Defending Corners -The Answer??

[bladesadviser]

I, like a lot of you have suffered with conceding a lot of goals from corners. I have recently tried this set up and have gone from conceding at least a goal a match this way to conceding only one in 8 games. I am using Brobs17 4-1-2-3 tactic and this is how I have set it up

GK - Default

LB - Mark Near Post

RB - Mark Far Post

CB - Mark Tallest

CB - Mark Tallest

DMC - Mark Tallest

CM - Man Mark

CM - Man Mark

CF- Stay Forward

CFL- Man Mark

CFR- Man Mark

Clearly I don't believe I have come up with the best ever defensive corner set up but it has worked for me. By adding a third player to mark the tallest and bringing most of the others back to man mark it seems to create confusion and if there is a shot or header then the amount of bodies in the box seems to stop the ball going in the net.

I am quick to say it doesn't mean you win all your matches. I won 1, drew 3 and lost 4 in the 8 matches I used this set up but at least it stemmed the goals from corners.

[R0ca]

There's no easy answer i'm afraid you will always concede a certain amount of goals from corners, it's the way the game is coded. Look at your players and assign them to mark accordingly. If you have a midget CB who can't jump marking a tall player your going to have lots of problems.

You want your players to attack the ball, so look for players who have good ratings in the following:-

Aggression, Bravery, Anticipation, Jumping, Balance, Agility and Heading also a taller player will be able to out jump a smaller player with higher jumping.

even with the above implemented you will still concede some goals.

Personally i keep 3 players upfield as well, this tends to force the AI into keeping 4 players back themselves.

Hope this helps.

[Myth0logy]

Yeah, always a tricky one. I like you have had problems at times - I think everyone has to an extent at some point. If you have a world class, tall team you won't concede many goals from corners or set pieces, if you don't - unfortunately you will.

I only conceded 17 goals in the whole of last season, I think 1 or maybe 2 were from corners. I do not know how helpful as I do have a fairly tall, world class team!

Anyway, try this:

I have 2 players set to man mark (DMC, CM) (high marking attributes, but low jumping)

I have 3 players set to mark tall player (LB, CB, CB) (all got 17 or more on Jumping and high marking attributes)

I have a player on each post (RB, CM) (lower marking attributes)

I have a player set to "go back" (FW) (Good in the air, but not good at marking)

My trequasa is set to "edge of area" (AMC) (Quick, good dribler, creative, excellent passer. Terrible marker, good to set to up counter attack on the break)

I leave one forward up so I can hit on break - (FW) (18 acceleration, 19 pace, 18 dribbling - very very quick, a good pass from the trequaser and he can be in)

You want your tallest players (the ones with the highest jumping skill) marking tall players. It's fine to set several. If you have set 3 players to mark tall players, yet there are only 2 attacking tall players - it's not a problem. The 2 tall attacking players will be marked and your spare defending man allocated to marking a tall player will man mark someone else.

A mistake a lot of people make is having their left / right back on the posts as default without considering it. I recommend always have a man on each post - but not necessarily your full backs.

The reason for this is that you full backs are generally good at marking - probably better than your central midfield players. Posts don't score goals - players do. Have your players with high marking attributes mark players, have those with poor marking attributes stand on the posts.

In Match Preparation I usually set special focus area to "Defending Set Pieces" the reason being I have the most creative midfield in the world. It is not possible for anybody to create more chances than my team - even against top teams I may get up to a dozen clear cut chances. However, the occasional random goal from a set piece is something that really annoys me.

[sjm]

Heading also a taller player will be able to out jump a smaller player with higher jumping.

Actually heading is how high their heads get, not their feet, so 2 players with the same jumping will each be able to head balls at the same height, irrespective of their height.

It seems counterintuitive at first, but it actually simplifies comparing players. Instead of looking at height and jumping and performing some arcane calculations in your head to guess at which player is better at winning high balls you just compare two numbers - the jumping attributes.

[R0ca]

Actually heading is how high their heads get, not their feet, so 2 players with the same jumping will each be able to head balls at the same height, irrespective of their height.

It seems counterintuitive at first, but it actually simplifies comparing players. Instead of looking at height and jumping and performing some arcane calculations in your head to guess at which player is better at winning high balls you just compare two numbers - the jumping attributes.

Ya my bad, just re-read what i wrote.

I meant a smaller player with higher jumping, may not be able to beat a taller player with lower jumping to the ball.

[Myth0logy]

The jumping stat doesn't necessarily mean jumping. It means - probability of winning the ball in the air. Peter Crouch can't jump very high at all, but due to the fact he is 6'7 he rarely needs to - and as a result has a high jumping stat.

