FM24 | Revamped set pieces. My pros and cons

January 12, 2024

It took many years but the Football Manager 2024 brought us the new, or maybe better worded, revamped system of how we can set the set pieces. It would be wrong to say it’s completely new because some things didn’t change but I will mention it later in this post.

I wanted to post a couple of things I like but also a couple of things I don’t like (and in the case of some of them I don’t understand why it is like this). So, there are my pros and cons of the revamped set pieces in FM24.

“…new coaches will have a big impact on your careers pretty much straight away as they are the driving force behind our refreshed Set Piece Creator.

This creator marks a significant shift from how we’ve approached set pieces in previous editions of Football Manager. Now, the focus of every routine and scenario is on the players with the most appropriate Attributes instead of their positions in your tactic.” [from the Set Pieces refresh and coaches debut blog by SI].

WHAT I LIKE

1) Priority list. The main change of FM24 is how the roles are divided into its categories: Aerial ThreatBox Threat, Recovery Defender and Creators. This change also brought us a new Priority list.

This list “determines which roles you think are the most important at each type of set piece. If one of your players, based on their Attributes, is ranked number one in more than one role, they’ll be assigned to the one that’s positioned higher in the priority list.”

And I have to say tweaking this priority list and the ranking of my players within this priority list is the best thing within the whole FM24 set piece creator in my eyes. I think I spent more time tweaking this priority list than playing the game itself. I’m in the middle of the second season while writing this, that speaks for itself.

I, for example, like to have Creators set as the 2nd choice while using short corner kick delivery because I want to “create something” rather than just pump the ball to the box. If nothing more, this priority list and the ranking within each category allow you to play with it more than in the previous editions.

The fact the priority list and the ranking allow you to control where the players will be even if you rotate the full squad is, of course, a very pleasing bonus.

I would probably rather use the Decision attribute instead of Long Shots for the creator’s group but that’s for a different kind of debate.

2) Routine frequency. I don’t remember the exact phrase from the previous editions but when you had loaded more than one set piece routine in the past, it always told you something like “the routines will be rotated continuously (randomly) during the match” or something like that.

But FM24 has changed this “random change” to a very useful thing Set Piece Frequency. This popup window appears when you create/duplicate/load a new routine and you can decide what routine will be used more often, average or less often. The most important thing in my eyes is that you can change this frequency manually whenever you want. Just hit the button with the routine name and click on the “Modify Routine Frequencies” option.

I, for example, had my best aerial threat player injured for two weeks so I changed the priority and used the short routine more often than the routine with the near and far post delivery.

3) Overal-design-overhaul. I don’t play this because of the graphics quality or design. But I have to say the overall change of the creator is good and it’s a welcome change after so many editions (FM16 - FM23) with the same green pitch.

The popup windows, like when you click on the player dot on the pitch, feel more familiar and more natural. It’s also nice and useful that you can see all the important things in one popup window - the player, his key attributes, the role he is assigned to and there’s also another button to change his group. As I said, it’s a useful change.

There is nothing unnecessarily flashy here, on the contrary, everything seems quite decent. It looks better and it fits better to the skin overall.

WHAT I DON’T LIKE

1) Throw-ins. The already mentioned blog by SI has a chapter about the throw-ins. It’s called “A more authentic approach to throw-ins”. But how “authentic” it would be if you would come to the training camp of some big club and you would tell the manager and coaches they are not able to set up the throw-in routines for the defensive and middle third of the pitch? Just leave it random and let your players what they want to do.

Yes, in FM24, we can influence how your throw-in routines will look only if it’s a long throw-in routine within the attacking third of the pitch. One of my favourite routines in the Football Manager, but also in real-life football, is a clever movement of the players in combination with short delivery. Just a simple pass & move after a throw-in. But the only thing I can influence within throw-ins now is the long throw-in routine.

The rest is influenced by the AI and players. I select “work the line” or “retains possession” and I have to pray my players will have enough sense to not make something stupid. You can have as many set pieces coaches as possible or you can do all your set pieces by yourself but this is something you can’t influence in any way. Stupid in my eyes because as you can’t edit the routine, you can’t even select the right players for the right roles based on the priority list.

“Throw-in will be taken by the most suitable player on the designated side of the pitch.” But what about the rest of the players? Nothing. There are not even the key attributes for each role within the throw-in routines when you click on the players’ icon. When you switch to attacking routines, you can’t even see the names of the roles. The “middle third” throw-ins don’t even have the defensive routine available.

“More authentic” = more automated.

Also, the screenshot below shows when you hit the preview option within the defensive third routine of the defensive throw-in. I can’t influence where my players will be. I can’t influence the priority list. I can’t influence the wrong position and roles.

But it’s more authentic.

I just want to control my team and my players. Instead of this, I can see my player staying forward while he is set to mark the far post…

2) Defensive routines. Just one routine? Really? Another thing I really don’t like is the absence of the defensive corner and free-kick routines. By the word absence, I mean mainly the fact you can have only one defensive routine for all corners and for all free kicks.

