Football Manager 2022 Attacking Corner Routines; Short, In-swinging or Out-swinging corners in FM22?

Football Manager 2022 Attacking Corner routines

What type of corner kick routine is most effective in Football Manager 2022? How can you score more goals on attacking corners in Football Manager? In this guide, we’ll look at some attacking corner kick routines and how to setup your corners by emulating real life corner kick routines in Football Manager 2022.

Set pieces, and especially attacking corners, can be an effective way to score more goals. With more and more close matches and the differences between the teams in any league reduced for each passing season, the importance of attacking corners in today’s football should not be underestimated. A well-executed and rehearsed corner routine can be the difference between drawing the game and taking home all the points.

For some teams, it might even result in getting those necessary three points needed to lift the championship at the end of the season. For others, a dead ball situations like a corner can present a great opportunity to score despite the run of the game have so far been against them.

With an higher chance of scoring from corners than from open play, it’s no reason why some managers prioritize dead ball situations as an attacking strategy to try to win more games. By focusing on attacking set-pieces, appointing dead-ball specialist and putting attention to corners on the training ground, some teams try to maximize the effect of corners to score more goals – using it as a weapon in their attacking strategy.

For some, corners and free-kicks might seem chaotic, but by understanding all the details within a great corner kick routine and base your judgements on statistics and facts, you can increase the chances to score more goals.

In this event, I’ll be looking closer at the different Football Manager 2022 attacking corner strategies and routines you should consider to apply, to score more goals or to maximize the effect of your attacking strategy to maintain your desire to play according to your football philosophy.

I’ll examine different types of attacking corner routines, when to use them and why they might be purposeful. Along with analyzing the corner routines, you’ll learn more about what types of players you need for the corner routine to be as most effective.

Because of my personal interest in analyzing football teams and matches, this piece will include some of the real-life attacking corner strategies I’ve come across when researching real-life tactics. In fact, I’ve tried to recreate some club’s corner routines in Football Manager 2022 as best as possible, which I’ll share to you in this piece.

Due to the nature of this post and the time it takes to research, test and gather results from the different corner routines, I’m forced to update this post with more Football Manager 2022 attacking corner kick routines from real-life tactics in the coming months. Then we will see how effective real-life attacking corner strategies are in Football Manager 2022, or what types of corners; near post, far post, edge of area or short corners scores the most goals.


Creating the Perfect Corner Routine in Football Manager 2022?

Before looking at some specific corner kick routines and the different attacking strategies to use at corners, it’s important to understand the basics of creating the perfect corner routine in Football Manager 2022, and what you need to think about when creating your own attacking corner kick routines.

How to Create Corner Routines in Football Manager?

To create your own set-piece routines, such as attacking or defensive corner kicks, you can do this by heading to the Tactics Section, hover the mouse over Set Pieces and select Corners.

Select whether the corner kick routine scenario is a Defending or Attacking Corner, and whether it comes from the Left or Right side of the pitch. Pretty straight forward, right?!

creating corner kick routines in Football Manager

Once done, there are three things to consider when creating the perfect corner kick routine for YOUR team! Take note of how I emphasize ‘your team’. Because of every players abilities, strength and weaknesses both in the personnel of who shall deliver the corners, the necessary abilities of the players inside the box are unique to your team, it’s important to create set-piece routines that fits your players and the football philosophy you’re trying to incorporate at the club.

For instance, it might not be purposeful for your side to incorporate an attacking corner kick routine that relies heavily on winning aerial battles if most of your squad is of similar height as Xavi, Modric, Iniesta, Messi or Phil Foden. But even then, if your squad resembles Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side where most players are below 180cm (5.9 feet) there are corner kick routines to consider. The solution to such a dilemma will be addressed further on, so continue reading if you’re in a similar situation, or you like to get a better insight on how to score from corners on Football Manager 2022.

1. Players Abilities

When creating your corner kick routine, the first you need to consider is the player’s abilities – both for the ones who shall take the corner kick and the ones inside the box. Both aspects must be weighted equally when considering what type of corner kick that suits your side the best. It doesn’t help you if your corner kick taker has an above average Corners attribute if none of your players got great abilities in aerial situations.

Which abilities is required of the corner kick taker?

To increase the accuracy of the delivery of any corner kicks, the corner kick taker needs high levels of CornersCrossing and Technique. With a better technique he will be able to execute crosses – in-swinging or out-swinging crosses – all depending on his strongest foot and which side of the pitch you instruct him to take corners from.

His abilities will also depend on what type of corner kick you ask him to take. Should he aim towards a specific area, take short corners or let him decide from corner kick to corner kick according to what he believes will be useful?

If using short corners, there are less demands on his Crossing and Corner kick abilities since the ball will only deliver a few meters to the closest nearby player. Therefore his Passing abilities comes more into play.

If using Mixed delivery, the player will need good Decision, Anticipation and Vision alongside Crossing and Corners. Since you will basically tell the player to vary the delivery of the corner and where to aim at on an event to event basis. This is a useful strategy to make the opposition guess where the next corner will arrive.

Which abilities are required of the players inside the box?

