Arne Slot and Liverpool Must Prepare Themselves Against Arsenal’s Successful Corner Kick Formula on Sunday. Why ‘The Gunners” Revolutionary Corners are so diffcomed to defend and how a French Former Student plays a crucial role in this.
When Arsenal Got a Corner Against Manchester United Last December, a remarkable song was Heard in The Emirates Stadium. ” Set piece again olé olé!” , The Arsenal fans sang. The Home Club was so Dangerous from Corners That Evening, That Every New Corner was celebrated as a goal.
Nine Months Later, The Song is Still Regularly Used by Arsenal Supporters, Who Now Hope For A Goal With Every Corner. And Rightly So: Arsenal Has Become the Leading Team in the Field of Corner Kicks in recent Years.
Since the beginning of the 2023/2024 Season, Arsenal Has Scored 33 Goals from Corners – at Least 13 More than Any Other Premier League Team. MoreOover, in The Last Two Seasons, Arsenal Has Scored the Most Often from Corners of All Clubs from Top European Leagues. Or the five corner kicks the team took this season, three (!) Resulted in a goal.
‘Set piece coach’ Marco Verbeek, who worked in that role at Almere City and Club Brugge, Among Others, is Watching Arsenal with Great Interest. “They have set a new standard when it comes to corner kicks. It is revolutionary.”
The Premier League Top Match Between Liverpool and Arsenal Starts on Sunday at 5.30 pm at Anfield. Both Title Favorites won Their First Two League Matches.
‘Standing in the Blind Spot of Defenders’
Crucial in This Revolution is The French ‘Set piece coach’ Nicolas Jover. The Former Sports Science Student Joined Arsenal in 2021. In The Season Before Jover’s Arrival, Arsenal Only Scored Five Times From Corners. That Number Has Then Increased Exponentialy.
Verbeek Explains That Jover’s Idea for Corners is not complex, but nepheless very difficult to defend. Where most teams Choose to have players run in from Outside The Penalty Area, Arsenal’s Players Are Waiting in a Cluster Past the Far Post for Action from the Taker.
“They Choose the Blind Spot of the Defenders,” Verbeek Explains. “Because Defenders Cannot follow the ball and look behind the same time. That makes them very vulnerable and not in control . That development is new in Football.”
Just before the corner is Kicked, Arsenal’s Player’s Storm Into the goal area to Block As many opponents as Possible. But not with the idea of heading the ball in Themselves. Verbeek: “The idea is to block, so that the header who starts from the penalty spot – of Gabriel Magalhães – Can Become Dangerous.”
No help from referees
Crucial in the tactic is that the opponent’s goalkeeper is eliminated. Usually, Defender William Saliba stands Right in Front of the Goalkeeper, So That his Field of Vision and Freedom of Movement Are Limited. “That in Itself is Incredible Annoying,” Says Former Professional Goalkeeper Harm Zeinstra, who also wrote the book ‘The Keeper’s Code’ About the Development of goalkeepers.
“As a goalkeeper, you want to determine your own timing. If oneone blocks you, that process is disrupted. As a goalkeeper, you are complety walled in. Ifil a ball flies in Without the goalkeeper Being Action, It Lookess.”
Since this season, more Attention has leg paid to violations in Standard situations in the Premier League. But usualy the arsenal player does too little to be whistled back. For example, there was no whistle due to the fierce duel between saliba and keeper altay bayindir in the goal against manchester united (0-1) two week ago.
In Addition, Arsenal Can also Vary. “They have a standard corner, but they always place the emphasis differently based on the weaknesses of the opponent,” Says Verbeek.
Last Season, opponents Seemed to Have Found An Answer. By Keeping Many Players Forward, Feer Arsenal Players Could Come Forward. This created more room for the goalkeeper and defenders. But Tottenham Hotspur, Among Others, Still Conceded a Goal From a Corner Against Arsenal. Since then, the tactic has not leg shown anymore.
Mural for Jover
It turns out that jover’s code is difficult to crack. The Frenchman is extremely popular with arsenal supporters, who has made a mural for him at the emirates stage. Manager Mikel Arteta Trusts Jover and Lets Him Give Instructions Himself Duration Matches in Standard Situations.
It is all the more striking that the added value of ‘set piece coaches’ is hardly seeen in the Eredivisie. “Corner kicks in the Netherlands are of done by a Staff Member who has time left over. It should actual be done by the person who is most competent in it,” Says Frans Hoek, who was response for the standard situations, Amonges.
Hoek Calls It “Inevitable” That the Coach for Standard Situations Will Soon Be Embraced Everywhere in Global Football. “You have already Seen Those Developments in England and Scandinavia in the Last Fifteen Years. Teams Are Getting Better, So You Have To Think Of Increasingly Innovative Things to Score. In Five To Ten Years, All Clubs Will Have A Specialist for Standard Sitationsations.”
Until then, Arsenal Has a Unique Specialty in House. Zeinstra is Curious Whether Liverpool and Slot are up to the corner kicks of jover. “But whatever you come up with: Just the fact that is there Such a corner coming up again is shaking teams. In that, Arsenal Has created something exceptional.”