You can have separate routines for shooting range, and wide and deep free-kicks. But you can have only one routine for defensive corners. The box with “Remove Routine, Reset to Default” and other options doesn’t offer the possibility to create a new one or duplicate the current routine in the same way as within the attacking routines.

There are also some new visuals “to illustrate how strong teams and individual players are at both attacking and defending set pieces” within the data hub in FM24. But even if you know that your next opponent has a dangerous near-post routine, you have to adjust your defensive routine before the match because your general defensive routine is based on the zonal marking without marking the near post. And next week you are playing against someone else who prefers to deliver corners to the far post. The only option is to create and save all the possible variations and load one of them ahead of every match.

3) Posts marking set-up. When you join a new club or you start a new save, there’s a simple “quiz” with a couple of questions about how you want to set up your set pieces. One of these questions is “What posts do you want players marking whilst defending?”. Three possible options in the game: both posts, near posts, or no posts. Do you miss some options? No? I do.

I miss the “Far post” as one of the options. It’s my personal preference probably but I have liked to use Mark Far Post for many years. But the current version of the game and the set piece creator offer only already mentioned options for the automatic set-up of set pieces. That means even If I would like to let my set pieces to some coach (I don’t want to), he will always ignore defending the far post area.

“Why am I always conceding goals from far post corners? Why did the set piece coach do nothing with it?” So, I have to take responsibility for set pieces and set it all by myself.

4) Type of delivery vs. corner taker. When I started creating routines in FM24, I was happy with the option “Set player XYX as the default taker from both sides” and the fact you can have it both ticked and unticked and you are not forced to use one option or the second one. But I found one thing very annoying.

When the popup window appears and you are trying to select the possible corner taker, you have “left footers” and “right footers”. But it doesn’t matter if you select the type of delivery as inswinger or outswinger, it will always search only left food players for the left side and right foot players for the right side.

And you can’t move the right-footed player to the left side and vice versa. Not sure where the player labelled as “either footed” would end. Maybe some description would be enough because right now, the only way how to influence who will take the corner is to switch between inswinging and outswinging delivery.

COACHES AND WHAT DIDN’T CHANGE

1) Set piece coaches. For me, personally, it doesn’t matter if there are set pieces coaches in the game. But that really is just a personal thing because I don’t trust AI and I rather do everything by myself in the game in terms of tactics, set pieces, squad selection, training etc.

So, I think the only reason why I should have the set piece coach in my save is that he is doing routines I can’t set by myself. Like throw-ins. He is helping with the set-piece training sessions. But on the other side, I’m responsible for set pieces so the game probably will always consider myself as the main one.

2) The movement. One thing that changed is that roles don’t have more than three key attributes. For example, a player who is set to attack near post had 6 key attributes in the past including Jumping Reach, Strength, Heading, Off The Ball, Bravery, Finishing and Decisions. In FM24, there are only the first three attributes.

It’s because it was divided between Aerial Threats and Box Threats. The box threats players now have anticipation, finishing and off the ball. But the roles as attack near post etc. are the same. It’s logical to use someone as a box threat if he has the mentioned three attributes higher than the aerial threats. I’m glad SI made this a little bit easier and reduced the amount of key attributes for each role.

But nothing has changed to the fact that your main aerial threat who is responsible for attacking the near post should be able to move at the right time to the right place, not only be a tall player with a lot of strength. No matter if the off-the-ball attribute is here or not.

CONCLUSION

The overall change of the set piece editor is useful and good in my eyes. It was much needed and I think it has some potential for sure, but I hope it won’t stop with this overhaul, and it won’t be like this for another seven or eight years as with the previous set piece creator.

Things like set pieces will always be a little bit complicated and not easy to implement in the game because of the style of this game. It’s based on the positioning and the off-the-ball movement principles. It will always have some limitations. I can understand it.

But it would be nice if the game would not create its own limitations in terms of “authentic-automated” routines you can affect. It kills the enjoyment from actual playing and it creates more “watching how someone else/AI is playing” the game.

All pictures in this post were taken from the game while using the default FM24 skin. It’s not a mistake but I made it on purpose to avoid some potential bugs within my own custom skin while using some outdated files.

Thanks for reading as always. Take care.

FM Slack alert!

There were a lot of changes within many social media including Twitter (now “X”) and it’s not the same as in the past. We can’t see many things due to the algorithm, weird preferences and many other reasons I don’t even want to know.

There are many Discord servers and I’m sure they are good and useful. But I will probably always be a bigger fan of Slack. Or better worded of the Football Manager Slack. Feel free to join us with this link.

You will find a short channel summary in the ‘generalchat’ so it will be easier for you to navigate through the channels.

Follow @FMRensie

FM23 | My beloved set piece routine - short throw-in

December 6, 2022

Throw-ins are definitely one of the most underestimated parts of set pieces from all routines. No matter how much anyone talks about long throw-ins by Rory Delap or how much we are moaning about the same boring set-piece creator in the game with very limited options to create something new or original. Personally, I’m not a fan of long throw-ins. There is always a too big chance it will be cleared the same as a bad cross. I’m and always will be the biggest fan of the short throw-in routine. And the same as in the past, it was also the first routine I created in FM23.

