Welcome to the set-piece roundtable! Each month, we will travel to new leagues and nations across the world to bring to the limelight the most interesting and innovative tactical set-piece tweaks/ideas or any routines which stand out.
These ideas will range from extremely effective to ineffective, but we will make sure to inform you of the thought processes behind these routines to determine if there is room for these set plays to be repeated in the future.
In August, we turn to the Swedish top-flight, Allsvenskan, to discover what these teams have been up to while most of Europe has been on a break following the end of the season, with some player’s seasons only finishing a few weeks ago after the conclusion of EURO 2024.
As usual, the goal is to dissect the routines and teams that have gone under the radar to emphasise how important set pieces can be and bring to the surface some new and exciting set plays that can be emulated all over the world.
In this tactical analysis, we will look into the tactics behind the Allsvenskan’s most interesting set pieces, with an in-depth analysis of why each routine is used.
This set-piece analysis will examine why each routine has been innovative, with details on how and when the different routines are most efficient.
8) Decoy Runs to Stretch Man Marking Defences, Göteborg vs DJURGÅRDEN
Djurgården open the discussion with a fairly simple yet effective routine.
As we have mentioned in previous roundtable discussions, attacks facing a man-marking defensive structure have the most potential for destabilising the defensive unit due to how susceptible each member of the defensive side is to being moved around while they attempt to remain tight to their marker.
Attackers can make decoy runs away from the target areas to maximise the amount of space the intended receiver of the ball has to compete for the aerial duel and leave him isolated rather than battling numerous opponents in that duel.
As we see in the image below, two attackers located at the middle of the six-yard line make decoy runs towards the near edge of the six-yard box, which lures those defenders away from the target area highlighted below.
While those defenders are dragged away from the six-yard box, the two attackers located on the edge of the penalty area make runs into the target area, which is now left completely unopposed.
All that’s left is for the attackers to reach that open space before their marker can, which is possible through sharp movement to dismark and then attack the ball unopposed.
This routine is ranked lower because, in the second stage of dismarking, Djurgården fail to create any advantages for its attackers, as each has to attempt to outmanoeuvre a defender in order to access the free space unopposed or battle in an opposed aerial duel while attempting a header on goal.
In this particular instance, Lucas Bergvall, who has recently picked Spurs over Barcelona, manages to win his duel and direct the ball in the back of the net, but unless a mismatch is created on purpose, these aerial duels are a flip of the coin, a big gamble for such an important outcome.
7) Engaging & Distracting Zonal Defenders, Djurgården vs MALMÖ
Next up, Malmö’s last gasp, stoppage time winner against Djurgården in a top-of-the-table six-pointer.
Zonal defending is a prevalent method, but each defender is responsible for different zones in the system.
If one zone becomes left open for whatever reason, no one is left to cover, and it becomes extremely vulnerable.
One way in which it is possible to unsettle a zone is through setting a screen to prevent a defender from being able to attack the ball.
Once this happens, that zone is unguarded, free to attack unless the defender can ‘break’ the screen.
A defender can ‘break’ a screen by either changing their own position to gain a clear path towards the ball or by changing the position of the player, setting the screen to again gain a clear path to attack the ball.
This is hard to capture with images, but the defender moves towards the screen setter, shifts him a couple of steps to the side and attempts to move back to his original starting position.
While the screen is broken, Malmö are happy with the outcome, as the defender has been distracted enough for his positioning to be suboptimal when battling for the aerial duel and protecting his zone.
The zone has been unsettled and is vulnerable to the incoming Malmö attacker.
The image below shows how, by the time the cross is delivered, the defender is still moving backwards as he attempts to jump for the ball.
Due to this, he cannot reach the same height the attacker can, giving the attacker the advantage in the aerial duel.
This is only possible through good timing, as the screen could have been set earlier, and the defender would’ve had enough time to break it and return to position.
However, through the last-second timing, the defender has no time to react adequately to the screen that is set.
This highlights the value of set pieces, with one successful corner kick routine being enough to convert a draw into a victory within seconds.
At the same time, it is also important to add that this is only possible through precise and consistent corner kick deliveries to land exactly where the screen is performed.
6) Finding Space on the Outskirts, GÖTEBORG vs Elfsborg
When teams cannot guarantee consistent deliveries into a specific zone, it can be more beneficial to target spaces on the outside of defensive blocks rather than trying to be incisive and finding/creating gaps in the middle of them.
As seen in the image below, Elfsborg’s heavy zonal presence leaves no space to attack the six-yard box unless a late run arrives at the near side.
The space is on either side of the defensive unit.
In this particular example, the cross is floated to the far side, where there is a higher margin for error, as the receiver has more time to react to the ball should it deviate from the target location.
The defenders on the far side of the box are shifted towards the goal to increase the receiver’s space as well.
As the ball arrives at the far side, we can see the other attackers find spaces around the six-yard line, where they can potentially redirect the ball, which will be volleyed across the six-yard box.