You will see a direct correlation between a players height and their jumping ability. Tall players will usually have a high jumping attribute and small players will usually have a low jumping stat.

So, in a nutshell, ignore their height, just look at the jumping attribute to determine whether the player will win headers.

The heading attribute determines the accuracy of the header. A high jumping attribute is generally better than a high heading attribute - a high heading attribute is useless if the player has such low jumping that he can't win the ball in the air.

[Marsupian]

Yes they changed it so that jumping is now height+height gained by jumping instead of just how high the player can jump from the ground. This means that small players will have a low jumping attribute unless they can jump really well which will give them a decent jumping attribute (Cahill is a good example). Cahill has a lower jumping attribute than Crouch while Cahill can jump far higher off the ground. The reason Crouch has a higher jumping attribute is because he is already tall so he doesn't need to jump very high to get a higher jumping attribute than Cahill.

[sjm]

Ya my bad, just re-read what i wrote.

I meant a smaller player with higher jumping, may not be able to beat a taller player with lower jumping to the ball.

The height is irrelevant, and always has been. The player with higher jumping will indeed be better at winning the ball in the air, even if they are smaller. Height is only an issue if they don't need to jump to get the ball.

[Arkas]

Don't use OI.Instant improvement.The best you can get. Even with the best defensive tactic the corners are broken so you always concede some per season.

[lam]

I have found two things that are very relevant that differ from your setup.

1. Why waste players that should be able to actualy mark players on the post ? ie your DL/R. Set them to man mark and have your wingers or no marking ability MC's to mark the posts.

2. Have someone with good acceleration on the near post. They will often be first off the mark to clear the near post ball (one of the most dangerous) (Oddly enough, Aaron Lennon does very well for me here. the amount of near post headers away he makes is unbeleiveable)

Other things you might want to try.

A) leave at least one player forward - prefereably a pacey winger or striker

B) have someone close down the corner - preferably someone that can intercept (not the initial corner, but the pass back to the corner taker that the AI loves to do) and then put a decent pass together (your non marking MC) (Modric for me normaly)

C) have someone standing on the edge of the box (VDV) (might switch him and Modric around)

With this setup I beleive I only concede around 4/5 corners a whole season, though that estimate may be off. That said, the figure is sufficiently low enough for me not to have to focus on it.

LAM

[Kawee]

In every crisis, there is a window for opportunity.

Instead of looking at corners as something to "deal with" I see it as an opportunity to score counter-attacking goals.

There are two things you have to remember:

1. You outnumber the opponents by one simply because they lose one player to taking the corner

2. Small players like Arshavin are almost useless at corners.

Knowing this, in my 4-4-2, I do the following:

I have my back 4 & defensive-CM & tall striker defend the box.

I have my playmaker CM stand outside the area.

I then leave my fast striker and two wingers (who are useless at corners anyway, but has bags of pace for counter-attacks) stay forward.

What you get is the AI responding by sending men back to defend the players you leave forward, which result you in outnumbering them in your own box, but with only your better headers. You have the playmaker standing outside the box, waiting to grab any ball headed out. If he picks up the ball, he sends a pass to one of the 3 attackers left forward. Since there are 3 of them up front, a proper counter-attack can happen rather than just one guy being isolated.

[bladesadviser]

Thanks for all your hints and tips

Kawee do you have any of your defenders on the posts are all your defenders man marking?

[Coentrao]

I agree about the players on the posts, i have my offensive midfielders (that generally have low marking) on the posts and use the fullbacks to man mark as well:

This is my current setup, though you have to keep in mind that is suited to how tall/how much the players can jump:

DR: Small

DC: Man (Cover CB that isn't tall so i switch to just man)

DC: Tall

DL: Small

MR: Near Post

MC: Tall

MC: Back

ML: Far Post

AMC: Edge of the area

ST: Stay forward

I'm satisfied how it works though looking at it again i could probably move the AMC to stay forward since both him and the striker have good pace so it would be good for some counter-attacks.

[Kawee]

I have my back 4 on marking, and my D-Mid & tall striker on "go back."

Mind you, it's a high-risk high-reward method as you can clearly tell.

[Coentrao]

I was thinking about something else, the heading attribute it's supposely just how good a player heads the ball right? Technically at least.

But would a defender with low heading be more prone to lose headers on set pieces? I'm thinking of full-backs specially..

[st3mellor]

Players with a low heading ability would just increase the probability that they would not head the ball where they wanted it to go. It wouldn't affect the ability to get to the header. Attributes like jumping, anticipation, bravery, aggression, determination etc would determine who wins the ball in a challenge.