FM22 | Corner Kick strategy - three same routines with different delivery

June 17, 2022

When I found out that I scored just three goals from corners during the 2026/2027 Ekstraklasa campaign within my Football Manager 2022 save with Warta Poznan, it was that imaginary raised finger that I’m doing something wrong and I’m not interested in the save/game as I should be and as I like to be. I didn’t care about the right corner takers, I didn’t care about the right positioning of players within or around the penalty area and so on. If something is significant for me and my style of playing FM, it has to be the fact that I like to pay attention to almost every detail of the game. And the set pieces, mainly corners and throw-ins, are not an exception.

Another thing is that I spent more than two months without playing the game and only thanks participating in the La Copa Club World Cup tournament and chatting with friends about the game took me back to playing the game regularly. And if I want to play the game properly (read = not with key highlights, not with everything left to assistant/DoF/HoYD etc.), I have to do something with this shi*t including corner kick statistic.

That’s why I decided to create new routines within the simple strategy from both sides of the pitch and test it during the 2027/2028 season. How did it go? What do I like about it?

Corner(s) SET UP

In the middle of the 2027/2028 season, we had 5 corner kick goals in 10 Champions League matches. We added also 1 corner goal in 3 domestic cup matches, 1 corner goal in 1 Super Cup match and 8 corner goals in 19 Ekstraklasa matches. When I made simple counts, it was more than during the previous two seasons together. The more I think about it, the sadder is it.

What do new routines look like?

Firstly, one more side note. If you will search for something like “tips for set pieces”, most of the articles and videos will probably contain that you should create more than only one routine to not be predictable to your opponents. I agree with the fact that the more routines you have prepared, the better for you. But that’s mainly a case of a real-life football. It’s only my opinion but I was the same success with set-pieces in the past no matter if I used only one routine or I have three different routines with different delivery etc. But maybe I did it wrong.

Hubert Turski and his attributes for Attack Near/Far post

Ignoring what I wrote above, my behind-thinking before creating this strategy, was to create absolutely the same three routines with the same basic positioning of attacking players in and around the penalty area but with a different type of delivery. Historically, the most successful routines were with near and far post deliveries. During the last two or three FM editions, I experimented with the 6 Yard Box delivery. So, that was easy, three types of delivery were decided.

Now, the positioning and roles.

I always said that the set pieces in the current set-up and how the game works are 80% about the off the ball movement, the rest is about the delivery quality. And this experiment and testing are the best proof for me. The main change within these routines is that I’m using three players with the Go Forward role. I usually used only one or two and I usually rather used someone to mark keeper. The routines with near/far post delivery are easy and the player with the best Off The Ball attribute is set to Attack Near Post and Attack Far Post. In my case, it’s Hubert Turski who is absolutely perfect for set pieces.

That means all three central defenders, big men, are set to Go Forward to create some proper mess in the penalty area. The big change is when the routine with the 6 Yard Box delivery is selected by our corner taker. As I mentioned above, the off the ball movement is more important in my eyes than the delivery itself. It means that my strikers with better the off the ball attribute in comparison with central defenders are set to Go Forward and two defenders take their place to attack near & far post. The reasons are very simple: 1. I need the right movement in the box and players with the better off the ball movement to have a bigger chance to reach the right place and 2. the big central defender attacking the near post can cause the fact that the keeper won’t be able to catch the ball easily if the delivery is shorter.

Another change in the set-up in comparison with the previous routines is that I’m using only one player with the Lurk Outside Area and I’m using the Attack Ball from Edge of Area role after some time (To be absolutely fair, I think it’s the role I will change in the future because this player does nothing).

I’m using just one player with stay back role and another one is set to stay back if needed. I saw that it was always needed while my team played in the Champions League = against bigger and better teams, but, for example against smaller teams in the domestic cup, this player was roaming higher up the pitch.

Near Post delivery

6 Yard Box delivery

Far Post delivery

Example - a friendly match against Widzew Lodz

I made and uploaded a video from the friendly match against Widzew Lodz that my team played during the winter pre-season part of the season. We had 8 corner kicks and scored two goals in this match. You can see a couple of things in that video:

A simple goal scored from the near post
A goal was scored from the far post but it was the routine with the 6 Yard Box delivery, but any player in the penalty area was able to reach the ball and it dropped to our player at the far post.
Both goals were scored after crosses by Matuszewski who has a corner attribute of 11. Corners from the left side were taken by Kacper Duda with a corner attribute of 13 and his crosses were not too good this time.

The worst “new feature”

There are many new things in every new FM edition. Some are good, some are bad, and some of them you don’t even notice because they are just so average. If some “new feature” was the worst recently, it has to be the fact that we are no longer able to have different set-piece takers for different loaded routines. In the past, we were able to create or load three different routines and we were able to select different takers for each routine. That meant you were able to have outswinging delivery for near post routine, inswinging delivery for far post routine or you were able to change taker for short routine and set your traditional taker and best crosser as the one who offers the short option.

But the option to select different takers is gone. And I have to say that’s one of the things I’m missing a lot and it’s the most stupid decision in my eyes. The developers is trying to make the game more realistic but they are making more and more stupid “new features” like this every year.

