays 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.
In the past, I have made several posts on set pieces and I published a very successful routine by @thefmveteran. I’m not knocking those approaches and I still stand by them, but part of me is always looking for room to improve on the setup I am using. Unfortunately, the new patch is also forcing me to change my ways, as the previous routines have lost their effectiveness. Whilst I really do realise perfection is nigh impossible to achieve, chasing it relentlessly will improve the chances of being excellent. Just being good just won’t do.
This focus on improvement is easy for set pieces as set plays, by their premeditated nature, offer a relatively consistent level of defensive and attacking opportunity and by looking at the effectiveness of teams against a variety of different opponents, we may be able to further improve upon the setup I described earlier. In this blog post, I’m to come up with a routine that works efficiently in the latest 16.3 patch.
Table of Contents
Does it work?
This is the first and most important question. I can rant on and on about how construed the concept is, but all everyone wants to know is, does it actually work? You be the judge of that.
I have tested the routine in five games and scored five direct corner goals, plus one goal with a long bullet-throw (which means the game reverts back to your corner settings). We also hit the woodwork a few times and bagged the odd goal from recycled possession. All in all, that sounds pretty good and as you can see above, looks pretty good as well.
How it actually works
The basic setup is quite unlike the previous corner exploit we posted. It’s not using a glitch of sorts or hammering the ball towards the first post. The effectiveness is in its versatility. The ball is lumped into the penalty area and with so many players crowding the box, there is always someone open to hit the ball. The lurking player ensures possession recycling and one player stays back if needed to snuff out counter-attacks. Not pretty and you’d get murdered versus human opposition, but quite effective against the more rigid AI because of the unpredictable nature of the setup and the many options it offers.
I haven’t quite tested the difference between inswinging or outswinging corners, but I do have a designated corner-taker, who is always kept outside of the penalty area, to ensure a maximum spread of bodies across the box. It’s not fancy, it’s not sophisticated, but it’s damn effective.
A good corner taker is a must
The positioning of the players at corners is just one element of the total sum that makes up a succesful corner-routine. Besides placing your players in key positions within the oppositions penalty area, you are also going to need some sort of delivery system, basically a player who can actually kick the ball quite accurately towards one your own men in the penalty area. For me, a good corner taker should possess the following attributes:
- Anticipation; (how accurately can said player predict the movement of other players);
- Corners; (how accurately can said player deliver the ball to its intended destination);
- Composure; (how well can said player perform under pressure);
- Decisions; (will said player make the right call under the circumstances he is in);
- Vision; (how many options can said player distinguish on the pitch).
When I am looking for someone to take the corners, these are the attributes I look for.
The downloads
LEFT SIDE CORNERS (STEAM) / LEFT SIDE CORNER (DROPBOX)
RIGHT SIDE CORNERS (STEAM) / RIGHT SIDE CORNER (DROPBOX)
Guido is the founding father of Strikerless and main nutjob running the show.
24 Comments
mopeygoal · April 4, 2016 at 7:23 pm
Hey Guido,
Could ask you to upload to Dropbox? My Steam Subscriptions have stopped working ;-/
Thx
Martin
StrikerlessGuido · April 4, 2016 at 7:27 pm
Definitely 🙂 Sorted 🙂
mopeygoal · April 4, 2016 at 7:29 pm
Great stuff! Thanks 🙂
StrikerlessGuido · April 4, 2016 at 7:32 pm
You’re welcome 🙂 Good luck with the routine!
mopeygoal · April 4, 2016 at 8:51 pm
Works like a charm. 3 goals from corners in 2 matches so far 🙂
StrikerlessGuido · April 4, 2016 at 8:58 pm
Nifty 🙂 Imagine the carnage if you had a long throw cannon.
Paul Newton · April 5, 2016 at 8:45 am
I’ve copied to my set piece folder but I can’t load from within FM?
StrikerlessGuido · April 5, 2016 at 8:46 am
Try the Steam versions?
StrikerlessGuido · April 5, 2016 at 8:49 am
Also, you are running the 16.3 patch?
Paul Newton · April 5, 2016 at 8:57 am
yeah 16.3 – the steam downloads aren’t visible ether, i’ll try a restart. 🙂
StrikerlessGuido · April 5, 2016 at 9:05 am
Aye, that might do the trick.
Wan Cornelius · April 7, 2016 at 12:15 pm
Would this work with lower league teams, seeing that to have a good corner kick taker with the attributes listed might be near to impossible?
StrikerlessGuido · April 7, 2016 at 12:17 pm
A decent cornertaker compared to the level of opposition would do.
evinevit · April 9, 2016 at 5:58 am
Downloaded from dropbox and steam workshop. It still isn’t visible
StrikerlessGuido · April 9, 2016 at 6:45 am
Are you sure you are trying to load them as attacking corners and not defensive?
Nick · April 11, 2016 at 9:50 pm
Hello Guido , i had your previus version set pieces was aswome ,but in this i cant manage to make it . i cant understand the potitioning of my players in the area. Could you mind if you re make the photo , with a set piece of formation 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-3 (2cm) if possible? thank you so much 🙂
StrikerlessGuido · April 12, 2016 at 1:01 pm
I can have a look tonight 🙂
Nick · April 11, 2016 at 9:54 pm
Hello Guido , well done for your good work , i had your previus set pieces at 16.2 was aswome . but in 16.3 i cant manage make it with that picture . Could you mind fix this with a formation set piece 4-3-2-1 please? i lll really appriciate it . i am struggle make it
trip4 · April 28, 2016 at 1:55 pm
Hello buddy , well done for your good job, but i am struggling fix this set up with your ”strikeless” formation , could you invert the set up to a normal one? like 4-4-2 4-3-2-1 4-3-3 or something more comon 🙂
and if you do where can u upload it? thanks a lot 🙂
StrikerlessGuido · May 6, 2016 at 8:32 am
Sorry chief, I don’t do strikers. It’s not hard though, just make sure you have players with decent technical stats outside the box and strong headers in the box, regardless of their positions.
Kyriakos Stm · July 10, 2017 at 10:16 am
does not work. i cannot import it.
Guido · July 11, 2017 at 4:37 pm
Are you using the correct folders when importing?
FM17’s First Effective Corner Routine | Strikerless · October 19, 2016 at 8:12 am
[…] observant managers among you (and loyal readers of this blog) will recognize this setup as being one I originally promoted for FM16. That would be factually correct. In fact, all I did in this Beta was import my old FM16 set piece […]
Scoring Corner Goals Has Never Been Easie | Strikerless · November 8, 2016 at 9:22 am
[…] observant managers among you (and loyal readers of this blog) will recognize this setup as being one I originally promoted for FM16. That would be factually correct. In fact, all I did in this Beta was import my old FM16 set piece […]