In general any players that shall go forward and stay inside the box at corners should ideally have decent capabilities in aerial situations, herein:

  • Heading
  • Jumping Reach
  • Height
  • Strength

2. Distribution of Players

No matter what type of corner kick routine you consider creating it’s essential to ensure you have players covering each of the zones in or around the penalty box whilst also have someone who stays back to provide defensive stability. The numbers of players you would like to have attacking the penalty box is largely dependent on how the opposition prefers to defend their corners – their counter-attacking threats and your willingness to take risks at corners to try to score goals.

An important question to ask yourself when creating attacking corner kick routines is whether you shall stay man-to-man at the back, or adopt to numerical superiority to provide enough defensive cover for quick counters.

Regardless of how you prefer to set up attacking corners, there are 8 zones in or around the penalty area to speak of.

  • Short / Outer area is the area where the team can either improve their angle of attack or recover misplaced crosses. The likeliness of the ball reaching the outer zone on far post is high if you instruct for crosses aimed towards the back post. All it takes is a cross with a bit too much strength, or an opposing player clear the ball from danger either by stunning the ball with his head or the goalkeeper punching the ball at in-swinging crosses.
  • Rebound zone – the edge of the penalty area both in front of and to the sides of the box. Most often, you would like to have a player position inside the penalty arc, or two players covering the half space channel just outside the penalty area to intercept loose balls, rebounds or simply become an attacking threat on their own with their positioning.
  • Near Post (Six Yard Area Near Post)
  • Far Post (Six Yard Area Far Post)
  • GK Area (Six yard Area Centre)
  • 18 yard Area (Near Z3, Middle Z2 & Far Z4) incl Penalty Spot Area (Z1)
zones of the penalty area at corners

As you’ll notice, there are three primary zones within the 6 yard area whilst there are four primary zones inside the 18 yard box. While the first three zones could be seen as target area and goal output zones, the three outer zones within the 18 yard box (Z1 to Z4 ) are often the starting position of any runs and moves from attacking players. Due to the location of zone 1 within the inner penalty spot area it can both be an arrival zone for any attacking moves or the zone to look for a finishing opportunity. Since the angle at near or far post is often narrow, the view of the goal mouth is higher and better within Zone 1 and goalkeeper area than on the edges of the penalty area.

What’s the aim of player positioning?

The primary reason for distributing a player in each of the zones within the penalty area at attacking corners is rather simple. By having players covering each of the zones you force the opposition to guess where the corner kick will be delivered to, whilst also covering a greater amount of space. Basically, you take into account inaccuracy at the delivery of the corner kick by making sure you got someone nearby who can quickly run-up to the ball, intercept rebounds, make flick-on’s to get the ball into a more dangerous area, or head the ball at goal.

By having players equally distributed inside all of the different zones in or around the penalty area you are less dependent of an accurate delivered cross. At the same time, the “perfect” distribution of players can also be a way to give you the upper hand. By trying to manipulate how the opposition will defend the corner, it can both free up a specific target to get into a goal-scoring opportunity as well as having multiple targets within a specific area.

3. What Types of Corner Kicks are there?

When talking about corners, or set-pieces for that matter, there are several ways to deliver the cross. What method you choose to deliver the corner will have an affect of the conversion rate and the effectiveness of the corner. Like every matter when talking about tactics, it’s all about your objective with the corner.

In reality, there are three primary types of corner kicks.

  • In-swinging Corners will happen if you instruct a left-footed player to take the corner from the right side of the pitch. The ball will then curl across the air towards the goal. An in-swinging cross is more difficult to execute precisely. At the same time, it might be easier for the goalkeeper to get control of the ball as it’s coming straight towards him.
    Happens whenCorner from right side + left footed player
  • Out-swinging corners happen when the corner taken curls the ball away from goal. To make it happen you will need to instruct a left footed player to take the corner from the left side, or a right footed player to take the corner from the right side. An out-swinging corner presents a dilemma for the opposing goalkeeper and his defenders. Since the ball is curled high away from goal, the cross itself does not present a danger but the ball trajectory will head towards a dangerous area. The GK must either pull out of his line to catch or punch it. It’s also harder for the defenders to head the ball / clear the ball away as the ball moves away from them. At the same time, for the attacking team who is positioned with their face towards the goal, it might be easier for them to make something useful out of the curled cross simply because how the ball curls towards them.
    Happens whenCorner from right side + right footed player
  • Short corners is often used to retain possession as a player or two moves towards the taker or is positioned in the right angle and distance from the corner arc. The ball is then played towards the second player who then can either dribble with the ball, make a quick in-swinging cross or pass the ball back to the taker or to a third player – all depending on the amount of pressure.
    Short corners is often used to change the angle of the attack and is a great way to keep possession of the ball and not risking loosing the ball in a fragile zone, or can be used as a method to create a better angle for delivering a more dangerous cross. If using out-swinging crosses, the ball has bigger space to be curled in – not risking the ball to go over the byline if you wish to aim at the near post.
  • There is also a fourth type of corner kick but which is not an active opportunity in Football Manager. That is the possibility to instruct a player to make a straight corner. If selecting Mixed player instructions for the corner taker, he will keep the deliveries varied and then it will be down to his Vision, Corner Taker abilities and Technique to aim at and select the crossing type he deems to be most effective. By selecting Mixed Corners, the ball trajectory will sometimes be delivered in a straight line, as there’s no curl added to the cross. For a straight corner to happen, it might help to instruct the taker to the 6 yard box, or have one of the best aerial threats positioned in that area (if selecting Mixed).