With this strategy to use the same routine with three different types of delivery, the option to select various takers for inswinging and outswinging delivery would be ideal how to not be predictable for the opponents. But the developers said no.

A small change

As I mentioned the Attack Ball from Edge of Area role above, I did exactly what I mentioned. I took this role off our set-up ahead of the second part of the 2027/2028 season. It’s not some critical change, it’s just about the positioning.

I put this player back to the Come Short role. I used this role within both near and far post routines through this save. And also in the past, for example when I wrote about the false short routine in FM21. If nothing more, this player can attract one of the defenders despite he will not receive the ball from the taker. And that means our opponent will have one player less in the penalty area to defend us.

Near Post & 6 Yard Box & Far Post routines with the Come Short role, the rest of the set-up is the same as in the pictures above.

No matter if you would try to use the first option with the Attack Ball from Edge of Area role or the second option with the Come Short role, the main principles of all three routines are the same. I only thought that the another player around the penalty area is useless in this case.

The most important thing is to take advantage of my/your player with the best possible Off The Ball movement/attribute. In my case, it’s Hubert Turski until he will leave my squad because he is wanted around Europe.

But it’s nice how it works in overal. I don’t want it will be a goal machine and will produce a goal every match. I’m happy when I see exactly what was my thoughts even if the corner doesn’t result to scoring.

Thanks for reading.

Follow @FMRensie

FM22 | Far Post Corner Kick Routine

February 22, 2022

It’s around two years since I created this corner kick routine and I wrote about it. It’s a Far Post routine despite most of my players being aimed to attack the near post. The reason is simple - take opponent’s players from the far post area and give enough time and space to the best possible header from our team at the far post to find the cross.

I didn’t use it too much during the previous edition (FM21) but I decided to use it within my current FM22 save with Warta Poznan. What does the setup look like? Is it successful? Let’s take a look…

THE SETUP

As I said already, the main aim is to concentrate most of my players (and so defenders too) around the near post. The set-up is almost like for the near post in the end including the one player who comes short to take another defender with him.

And the rest is up to the player who is set to attack the far post. The same as in the past, I’m not too far into the save and the players (newgens mainly) are not some world-class players or wonderkids. That means I have to rotate two or three players here depending on their important attributes like decisions or off the ball.

Two players are set to lurk outside the area as they (FINALLY! after five or six years) don’t stay hand-in-hand at the same place. They are important mainly when the ball is cleared from the penalty area. Again, the decisions attribute is one of the most important parts of this role as these players have to be able to think quickly to earn the cleared ball back. And start a new attack.

IN OR OUT-SWINGING DELIVERY?

I’m sure one of the most frustrating things within set pieces for all coaches and fans (mainly them) is when the set-piece taker sends the ball straight to the first defender or straight to the goalkeeper’s gloves. The set-piece buzz is over within a second. And the only thing you can hope for is your opponent won’t take it as their advantage for a counter-attack.

I hate it too. And that’s the main reason why I’m using out-swinging delivery right now because my corner takers are not as good as I would like and their crosses can be long/high/slow… simply, not good enough. And my idea was to avoid in-swinging crosses over the 6-Yard box where the keeper will catch the ball easily. The ball has to make a bigger curve to reach the far post. But it’s the better way in my eyes until the corner taker(s) will be better.

EXAMPLE 1 - goal straight from the far post

This first example is from the Europa Conference League 2023/2024 as we beat AC Sparta Prague away from home thanks to this goal in the 88th minute of the match. It’s the most simple way how to score from this routine as Sebastian Musiolik who was set to attack the far post beat his defender this time and sent the ball straight to the net.

The moment when my (or your) player decide how and where he will go thanks to his off the ball movement and his decisions attribute is the key factor for every set-piece routine. You can have the best possible set-piece taker (I don’t have) but if the main target of the delivery has the wrong movement, he won’t find the right space or place to find the cross.

I think there is also a nice example of what I meant when I mentioned the out-swinging delivery and not allowing the keeper to catch the ball easily.

EXAMPLE 2 - goal from the near post

The second example shows one of my all-time favourite types of goals from a corner kick. I have been a big fan of some kind of back pass in the penalty area or the kind of pass that is made because the “assister” knew the scorer is in the better position and he has a better chance to score. It’s not only within set pieces of course.

This goal was scored against Legia Warszawa and their strong defenders (at least in-game) so it’s even more worthy for me. I think the ideal combination for this would be if the player who is set to attack the far post would also have a vision attribute of 20, the same as flair, jumping reach and strength. That would mean you would have a strong creative visionary who would be able to find other players. But that’s just a dream.

You can expect that this routine example can lead to the moment when a lot of goals or opportunities will end with the offside check by VAR/referees. The same as it happened when we scored this goal in the example. But Musiolik was on-side.

Is it successful? If I will compare it with the FM20 save in Mexico with Celaya FC when I created this routine, the simple answer is NO. But I like to take a look around the corner literally. I think we have to consider the fact that I had much better players when I started using it two years ago in comparison with my current save. Not only players who are set to attack the far post but also the corner taker(s) who are responsible for the delivery.

