IN THE CLOSING MINUTES OF THE England Under-21 team’s match against Ukraine on Tuesday, Jermaine Pennant played a corner kick short to a team-mate in an attempt to keep the ball near the corner flag. When the ploy proved unsuccessful, he crossed the ball into the penalty area instead, and Darren Bent scored. Why bother with short corners, which seldom seem to achieve anything? Over to TheGame’s very own experts for the answer.
TONY CASCARINO
TheGame columnist
One of the drawbacks of a normal corner, some managers feel, is that it leaves too many attacking players static when the ball is delivered into the penalty box. So some employ the short corner to add variation (like near post flicks), helping to move the opposing players out of position, and also change the angle of delivery. Of course, the other reason is time wasting. Ideally corners should be whipped in with pace, so if the team doesn’t have a player that can do that consistently, then they may feel that a short corner is more suited.
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LAWRIE SANCHEZ
Northern Ireland manager
Invariably it is better to play a cross straight into the penalty area from a corner or an attacking set play. The more times you move the ball before you actually deliver, the more chance there will be of a foul-up. So if you dispatch a static ball, you increase your chances of a good ball in.
Two exceptions spring to mind. If you want to pull out two defenders so there’s more space to cross into, you might play a short corner. Then you might have a player who is very quick at playing off the cuff when he sees a defence is ill-prepared. I would never discourage such occasional individuality. After all, if you always play exactly the same set-plays, people will soon work your tactics out.
ALAN IRVINE
Everton assistant manager
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Our players are under instructions to play a short corner if they think there is an opportunity, and we’ve already scored from one in pre-season. But if you’re going to play it and get two against one, the ball has to go to the type of player who can eliminate that one defender with a pass or a dribble. Of course, other teams are organised to counter it. On Saturday, away to Crystal Palace, Leon Osman ran out on both sides to make himself available, but two Palace players came out to him straight away. Sometimes you actually set it up in order to drag a defender out of position. If they don’t come, you can play it anyway.