In-swinging or Out-swinging Corners?

The question might immediate risen – what type of corner is most effective: in-swinging or out-swinging corners? Since it would be nearly an impossible job, at least a very time-consuming one, to analyze all corners in Football Manager 2022 I need to refer to the paper “Myth-busting set-pieces in soccer” and the facts it reveals of the goal output from in-swinging and out-swinging corners.

In this paper, Paul Power from StatsBomb and four other co-writers analyzed all the goals in the Premier League 2016-2017 season. Long time ago in the football universe but it can hopefully help us to make better decisions when creating our corner routines in Football Manager.

The paper which you can read in full here, confirmed or busted 10 myths at set-pieces. Relevant to this article, it gives us this insight:

  • There’s a 0.7% higher chance of scoring from set-pieces compared to normal play possession. Scoring from set-pieces equals a1.8% chance vs 1.1% chance in open play
  • A team is more likely to score from corners than from free-kicks. It’s actually a 2.1% chance of scoring from corners vs a 1.1% chance of scoring from a free-kick.
  • Teams are more likely to score from in-swinging corners compared to out-swinging or driven corners
    2.7% chance of scoring from in-swinging corners vs 2.2% from out-swinging
  • In corners, a goal is more likely to occur from a shot from the second-ball (2.5% chance) rather than a shot directly (2.0% chance). This means that it’s valuable to win that second ball!
  • In corners, a team is more likely to score from a flick-on compared to directly shooting from a corner. Teams have a 4.8% chance of scoring from a redirected corner vs 2.0% directly

The statistics basically tells us that in-swinging crosses are the most effective way to score goals from corners! They basically results in more goals! At least it’s an higher percentage chance of a goal. The reason for this might be simple. When taking in-swinging crosses the corner have a specific objective. Often it shall find a specific target, for instance a player moving towards the near post. In this situation, the player will be the first one to touch the ball after the ball has curled through the air.

At the same time, an out-swinging corner is more effective at creating a “second-chance”. It’s an increased likeliness of the corner to result in a shot on goal than an in-swinging corner. The way I see it, is the angle of the player towards the ball trajectory that makes it easier to make something useful out of it. Then, the ball is often arriving in a zone further away from the goalkeeping area (the area where most goals are scored from corners). It’s arriving in a dangerous area to create chances from, and from there it’s easier to get the ball into a better position as the area is not as packed as in front of the goalkeeper, which would be the case if the corner was aimed towards the goalkeeping area (near post, 6 yard box or far post).

But even then, if the corner kick routine relies on a flick-on from the first post when taking in-swinging corners, the chance is there that it could result in a shot on goal in the next instance.

Another important aspect to take note of in regard to this paper about set-pieces is the completion success. In fact, in-swinging corners have a decrease completion ratio (30%) compared to out-swinging corners (42%) in regard to reaching a team-mate. This emphasize the increased focus on the corner takers abilities and his accuracy at corners. An hypothesis we can have, is that players is required to have a Corner attribute of above 17 to successfully conduct in-swinging crosses in the highest leagues in Football Manager.


Premier League 2021-2022 Teams’ Corner Types

Regardless, of what the statistics tells us, you’ll notice that different teams have different strategies with their attacking corner routines. If we look closer to the Premier League 2021-2022 season, FBREF, who receives advanced analytics from StatsBomb about the biggest competitions, clarifies the tendencies in corner kick routines between the different teams.

For instance, meanwhile Liverpool prioritize out-swinging corners, with 184 out of 231 corners taken in that manner, Manchester City and Arsenal prefers in-swinging corners (121/193 vs 124/159). Manchester City is also one of the teams who tends to take most straight corners (24). At the other end, we have Chelsea who prefers to take as many in-swinging corners as out-swinging – making me believe they use either two different routines from right and left flank, or is capable of varying their corners between taking in-swinging – and out-swinging corners (99 vs 90).

I wanted to show you these statistics, so you don’t blindly go for a specific routine regardless of how it performs, but tries to consider the overall approach and your vision behind set-pieces according to your tactics.

Where to aim the corner at?

How you distribute your players at attacking corners will most likely depend on your overall aim with the corner and the players capabilities. If we should categorize attacking corners into sub-groups we can split them up in two different aims: against a specific target and/or versus a specific area/zone.

In fact, the reality of attacking corners aren’t as black or white as I try to explain it. There are definitely corner routines that incorporates both aspects – towards a specific area and against a specific target in one routine.

Specific Target

Crossing against a specific target is a great solution if you have a limited number of aerial threats within your team. Perhaps you only got one or two players who can cause problems at attacking corners, or it might be a specific player who possess extraordinary skills that you wish to take advantage of.