I will try to find a better set-piece taker in the future
I will try to develop my current set-piece taker and his attributes for set pieces in the future of the save. My attributes threshold is set to 13 as the starting point for excellent so if my takers will reach at least this value, I will be happy.
My main two players for the attack far post role within this routine are both players who are already experienced enough, I just need to find the way how to develop their attributes like off the ball. Or at least keep the values at the same level.

I started using it in the middle of the third season and tried several things. The team scored three goals in the opening nine competitive matches. It’s not too many, you say? Maybe not but it’s great and rewarding when it happens. For example when it’s a winning goal in the last minute of the match…

Thanks for reading. And don’t forget, it’s only a game, so let’s play it and test what the game can offer to you.

Take care.

Follow @FMRensie

FM22 | Long Throw-In Routine. Yes or no?

January 21, 2022

This post is not a typical piece of “hey, let’s a look at how I scored a lot of goals thanks to this routine”. The truth is that I didn’t score a lot of goals with this long throw-in routine during my second season in Poland with Warta Poznan. I made a short video with four examples but I think I scored three or four more.

Personally, I enjoyed thinking about what’s wrong with the routine and the set-piece creator (in my eyes of course) much more rather than sharing “THE BEST THROW-IN LONG ROUTINE OF ALL!!!”. Or insert corner/free-kick routine. I know the reason why all the videos have this type of title and headline (hitz everywhere) but I’m sure we are far away from the moment when there will be someone who will create something “the best”.

The biggest issue of the long throw-in routine

It’s nothing new and it’s one of the most common things that put me off using the long throw-in routine, even in the previous editions. It’s nice you can have up to three different set-piece routines created/loaded, but the fact you can’t affect which routine will be used and mainly where it will be used. That leads to the situations when your throw-in taker decides to use the long routine on his own half of the pitch and the rest of the players from the original set-up are in absolutely different positions/places.

Most of these routines end with the misplaced throw or the taker sends the ball with the long throw to the lone striker who is defended by two or more players and he can do nothing against them.

I’m not a statistical expert and I’m not playing the game to study every stat in the game but for me, the throw-in example in the short clip above is a misplaced pass. Or lost possession. And as you can see, the game recognises too when you add the “Lost Possession” column to the view in the Analytical Data/Players/Passes of a specific match. Mateusz Bakowicz, my main WBR in the match against Legia, took has 11x misplaced passes and three of them were long throws to nowhere (3 from 8 throws in total during the match!). Two of these bad throws were in 87th and 93rd minutes.

We didn’t concede straight after that throw in the 93rd minute but yes, we conceded the fourth goal in the fourth minute of the stoppage time, just tens seconds later. So it all can lead to it.

POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENT?

I don’t know if it’s even possible but the more I think about it, the more I’m sure it would be great for throw-in routines if we would be able to create routines for defensive and attacking half of the pitch. Why? Because of what I mentioned slightly above. We are creating the routine with the view of attacking the opponent’s goal. That’s why we place our players to attacking roles like Attack Near/Far Post, Lurk At Near Post etc.

But when the same routine is used on your own half of the pitch (= in a different positioning and shape because you don’t attack, you just want to keep the ball, you can’t cross to the near post from around your own corner kick flag), it’s absolute chaos and most of these situations are useless. Mostly in comparison with the short throw-in routine as that’s a routine during which you have a more compact shape on both halves of the pitch.

“This will instruct throw-in takers to generally seek to launch the ball long into the opposition’s defensive third of the pitch in a bid to trasition into attack as quickly as possible.”

I think I understand the above official description of the long throw-in correctly. But I don’t understand how my players can put the ball to the opposition’s defensive third of the pitch from their defensive corner flag…

DECISION ATTRIBUTE

If I will be so romantic and a little bit naive, I will trust the fact that the decision attribute can affect the thinking of my own players and they are so clever/stupid that they will decide what they and their teammates need the most in a specific situation.

Example of how I would like to see it works: my wing-back is set as a throw-in taker. For all created/loaded routines. He will use his decisions attribute and he will be able to decide where and when to use long, short or quick routines.

How it worked: both wing-backs are set as throw-in takers and their decisions attribute values are 11 (WBR) and 12 (WBL). In the first match, I tried, my WBR took 7 throw-ins - 5x long routine, 2x short routine. We scored one goal after a long throw-in routine, the rest of these long routines were lost balls as 1) the positioning of other players were wrong and 2) he just sent the ball to nowhere. Our WBL players took 5 throws in the same match and all of them were short routines [I should also note that both our WBL players have Long Throws attribute value of 9 and 10 respectively in comparison with the WBR who has 10].

Experiment? I decided to try one simple thing in the upcoming match - I took a player with the highest value of decisions to attribute and I set him as our throw-in taker despite his long throws attribute being very low.

Result?

1st match: We had 14 Throw-Ins during the match. Lukasz Tralka, our CM(D) player with the best decisions attribute was set as the only one throw-in taker for both left and right side. He took 6 from these 14 throw-ins - one long routine, five short routines. The rest throws were taken by wing-backs.
2nd match: We had 13 Throw-Ins. Tralka took 4 of them - 3x long, 1x short.

