Manchester United’s weakness from corners has been exposed numerous times this season, and most obviously against Tottenham a couple of weeks ago. However, after an in depth study, Opta have found some surprising and not so surprising results.
Erik ten Hag bemoaned his side’s defensive showing on set pieces last time out, as Richarlison scored and Dalot was forced to clear a direct attempt from a corner off the line. There was also time for Cristian Romero to head smack against the crossbar.
The Dutch coach was furious after the match and claimed, “we conceded goals that were soft. We have to defend better. It’s too easy, we are giving away goals”.
As expected, statistically United aren’t great at defending corners. Opta Analyst have released some fascinating figures which highlight the problems the club is facing from corner kicks.
It is stated that “set-pieces in general have accounted for 23% of United’s overall expected goals against (xGA) in the Premier League this season, with only Liverpool (25%) seeing a greater proportion of their xGA attributed to set-plays”.
Furthermore, “just over half of the corners they’ve faced this season (50.4%) have been met first by one of their opponents, with only Bournemouth (54%) and Everton (59.5%) doing worse in this respect”.
“40.7% of the corners United have conceded also led to at least one shot by their opponents; Chelsea (44.9%), Luton Town (44.1%) and Tottenham (42.7%) are the only clubs less effective at preventing attempts at corners. Those shots against United have been worth 5.7 xG, the second-worst total in the Premier League ahead of only rock-bottom Sheffield United (6.7 xG)”.
In their own right and in isolation, these figures are pretty damning. They certainly highlight what we all suspect, United do give up a lot of chances from corners.
The Athletic have already gone into detail on the team’s specific tactical weakness from back post corners.
Interestingly however, Opta suggests that United actually give up quite an average amount of quality chances from corners. Moreover, the problem is more with the general defensive structure that gives up a lot of chances from open play, which in turn leads to a greater number of corners faced.
“United have conceded 135 corners in the Premier League this term, which is the third most behind Sheffield United (146) and Spurs (143). They’ve let in four goals that are deemed to have occurred in the passage of play following a corner. That equates to 2.96% of corners faced, with only five clubs seeing a smaller proportion of corners conceded lead to a goal concession”.
Arsenal in contrast, have only conceded 58 corners but they have allowed five goals against them Therefore, 8.6% of corners they face, end up as a goal. Significantly worse than United.
In addition, quality of chance must also be analysed. “While United’s 5.7 xGA is the second worst, the average xG value of those attempts is 0.091, putting them around mid-table in the Premier League”.
Andre Onana has also not had the impact that was hoped by replacing David de Gea. The Spaniard was criticised for being too passive from corners but the Cameroonian has not really been much better. “Teams facing United managed to get the first contact on 33.9% of inswinging corners, second only to West Ham (37.3%), which doesn’t reflect particularly well on either Onana’s command of his area nor United’s aerial ability in general”.
However, the real problem at Old Trafford in terms of corners is the weakness of their attack.
United have taken the fourth most corners in the league with 134 but have not scored a goal in the first contact of a corner. They have scored a couple in a later passage of play connected to a corner but that isn’t really an indication of quality corner taking.
It is obvious to the naked eye that the Mancunian side are often not a real threat from corners but the reality of the statistics is eye-opening.
“While Arsenal have the best ratio of corners to goals from corners, scoring once every 16.4 corners on average, United’s record is among the worst, netting one goal for every 67 corners. That sees them rank 15th”.
“United’s stunted set-piece threat is really highlighted. The shots they’ve had at corners have an average xG value of just 0.06, which is the lowest of all 20 Premier League teams this season – it’s a damning summary of their work at corners”.
Clearly the side from the Theatre of Dreams have missed Harry Maguire and Casemiro’s aerial prowess but outside of them and maybe Scott McTominay, United are not a dangerous team in the air at all.
Another interesting point raised in Opta’s article is that Man United’s “proportion of outswinging corners (from crosses), which bend away from the danger zone, is among the highest partly due to how much time Luke Shaw has been out injured”. In other words, the lack of left footer on the other side has also cut down on the effectiveness of their crosses. It stands to reason that Shaw, Casemiro and Maguire will help but they won’t perform miracles.
Surprisingly, the much-maligned short corner is also bearing a little fruit. Opta state, “one area we can highlight as a positive is short corners. United have managed to record at least one shot following 37% of their short-corner routines, which only four teams (minimum 10 short corners) can better. That’s also a greater proportion than United’s crossed corners leading to a shot (34.7%)”.
All in all, it can be concluded that Manchester United are pretty bang average at defending corners but give too many away. However, the real problem with set plays at the club lies in the fact they are so poor at taking them.