If you shall aim the corner at a specific target, and the corner to be effective, there are several things to consider:

  • the accuracy of the corner. It requires a greater level of precise delivery if the corner shall be aimed at a specific target than if you just position your players inside the penalty box and either let the corner taker to decide where to deliver it (Mixed) or target a specific area. Basically, the corner taker shall pinpoint the cross towards a target area of a few centimeters as he aims for the head or other body parts in a crowded penalty area.
  • The targets skills is essential if you shall have any luck converting the corner into a goal. It’s not only necessary for him to have greater level of expertise in aerial situations but he must also be able to time his runs and be at the end of the crossing path. His Heading, Jumping Reach, Height and Strength must be as good as or greater than the opposing marker. It also helps if his Decision, Off the ball and Anticipation are above average, especially if he shall run onto or attack the ball.
  • The importance of the other players roles at attacking corners should not be understimated either. Especially not when you look to aim the corner at a specific target. In these situations, you can think of them as extras with the essential task to increase the likeliness of the cross to reach its target. Their task is to attract the attention of the defenders by either taking an inactive or active role in the corner routine. They can help the target with either their positioning (inactive) or by using decoy movements (active) to create the necessary space for the target to reach the ball, either he comes into vacant space, or you look to isolate the player against a weaker opponent. For instance, we can imagine three players making opposite runs of eachother – pulling away from the target’s position – trying to provide him enough space to attack the ball.

PS! Having the ability to instruct players to make opposite runs at corners is one feature request I have for Football Manager 2023. With the opportunity to put a player or multiple players in a same area but with different instructions of where to move could be helpful. We can imagine a player staying at the front post but who is instructed to move towards the back post, a player standing at the far edge of the 6 yard box who is instructed to make a run towards the near post, or a queue of players starting from the penalty spot to make diagonal movements away from that area.

Specific Area

Another method at attacking corners is to aim the cross towards a specific area. This is a great option if you have several dangerous players to aim at, or you wish to apply a certain strategy that you believe is more advantageous than to simply aim at a specific player.

In these situations, you look to be less dependant on the quality and accuracy of the delivery of the corner. You will also be less dependant on the execution of the header from one player, or his form. What’s more important, is to have several aerial threats (or targets) arriving in that zone.

In Football Manager 2022, there are 6 areas to aim corners at:

  • Near Post
  • Far Post
  • Six Yard Area
  • Edge of Area – seeking to find a team-mate dropping off into space inside PS Z1 and PS Z2
  • Short

How you position the players at attacking corners and their instructions will be more important when targeting a specific area. When targeting the delivery of the corner towards a specific area / zone, it’s most effective to apply some of the principals we know from positional play. There are two primary strategies in this event.

  • A) Overloading a specific area. You can either position most of your players towards the area you’re going to target. By creating numerical superiority around what’s going to be the ball zone will increase your chances to win the battle of the ball. How you overload the zone can be done either with the help from several players who make penetrating runs towards the ball – attack the zone, or by letting the tallest players stay within that area whilst teammates tries to block/screen the defenders path towards the area the ball will potentially arrive in.
  • B) Underloading the zone. The opposite strategy is to underload the area where the cross will be delivered to. This means using some of the same principles at positional play where you try to isolate a player. One of your best aerial threats will then be man to man with an opposing marker, perhaps even unmarked as the attention of the defenders are dragged away from the target area of the cross since other aerial threats are making runs in an opposite direction. While most of the players are attacking the near post, you could have one or two isolated players who are great inside the box to convert flick-ons or head the ball into the back of the net. The corner will then be actually aimed at the far post despite the opposition might believe it will be delivered against the near post.
  • Finally, you can also try to exploit or create weaknesses in the oppositions defensive corner setup by trying to lure them into a specific behavior or target an area where the opposition is weak.
    • For instance, trying to create spaces within their lines by forcing them to pull out of their zone, or create difficulties in man-marking specific targets. To make this happen, you’ll be targeting the zones outside the goalkeeping area either via short corners, aiming towards the rebound zone or the edge of the 18 yard box. Basically, you’ll aim the corner towards an area that’s underloaded to increase the chance of a successful delivery.
      • You can also have players running towards the near or far post whilst the corner will be aimed towards the edge of the box. Hopefully, the attention of the opposition’s defenders will be dragged towards the posts and forget about the player attacking the ball from deep in the center of the pitch.
    • On the contrary, you can aim the corner towards an area where the opposition is weak. Perhaps, your analysis have noted that the player defending the far post is both short in stature and got poor concentration and anticipation. Perhaps you’ve noticed the goalkeeper is poor in aerial situations and the player defending the center of the goalkeeping area both lacks Marking, Height and Heading to defend the corner properly.

The players’ roles and requirements on attacking corners

When creating your own corner kick routines in Football Manager 2022 it’s important to spend some time analyzing your player’s strength and weaknesses when it comes to set-pieces, and corners in this instance.
On attacking corners in Football Manager 2022, there are primarily 10 roles, or instructions for the players.

By clicking on a player and holding down the left mouse cursor, you’ll be able to see all positions you can put the player on.

Let’s give an overview of the different roles on attacking corners and the player’s requirements.

Stay back

The player will remain at the back to deal with any counter-attacking threat. To deal with any opposition players who stays forward at corners, the player needs:

  • Acceleration to chase the other player and recover the ball
  • Marking and Strength to stick close to his direct opponent and screen or block the player from receiving the ball ungongested
  • Tackling to cleanly win the ball if needed to avoid the striker to get into a dangerous goalscoring opportunity.
  • Decisions to make better judgement in the specific situation and according to the threat of the opposing player about what to do. Is it best to tackle the player early, push him onto one of the flanks to give his team-mates time to recover into a defensive setup, or close him down early to hopefully limit his control of the ball.
  • Positioning – to be able to have the correct body shape and positioning to limit the opposing threat to make something useful of the ball. Aided by his Anticipation he will be better at identify threats and how to deal with him in an one-on-one situation.