So, what’s the point? As it stands, even if Tralka would have both decisions and long throws attributes values of 20, he would not take all throws despite he is set as the one and only taker. Because the game does what she wants.

No. 16, Lukasz Tralka: 6 from 14 throws

No. 16, Lukasz Tralka: 4 from 13 throws

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS GAME AND PLAYERS’ POSITIONING?

Another thing I don’t like about FM and set pieces is that the game ignores what you’ve set in the set-piece creator. You don’t have to scroll up to check the base set-up of the routine again, I will leave the comparison here.

There are four attacking roles: Attack Near Post, Lurk At Near Post, Mark Keeper and Lurk At Far Post. Three of them are right. The same as both players set to Lurk Outside Area. But where is the MCL - number 16 - set to Lurk At Far Post? He is in the middle of the opponent’s half. WHY? I didn’t set him to Stay back if needed. There are already three players set to Stay Back.

That means we are one player short in the penalty area despite that I counted with four and I wanted one player will attack the far post or lurk around the far post to make possible flick-ons.

Another thing is that my STCR is set to Mark Keeper. Why he is the first player and why does he acts as the one who is set to Attack Near Post? I really don’t know and the fact this situation ended with a goal means nothing.

The issue in the picture above didn’t change even when I set some different players to Lurk At Far Post. And it doesn’t matter if it was a defensive or offensive player. This player always stayed in a different position and the area around the far post was not occupied.

I’m absolutely not against this routine, it can look very nice (and my version works decently considering two scored goals in the first five matches since setting the routine) and it can be very useful when it works. But it’s not everything just perfect and “Rory Delap-esque'“.

If nothing more, it’s important to check how your players act and how they take this routine in combination with other tactical things considering their strong and weak attributes and behaviour.

Sometimes, we can do nothing about some things, for example, the positioning I shared above. But we have to find something positive about it and try to take advantage of it.

Thanks for reading, take care.

Follow @FMRensie

FM22 | My Short Throw-In routine

January 4, 2022

Wouldn’t it be strange to not have some set-piece post within the Football Manager save? Yes, it would be weird even considering the fact this area of the game is almost untouched for the new edition and we didn’t see some major changes. The routines from previous editions work in the same way as I tried them during the beta version. Some of them are more successful, some a little bit less successful.

Trying, tweaking and improving set-piece routines was always one of my favourite things. That’s why I decided to try to create some new routines or at least some different modifications with different roles.

Let’s start with the short throw-in routine, my favourite one.

The set-up

I wrote about the short throw-in routine back in FM20 when I played in Mexico and I was able to produce some great goals thanks to it. Unfortunately, one weird thing still remains in the game. It’s the situation when your striker is the main player who offers the short option despite he is set to attack the far post, or lurk outside the area or stay back… It’s strange in the same way as when you’re playing with three at the back and your wide central defenders take throw-ins at your own half despite you having different players set as the throw-in takers.

Never mind, I have to be used to it. Nothing is perfect.

My usual set-up was to limit the number of players who offer the short option to just one player. The best one in terms of decisions and off the ball movement. Strikers were usually set to attack near or far posts or lurk outside area based on their various attributes.

As I said already, I tried to create something different and shuffle some roles. The most visible change is that I’m now using two players who offer the short option (Come short). The WBL (or WBR if it’s from the opposite side of the pitch) is set to Go Forward, the same as one of my two strikers. Adam Zrelak, my main DLF(A) and probably the best player on the current squad in terms of being a set-piece target is set to Attack Far Post.

Two players are set to Lurk Outside Area and both central defenders Stay Back. My main half back, Michal Kopczynski, has perfect Passing, Anticipation and Decisions attributes for the come short role (13, 16 and 14) so he is really useful for this role.

If I would not use the so-called 2-3-3-2 formation and I would use something more common, for example, 4-3-3 DM Wide, the set-up would be probably very similar. I would only probably use AMR as one of the Come short option if it would be a throw-in from the right side in combination with the best possible midfielder. And the striker with AML would be in the box.

I’m not writing this to show you something that will give you 20+ goals per season. If I counted it right, I scored 5 goals in the opening 24 league matches before I started writing this post. My U18s team scored probably the same amount of goals in 22 matches in their youth league. It’s mainly about joy when it works how I wanted.

There are some things I would like to sort or try in the future of the save:

Many crosses go to the WBL player at the far post where I would expect the striker with the attack far post role. The WBL is not good enough to finish the cross or pass it back to another player
- The solution? 1) swap players or 2) don’t use this role, 3) try to move this player to Mark Keeper role
Players who come short can’t cross/pass the ball or they pass it back to the offside position
- The solution? Again, 1) swap players and use the ones who have better decisions/anticipation attributes and 2) give these players more options where to pass the ball
What I would like to try? Move one player from lurk outside area to Attack Ball from Edge of Area.
And combine this with players who will be set to Lurk at Far Post & Mark Keeper to allow back pass after a cross to the far post.

