Marginal gains were vital to the Premier League underdogs and set pieces remain key to their Championship bid. Here’s one innovative routine you may want to rehearse...
1. For this corner, used successfully against Newcastle, Bournemouth set up with a striker (9) just in front of the goalkeeper. A goalscoring midfielder (10) lurked at the back of the six-yard box, while two sets of two attackers (5 & 6 and 7 & 8) occupied defenders, essentially clearing a path.
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2. The striker (9) runs out towards the corner-taker to play a short one-two, dragging the three defenders nearest the goalline with them. This creates space at the near post, which the two deepest attackers (5 & 6) move to occupy, taking their markers with them. Crucially, the other two attackers (7 & 8) create traffic with their markers at the far post, blocking off the marker of the attacking midfielder (10) - who uses the diversion to loop around to the vacant space between the penalty spot and the edge of the 18-yard box.
3. The corner taker, having received the ball short, plays a first-time ball low towards the penalty spot. At the same time, the advancing attackers (5, 6, 7 & 8) effectively become defenders, blocking their markers to protect the space behind them. The attacking midfielder (10) arrives into that space and is able to get a free shot off on goal. The key to this working is speed, timing and execution. In Bournemouth’s routine, Ryan Fraser took the one-two corner with Josh King, who dropped off to drag defenders away. Harry Wilson bent his run from the far post to the penalty spot to meet the ball, as Steve Cook, Callum Wilson, Nathan Ake and Philip Billing caused chaos in the box. Newcastle were also slow to react and made errors, but this was a very clever routine.
Head coach and Content editor of Women's Soccer Coaching. Uefa B coach working in the foundation phase (ages 5-11) of a Premier League club. Hannah has taken a team to the Gothia Cup, the world’s largest youth tournament, and plays for Ashford Town Women in tier four of the English pyramid.
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