To ensure numerical superiority at the back on attacking corners, it’s recommended to have at least two players staying back at all times but you can also go by a corner setup with one staying back and one staying back if needed.

To avoid getting caught on corners and concede lots of goals from attacking corners it’s essential that you remember to instruct players to stay back.

Stay back if needed

The player will stay back if the opposition leaves two players up front. The player requires the same attributes as above but his Decision-making and Teamwork (to be able to follow tactical instructions) will be more important.

NOTE! Pay attention in the match how many players the opposition leaves up front! Alter your corner setup if necessary to ensure you’re either staying man-on-man or have a spare player at the back.

How many players can you select for this instruction?
You can instruct a maximum of five (5) players to stay back and stay back if needed. If you select 3 players to stay back you’ll have 2 players left to tell to stay back if needed.

Come Short

The player will offer a short passing option. What he do if he receives it will depend on your team instructions and his player instructions. Whether you shall instruct a player to come short or not will depend on how many players you favor inside the box and your objectives with the corner.

A player asked to come short can either cross the ball immediately, pass the ball back to the corner taker, make a diagonal pass to a player lurking outside the area or carry the ball into a more dangerous zone.

  • Decisions – what the player does when receiving the ball will depend on how he assess the situation and what he deems to be most advantegous.
  • Crossing – to successfully execute a cross. The type of cross he takes will depend on his preferred foot
  • Passing (Vision) – in a short-passing possession system, the player will most likely pass the ball short. If lacking composure or creativity, he will most likely pass the ball backwards to the corner taker if he’s closed down.
  • Dribbling (Flair, Agility and Balance)
  • Technique (both relating to Crossing, Passing and Dribbling).

How many players can you select for this instruction?
This instruction is limited to one (1) player.

Attack Near / Far Post

Players asked to attack the near or far post will simply move towards the front or back post at corners regardless of where the corner is aimed at.

These players requires:

  • Jumping Reach to be an aerial threat if the ball trajectory comes towards him through the air. His jumping reach will decide on the highest point he can reach the ball with his head. This means that a player who is 10cm taller is more likely to reach the ball if his jumping reach is better than a player with around similar height.
  • Heading – A player’s ability to head the ball cleanly and accurately. A player will require better Heading if he shall
  • Bravery to congest for the ball in aerial situations or dare to battle for the ball whether that be trying to strike the ball with his foot or gain control of it with his body.
  • Off the ball to move when out of possession in an effective manner. He needs to be able to time his runs with the corner taker hitting the ball so he moves into the correct position at the correct moment.
  • Strength to challenge for the ball in a man-on-man situation, the player needs physical power and strength to fend off any opponents. A player with better physical stature will be more likely to beat his marker in the air or in the situation by out muscle him. He can use his physical force to get enough space to jump up or get his head first on the ball by trying to exert his strength to keep his marker away from the ball despite both players are in the air.
Attack the ball from edge of area

The player will attack the ball trajectory from the edge of the area. By holding a position deeper on the pitch, the player aims to use his positioning to make a late run into the penalty area which aims to catch the opponent off guard. His deep runs can be made unnoticed and provide numerical superiority around the ball zone.

His abilities to time the run and anticipate where the ball will arrive will first and foremost be one of the most valuable skills such a player require.

How many players can you select for this instruction?
This instruction is limited to one (1) player.

Lurk outside area

A player lurking outside the area will look to recover any rebounds or take control of any loose balls. If using a short or Mixed corner setup the player could be an important asset to your corner kick routine. Due to his positioning he can both offer an opportunity to change the point of attack from one flank to another – using his passing to thread the ball into a free player in front or two the side of him. He can also become a dangerous threat on corners as he can finish off the attacks by using long shots and sublime finishing to curl the ball or place the shot into the back of the net.

The player needs to be able to gain control of the ball quickly and not gift the ball with a poor first touch.

Personally, I favor to give this instruction for a player who is great in Passing, Long shots and got the Technique and First touch to retain possession, or make something useful out of it. It could be a short playmaker or winger who lacks the abilities to challenge for the ball in aerial situations, or one who can receive the ball and finish off the attacks without gifting the ball to the opponent so they can counter on me in such a fragile moment.

How many players can you select for this instruction?
This instruction is limited to two (2) players – all depending on the number of available roles left within the corner kick routine.

Lurk at Near Post / Far Post

The player’s lurking at near or far post will hold a position as close to the near/far post as possible and will try to flick the ball further into the goalkeeping area. Where he flicks the ball will depend on whether it’s a in-swinging or out-swinging corner. Having one lurking at near post while another player attacks the far post could be a very promising way to setup your corner kick routine. The reason is that it will be difficult for the goalkeeper to get control of the ball if a player manage to flick the ball right in front of him.

His Heading, Jumping Reach and Strength will be most dominant skills in these situations.

How many players can you select for this instruction?
This instruction is limited to one (1) player on each flank – all depending on the number of available roles left within the corner kick routine.

Mark Keeper

The player’s primarily task is to stay inside the goalkeeping area, in front of the goalkeeper, to try to obscure his view. By ‘man-marking’ the goalkeeper the player aims to use his body positioning and physic to make it difficult for the goalkeeper to congest for the ball. The player will screen or block the path to come out to deal with crosses into the box.