The simplicity in two examples. The video below shows three goals, one of them is from the U18s team when one of two players who offer a short option received the ball to the edge of the penalty area and decided to shoot instead of passing/crossing.

I think it’s the ideal solution and it also shows how the decisions attribute is important because these two players are the main ones who will decide how the routine will end. They are the ones who decide if it will succeed or not.

What next? Maybe… 👀

Thanks for reading, take care.

Follow @FMRensie

FM21 | Indirect Free Kick with the Far Post delivery

August 25, 2021

My version of the Indirect Free Kick routine with the Far Post delivery withing Football Manager 2021 including the experienced king of assists.

FM21 | The importance of the right man for corners

July 14, 2021

If you know my posts about set pieces from the previous years, you will probably remember one of my main rules on how to put set pieces together. The right players for the right roles. It absolutely doesn’t matter what version of the game you are playing. It applies to all of them since FM16 when this set piece creator/editor was added to the game.

Firstly, I’m still using the same Near Post corner kick routine I wrote about here.

Secondly, I would like to talk mainly about the fact how the right person in a crucial position/role can help you to beat a much better, stronger, and more reputable club.

In my case, it’s a part of my save in Sweden with the GAIS. We are currently in 2027 and I played the knockout stage of the Europa League. We faced the Romanian side FCSB (the same or a little bit higher reputation than us) and Wolfsburg (higher reputation).

The fun part of our current situation is that I decided to take all the Chinese money in winter 2026/2027 and to start partly from the scratch.

Outgoing transfers included also Danish central defender Anton Skipper who was our vice-captain and the best player for both attacking and defensive set pieces.

The main man of this post is Icelandic defender Axel Óskar Andrésson. It’s not an unknown player to me personally because I remember him as one of the youngsters in the Reading FC academy a couple of years ago before he moved to Viking (Norway) permanently where he played until 2024 in my save universe.

I bought him for €155K in 2025, mainly as a backup player for Anton Skipper.

Andrésson’s key attributes for Zonally Mark Six Yard Box Centre on the left and for Attack Near Post on the right. — Andrésson’s key attributes for **Zonally Mark Six Yard Box Centre** on the left and for **Attack Near Post** on the right.

When I was searching players through my custom filters for defensive and attacking set pieces, he was always one of the best ones within all combinations.

That was also one of the main reasons why I decided to sign him because I knew he can be a very important player when he will play. Despite the summary of the scouting reports was not higher than the 60 rating and my scouts didn’t recommend me to sign him.

One of his CONS is that he doesn’t feel comfortable playing in big matches (I know the game probably doesn’t consider the matches I write in this post about as big matches in the Europa league but the point remains the same).

Maybe I was lucky so far but I didn’t see he would made some big mistake in some big match like in the Champions League/Europa League or in the crucial domestic matches and derbies. Maybe it will come in the future.

But back to the main point of this post.

When I decided to refresh the squad, I also knew Axel will be my main central defender with the stopper duty for the 2027 season. And I will also make him the main threat within near post corners.

Axel Óskar Andrésson with the CD(St) key attributes selected.

You can see that Axel has all the required/optional key attributes for the selected roles within set pieces at the value of 10 or higher. It really helps him and the team in combination with his 195 centimetres.

As I mentioned at the beginning, we started the Europa League knockout stage against FCSB with an aggregate result of 4:1.

We won 2:1 at home in the first leg and Andrésson scored from a corner.
We won 2:0 in the second leg and Andrésson scored from a corner.

We played against Wolfsburg and the aggregate score was 2:1 for us.

We won 1:0 at home in the first leg thanks to the goal by Oscar Aga.
It was 1:0 for Wolfsburg in the second leg before Andrésson scored the equalising goal in the 84th minute to make it 1:1. Yes, from a corner.

That means we played 4 matches in the Europa League and Axel scored three goals after corners. He scored four goals during the whole 2025 season and only two goals during the 2026 season.

I’m sure that if there would be a different player, maybe a better-rated central defender, but with worse attributes related to the set pieces, we would be already out of the competition. Instead of watching the rest of the competition ahead of TV, we made it to the quarter-final and earned almost €2M on prize money and TV revenue.

I mean, Axel is not the best central defender in the world, mainly because of his speed abilities [but that’s also the reason why he is playing as CD(St)]. But he can be a crucial player for our side if I will use him right and he will be able to get the most out of corners or free kicks.

That’s why I don’t buy/sign only the best players for specific positions and roles but I try to see their attributes from a bigger perspective and how they would be able to use the most effective.

Goals scored from corners after the 1st and 2nd Knockout Round

Can you guess what happened in the first quarter-final leg in Seville? 👀

Yes. Axel Andrésson scored the opening goal of the match and one of our two away goals. We lost 2:3 in the first leg.

Can you guess what happened in the second quarter final leg? 👀

Yes. Axel Andrésson scored our opening goal of the match. In the 19th minute of the match. Again. Same as in the first leg. After a corner kick and a cross by captain Anton Snibb.

And we made it to the semi final of the competition after a 4:3 win on aggregate.