5) Creating Space in Zonal Blocks, GAIS vs Göteborg – Attacking Free Kick
In fifth, GAIS are the only side with a free kick set play being discussed.
The nearest zonal defender from the free kick below is in line with the penalty spot, and his role is to protect his side from any balls being delivered across the front of the block.
GAIS use a decoy run as shown in the image below, to drag the defender away from his teammates, stretching the gap in the defensive unit.
Once this is accomplished and the space in front of the defensive unit (along the red dashed line) increases, an in-swinging delivery can be made towards the back post, with attackers being given enough space to attack the ball without disruption.
Redirecting a goalward cross in the last moments gives goalkeepers little time to react, and this becomes an effective goal-scoring method.
4) Arriving in Dangerous Areas from Outside the Box, Värnamo vs MALMÖ
As the title suggests, arrivals from outside the box are yet another effective method of giving players the opportunity to attack the ball without disruption.
The players on the edge of the box are usually there to collect loose balls and are unmarked, giving them a clear path to attack the ball without a defender disrupting their movement.
In this particular routine, Malmö use an in-swinging delivery to force the opposition to sit deeper and protect the spaces in the six-yard box.
Furthermore, all attackers purposefully form a pack surrounding the goalkeeper.
Combining both elements allows Malmö to trap the defence inside the six-yard box, which means any delivery to the outskirts of the six-yard box is free to attack.
In the image, we can see the player arriving from deep, with no one around him, to volley the ball into the back of the net from a close distance.
3) Short Corner Routine; Upgrading the Cross, Värnamo vs HÄCKEN
In third place, the short corner performed by Häcken is fairly simple yet effective and has similarly been used by Eddie Howe at both Newcastle and Bournemouth.
Short corners are effective due to the ease provided for attackers to lose their markers to attack the ball unopposed.
As the ball is moved into open play, defenders have to adjust their positions in relation to the ball, and so they are too distracted to be in the optimal position to protect both space and the player, who has so little time to make their decisions.
The image above shows the ball being played into the penalty area, from where the cross can be ‘upgraded’, with the distance being closer to the goal.
From this distance, once an attacker manages to gain a yard of space from their marker, the defender has no time to recover his position to deal with the cross.
When the player inside the box receives the pass, he has his back to goal and is not in a position to deliver the ball into the box.
He must set the ball back to the corner taker, but in order to allow them to get as close to the goal as possible, his first touch must go away from goal to attract pressure from the defender and guide him away from the byline.
After that first touch takes the defender away from the byline, the player rolls the ball behind him into the space highlighted below.
From there, the corner taker can approach the ball and deliver into the box from an ‘upgraded’ position.
2) Using Clusters to Pin the Goalkeeper, Sirius vs HÄCKEN
Häcken take up two of the top three spots in the most interesting set plays of the Swedish top-flight.
Earlier, we discussed the benefits of crowding the goalkeeper, to trap opponents and the goalkeeper in tight spaces, preventing them from being able to step up and intercept crosses.
The image below displays the white shirts surrounding the blue, suffocating them in a small space.
This makes the near post zone, which is highlighted, easily accessible.
Through good timing, the attacker on the far side of the six-yard box is able to arrive in the space as the ball does and flick the ball into the near post without having to gain separation.
The use of an out-swinging delivery further encourages the goalkeeper to step further up from the goal line, as the ball is likely to curve away from the six-yard box, which he wants to claim.
As a result, the near post is left unguarded, and the attacker can sneak in and finish the chance from a tight angle, with the goalkeeper unable to cover the space in time.
1) Decoy Runs, Near Post Flick and a Back Post Finish, Västerås vs MJÄLLBY
Mjällby tops the ranking through a well-worked, two-part routine.
Their coach, Anders Torstensson, has them battling near the top of the table, with hopes of European football after they earned promotion back in 2020.
When facing a hybrid defensive system, Mjällby must defeat zonal and man-marking defences to create an excellent goal-scoring opportunity.
The first stage in this routine involves the need to perform a flick-on from the near side of the six-yard box, which is only possible by destabilising the zonal defenders.
Mjällby achieve this through decoy runs, where we can see in the image a run is made in front of the zone they want to target, to lure the zonal defender away from the black area.
The defender protecting the zone steps up to track the initial run in case he attempts to flick it on, but in doing so, he vacates the target zone, which the Mjällby player attacks from his starting position by the near post.
Once the player makes the first contact at the near side of the six-yard box, the other attackers can arrive in the six-yard box to make the second contact, redirecting the ball into the back of the net.
As mentioned earlier in the article, losing the man-markers is easier after the first contact.
The defenders turn their attention to the ball, allowing the attackers to make darting movements to the goal unopposed.
Conclusion
This detailed analysis explores the ideas and benefits behind some of the most innovative set-piece tactics used in recent months in the Allsvenskan.
This article presents effective set-piece routines that clubs globally could implement.
Observing the various strategies teams employ to gain advantages is intriguing, emphasising the potential to secure essential points through set plays.
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