Marking the keeper can potentially be an advantageous method if you got a tall player in this position and you’ll aim the ball towards the 6 yard line. Even though the player can challenge for the ball in aerial situations as well, I prefer to look at the layer as an important attacking asset at out-swinging crosses. His positioning and ability to block the view of the goalkeeper can aid the team to score more goals by shots coming from zone 3 and 4. We can imagine the player marking the keeper making a flick on or head the ball towards the center to distract the GK. At the same time, if the cross is delivered with accuracy and perfection, he can try to head the ball towards the goal as he tries to reach the ball first.

Requires the same attributes as anyone else who is tasked to stay inside the penalty box at corners. If he shall simply distract the goalkeeper the necessary of high levels of attributes relevant for aerial situations will be less important.

How many players can you select for this instruction?
This instruction is limited to one (1) player on each flank – all depending on the number of available roles left within the corner kick routine.

Go forward

The player will increase the number of players inside the box and be able to attack the ball if the ball arrives in his area, whether that be heading the ball, strike the ball or try to lure the opponent with his positioning and runs.

Having multiple players who is set to Go Forward can be advantageous if you’ve got no particular aim for the corner delivery. Selecting multiple players who goes forward when aiming towards the edge of the area, mixed or 6 yard box will help to win aerial battles around that zone. You will also give your players more freedom to attack the ball as they won’t be as focused on attacking a particular area but rather focus on the ball path and its destination.

Personally, I tend to instruct more attacking-minded players with less capabilities in aerial situations to Go Forward. Their task in these situations is to take care of any rebounds or steer the ball into a more dangerous area inside the penalty box unless he finish off the attacks himself (for instance a striker lacking the height to challenge for the ball.

A player asked to Go Forward requires some of the same skills as any players instructed to lurk at near post or attack the ball (on the front or back post). Besides Heading, Jumping Reach, Bravery and Strength, these players requires:

  • Finishing to be able to strike the ball when the ball arrives at his feet. Here we can imagine a player getting the ball in mid-air and must use one of his feet to finish off the attack. His Technique and Composure will also aid him in these situations.
  • Off the ball ensures the player got great space awareness and understanding of where to position himself in attacking situations. It’s ideal that the player can make himself available to receive a pass/cross in such dangerous situations an attacking corner is. Where and when he runs at attacking corners can be the difference between causing havoc and create space for a team-mate or let the opposition defend the corner with ease.

To ensure the player takes up a position in the area you wish of him, I recommend to start off with a clean slate and drag or switch positions to get the player to stay in the correct area. The drag and drop interface at corners isn’t as human-friendly. You’ll probably need to drag a player back and forth a few times to get him the position you want from him.

How many players can you select for this instruction?
There’s a maximum of 9 slots available depending on whether you instruct players to take up another role within the corner kick routine. If you ask two players to stay back and one player to come short, you’ll have 6 players who can ‘Go forward’.


How to score more goals from corners in Football Manager 2022?

To score more goals from corners in Football Manager 2022 there are three things to consider.

  1. The type of corner kick routine according to your personnel
  2. Training – improving the effectiveness of your corners
  3. Analyzing the opponent’s threats on corners pre-match or during it.

1. Type of Corner Kick Routine

The match engine of Football Manager is often lenient to some tendencies. Before Christmas, Sports Interactive had to publish a patch that decreased the effectiveness of near post corners as they were quite frankly overpowered. The update had the intention to reduce the effectiveness of near post corners.

Regardless of the update, it seems with the right use of player instructions, positioning and with a squad capable of dealing with aerial balls, you can still score 10+ goals from set-pieces, if that’s your main objective with the corner routine.

2. How to improve the effectiveness of corners? Use those Extra Sessions!

Who hasn’t experienced ‘only’ 5 goals scored from corners in a season of Football Manager? God knows how many corners have been taken. Hopefully, Sports Interactive will introduce corner analysis into the Data hub in Football Manager 2023. For now, all we got to do is to count the number of corners and how many of them where converted.

When the conversion rate at corners lies typically between 2 to 4.5%, it might be beneficial for the club to put more focus on working on attacking corners on the training ground. Especially, when we know the teams can receive up to 250 corners in a season, with the opportunity to score between 8 to 16 goals per season simply on attacking corners.

With limited transfer budget and few resources, it’s easy to see a team can become competitive simply by adding corners and set-pieces to their attacking arsenal. Just consider how cost-effective it could be if you manage to let your striker score 20+ goals per season where most of these goals comes from corners. A player with the capability to score 20+ goals from open play would on the market cost between €50 and €100Mill in today’s transfer market.

Instead, all it requires is a bit more focus on the training ground, a suitable plan that fits your squad and its players capabilities, and you might cause problems for the opposition on attacking corners.

To improve the effectiveness of your corner kick routine it’s as important to work on the routine in training as any other attacking or defensive training sessions that aids to improve the team’s knowledge and familiarity of the team’s tactics.

Use the Extra Sessions slots to work on defensive or attacking corners before the next encounter. That’s what those Extra Sessions are for! Saving one or two slot for set-pieces in the mid-week and the days leading up to the match will be purposeful.

That’s right, you don’t need multiple training sessions per week where you work on attacking corners. A training session a week where you focus on set-pieces is enough to get a boost on match days.

By adding one(!) Attacking corner training session a week, you can quickly and efficiently work on the conversion and delivery of your selected set-piece routine. While the taker(s) will work on Corners and Technique, the other outfield players will work on Heading, Anticipation and Off the ball.

Football Manager attacking corners training session

By working on your Football Manager 2022 attacking corner kick routine(s) prior to the upcoming match, you’ll see a boost in familiarity and execution. The more the corner kick routine is worked on, the better understanding between the player’s roles and instructions will be.

By applying a corner kick routine that score more goals, you can take your mid-table club into the top half and perhaps battle for a European qualification place. So start today to put attention to your set-piece routines and master the art of converting corners into goals by adding a suitable corner kick routine!

3. Analyzing the Opponent’s Corner Kick Setups

Next opposition corner analysis - FM22 Vitesse

To take advantage of corners in Football Manager 2022 it helps to analyze the opponent’s corner kick setup. There are two ways to conduct such an analyze.

A) Watch highlights of the opponents previous defending and attacking corners to learn about how they position their players. By clicking the Analytical Data button you can get more information about the team.

head over to the Teams Section and select Set Pieces. Tick corners and watch highlights of the next opponents corners to learn about how you shall defend on corners and select their opponents corners to see how they will setup their defensive corners.

What you shall pay attention in the highlights of your next oppositions defensive corners is how many players they prefers to Stay Forward or outside the penalty box to initiate breaks on you.

In the highlights between Vitesse (my sides next opponent) and Heerenveen, we can see they prioritize to defend the center of the penalty area. In fact, they have only one player defending the near and back post. Their setup is very zonal marking one – ideal for the Ajax near post corner routine!

Vitesse defensive corner setup
Vitesse’s defensive corner setup in FM22

B) Browse through The Detailed Team Stats of the Division

The detailed team stats section for the competition and league gives you a quick way to discover how good/bad the opposition team is in terms of Corners. At least you can get a quick insight to how many goals they score or concede on goals.

  • Defending – Conceded from corners
  • Attacking – Goals from corners

Unfortunately, you’ll not be able to see the team’s conversation rate at corners, how many of the corners are short, out-swinging or in-swinging, and finally theirs goal output.

C) Next Opposition Scout Reports

If you’ve setup a scouting mission to acquire scout reports of the next opposition, the scout will report back with strength and weaknesses of the opposition’s way of playing based on stats and tendencies.

If the scout feels it’s worth to note, they will make a remark of the type of corners they tend to make, or their capabilities at corners.

The information will be available inside the Data Hub section, either at ;

  • i) Data Hub < Next Opposition < Scout Report
  • ii) (Next Opposition) Team < Team Reports < Scout Report
  • iii) Data Hub < Next Opposition < Analyst Report
next opposition scout report corner abilities

The scout report will primarily give a hint about whether they got players who are great at taking corners, while the analyst report will provide a more useful analysis of their set pieces. Frankly, it will describe their tendencies at corners – what they tend to do, or not.

Football Manager next opposition set piece analyst

The information can be useful to understand how you shall defend against their corners – whether you shall prefer to stack up players on the near post or zonally mark the center of the penalty area.

One Last Thing!

To improve the effectiveness of corners, it pays off to use different corner routines from left to right flank. Simple be less predictable and make the opposition guess!

Whether you use two different corner routines on the left side and right side, or you have multiple routines you vary between depending on the opposition, is all up to you and what your team is capable of!

Even though one routine might produce great results over a season, don’t fall into the trap of not trying to evolution and improve your current corner kick routine. At the end of the day, it might be the difference between below 10 goals scored and over 15 goals scored on corners.

Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with applying the same routine on both flanks as it might help you score tenth of goals from corners, but make sure you have two corner takers with similar abilities – one to take in-swinging or out-swinging corners (depending on the routine) from the left flank, and one on the right, otherwise you will only score most of the corner goals from one flank.

Also, pay attention to the attributes and try to get players with the highest possible levels to be at the end of the corner kick delivery. A small difference in Heading, Height, Jumping Reach or Bravery can turn in to fewer goals scored than the routine is capable of.

Virgil van Dijk is the prime example of a brilliant target at corners. He got a height of 193cm, Heading (18), Jumping Reach (17), Strength (17), Anticipation (17) and Bravery (15). Matthijs de Ligt and Alessandro Bastoni are two great young players who could be players to target for the long-term , if you’re looking for a central defender to utilize at corners.


Emulating Real Life Corner Kick routines in Football Manager 2022

In the following chapters I’ll be looking at some real-life corner kick routines that I’ve tried the best I can to recreate in Football Manager 2022. Some has been emulated simply to explain the reason why using it rather than for its effectiveness in the game.


The Ajax Near Post Corner Kick Routine

FM22 Ajax Tactic Attacking corner kick routine in set piece creator

When researching Erik ten Hag’s Ajax tactic my aim was to recreate the Ajax tactics 2021-2022 season so accurately as possible – meaning it should also include some of the set-piece routines Ajax uses, especially their attacking corners.

Now, it’s difficult to know what types of corner kick routines Erik ten Hag prefers, as I haven’t watched all of Ajax matches this season. The FBref website doesn’t have an advanced statistics over the types of corners taken in the Eredivisie this season either, but normally Ajax receives an average of 7.16 corners per game, which is the second highest number of corners received in the Eredivisie.

Even though Ajax scores most of their goals from open play, it was a near post corner kick routine by Ajax against PSV that caught my attention and which I decided to replicate and test in Football Manager 2022.

You can watch a clip of the Ajax near post corner kick routine that I’ve recreated in Football Manager 2022 here.

Explaining the Corner Routine

To make the opposition team guess how the corner will be taken and where it will arrive, Ajax uses several principals in their corner kick routine that’s worth noting.

FM22 Ajax near post corner kick routine explained

Meanwhile Gravenberch moves up to take the corner, Dusan Tadic takes up position a few meters away – offering a short passing option. The positioning of Tadic is very smart. He’s both an excellent crosser and can convert those Corners into goals. By coming short it aims to drag a player out of the penalty box. If the opposition looks to defend against these short corners it will reduce the number of defenders inside the penalty area and give more space for the Ajax attackers to battle for the ball.

In this instance, Ajax makes a short corner from Gravenberch to Tadic. Due to Tadic is left-footed, he will make an out-swinging corner which will be aimed towards the near post.

Here’s a quick overview of the player’s positioning on the corner and their roles.

Danny Blind and Antony are both lurking outside the area – both protecting against quick breaks and taking control of any rebounds or clearances. Antony is also a gifted player to finish off attacks from outside the penalty area. While Blind is capable to retain possession and make progressive passes to a player in a more dangerous position, Antony is able to use his sublime left foot to shoot from outside the penalty area.

Berghuis, on the other hand, stays forward and holds up a position just inside the penalty area on the edge of zone 4 and the far post zone. His positioning is both a defensive one as an attacking one. He protects for counters down the right half space, as well as having the position to recover any misplaced crosses. With his positioning and great space awareness he manages to free himself off any markers and could be another great candidate to aim the cross at. Also, if the ball is not hit by Timber, Alvarez or Haller, he can pick up the ball in the most likely area where the missed crossed will arrive in unless the opposition is able to make a clearance.

In front of Berghuis, Martinez attacks the back post. He keeps an eye on the ball and tries to move behind the back of his marker. In this instance, the movement from Martinez and positioning of Berghuis is only about trying to draw the attention and reduce the number of defenders in the area the corner is aimed at.

In the near post zone, on the edge of the 6 yard line, Ajax position what could be seen as their best players in aerial situations.

Edson Alvarez (187cm) is positioned closer to the center of the 6 yard line. His task is to screen and block the opposing runs towards Sebastian Haller (190cm) and provide enough space for the target man to jump up and head the ball against the goal. In front of Sebastian Haller, you’ll have Jürrien Timber (179cm) who attacks the near post. Even though he’s less of a danger at corners, his run looks to cover for any inaccuracies with the cross.

Sebastian Haller is the main target for this corner kick routine. When Tadic cross the ball, Haller doesn’t run or attack the ball. Instead he simply takes a few steps away from his maker and tries to get enough space for himself to jump up and head the ball into the back of the net. If Haller isn’t able to head the ball cleanly, the ball trajectory will make him flick the ball into the center of the goalkeeping area. If he doesn’t reach the ball, Ajax have Timber and Alvarez who can get first on the ball to try to head the ball towards the goal, or flick it on.

Quick Notes about Ajax Near Post Corner Kick Routine for Football Manager 2022

When recreating the Ajax near post corner kick routine in Football Manager 2022, I’ve made a few small tweaks to improve the effectiveness of it. Instead of asking the corner kick taker to deliver it short to Tadic (AML), who then makes an out-swinging corner, I’ve instructed the player to take an in-swinging corner towards the near post.

Rather than to instruct the central defender to attack the near post, I’ve instructed the ST (Haller) to attack the near post. The reason for this is purely to utilize the main strength of Haller – his height, Heading and Jumping Reach.

The Aim & Results

This corner kick routine is tested with Ajax in the Eredivisie multiple times. I’ve only counted the number of goals and corners received in one save and then the conversion ratio was 4.32%. 8 goals scored from 185 corners. Since then and with a few tweaks, I’ve managed between 10 to 15 corner goals.

I decided to highlight the screenshot below due to the total number of goals, as the simulation with 15 corner goals had a lower total goals scored.

FM22 Ajax Corner stats in Eredivisie

What’s important to note is that I’ve experienced that the player’s height, heading and jumping reach can have up to 50% affect on the effectiveness of this corner kick routine. When I first tested with the DCR (Timber) as the one attacking the near post, I scored 8 goals. By changing the player to a much taller (190cm compared to 179cm) I managed to score 14 goals!

FM22 Ajax corner routine near post analysis goal conversion

When making in-swinging corners like in this corner routine, the main aim is score directly from the corner as the ball finds his target (ST) immediately. But, if this fails, the routine also takes into account a flick-on from the near post towards the back post where the DCL is attacking.

Despite of my objectives, my hypothesis is that the routine will also work well if you vary the delivery of the corner: Mixed. I’m yet to try this, but with multiple zones that are attacked, I don’t see why not it should be effective. Perhaps with a minor tweak to decrease the focus on near post.

Download the Ajax near post corner kick routine for Football Manager 2022 in the link below.



+ many more corner kick routines to come in the future! Stay tuned for more attacking corners FM22 routines coming.

If you got a corner kick routine you’d like to share to our audience, get in touch via Twitter DM.

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