It meant we scored 5 corner kick goals in our six Europa League appearances this season. All goals were scored by Axel Óskar Andrésson.

corner goals after 6.png — Goals scored from corners after the 1st & 2nd Knockout Round & Quarter Final

The form in these six matches by Axel Andrésson speaks for itself. — The form in these six matches of Axel Andrésson speaks for itself.

The positive feedback after scoring corner goals after practising them on the training ground

Europa League 2026/2027

I was able to finish this part of the 2027 season and it ended with a European trophy. The first in the club history. Corner goals by Andrésson were the main reason why I wrote this post but it deserves also to end the Europa League story.

Despite Andrésson didn’t score more goals, we made it to the final after we beat Wolves thanks to away goal rule. We lost 2:3 away but we won 1:0 at home. Oscar Aga scored all our goals.

We faced Fiorentina in the final and Oscar Aga scored again as he opened the score in the 51st minute. We added the second of the match in the 90+6 after a great strike by our own newgen midfielder Fredrik Bohlin.

I checked Andrésson’s shots in the semi-final and the final when he didn’t score but he had 6 off target shots and 3 more shots saved. He just didn’t have enough luck in these matches.

The Europa League 2026/2027 Final, played in Yerevan

Another one?

I bought Danish central defender Kristoffer Green (click to see his profile) in winter 2026/2027 from SonderjyskE because I am sure he can be a fantastic defender. And when I check his attributes for set pieces, it’s a lovely sight. Mainly the defensive ones right now but if he will be able to improve his off the ball movement, he can be even better before the opponent’s goal.

It was also great that he scored two corner goals in his first friendly just two days after his transfer was completed. That means mainly one important thing - the corner routine works well.

Green’s key attributes for Zonally Mark Six Yard Box Centre on the left and for Attack Near Post on the right. — Green’s key attributes for **Zonally Mark Six Yard Box Centre** on the left and for **Attack Near Post** on the right.

Can you guess what happened in his first league match against BK Häcken between matches against Sevilla? 👀

He scored three goals as we won 7:0 at home. Two goals were from corners, the third one from a penalty kick ten minutes before the end of the match.

In overal, it was a fantastic performance and result when I consider it was a fully rotated squad including 18 years old striker Lars Olsson who scored three goals.

The custom Squad view for Set Pieces

I recently made some custom views related to the set pieces to be able to compare my defenders in terms of the required/key/important attributes. Not For both defending and attacking set pieces.

I took the base of my usual view with the basic info and edited the second part of the view. I added Shots on target per 90 minutes stat column near the goals column. I would like to have some set pieces related stat in the game like “how dangerous the specific player is from the near post routine; or how effective is the far post routine with this player; or how many headers the specific player won during corners/free kicks etc.” but I will have to count it on my own when I will have some spare time and a lot of patience to load every match and I will accept the fact that the game will crash during every attempt to compare two matches in the analysis screen…

I added the number of Headers won, Headers won per 90 minutes and Headers Won Ratio. It’s mainly just because I’m interested to see it. And the last part of the view consists of the defensive/attacking corner kicks related attributes. It’s filtered just to see the central defenders in the picture below. If you have some big striker and you are using him within set pieces, I would surely recommend including strikers here too to be able to compare them. Or you can compare the whole squad for sure, but I know my squad well so I think it’s pointless to have there the whole squad when I want to see only defenders who are crucial in my case.

Thanks for reading and take care.

Follow @FMRensie

My FM21 Attacking Corner Routines

April 6, 2021

We all have some development as Football Manager players. I'm not an exception. I always wanted to score as many goals as possible from the set pieces. But I turned from the horny set piece creator to score a lot of goals to the patient player who is enjoying making small changes and tweaks. And every goal scored from some set piece routine is the best reward. These are my FM21 attacking corner routines

I like to watch the match on comprehensive highlights to be able to see my routines. It slowed my playing time down but I really like it. I don't have to reach the far future, I rather follow the save slower and see the impact of my tweaks.

And the FM21 version is perfect for it because I knew before the save started it won't last for too long. That means I don't see a point to speed up just to progress.

Attacking corners - near post

It's still one of my favourite type of routine/delivery. I usually see something like "just place here the best header and that's enough". In some way, yes, that's right. You need a very strong player. But as I mentioned in the past, set pieces are about the off the ball movement in the current stance of the game.

I usually try to test what player will fit the best here. I also liked to placed the best possible player to Lurk Near Post rather than into Attack Near Post role because it was more dangerous at the beginning of the save.

When I signed Niklas Backman, he was a logical choice for the attacking routines as the main man. He is brave and his decisions are up to 15. Heading and Jumping Reach attributes are also very good.

But he didn't deliver and his off the ball movement (6) during corners was a joke. Another prove of my theory. I really looked forward to using him as the focal point but I had to try another player.

The examples of goals by Markus Nakkim.

My FM21 attacking corner routines - near post

Sometimes, the ball can make it to the far post when players around the near post don't hit it. And it can look like this, that's why I have one player set to Lurk at Far Post.

Attacking corners - short

I started using the short routine straight after the start of the save. But I removed that routine during the first season because I realised I didn't have good enough players for the key roles - the taker and the one who offers the short option.

No matter what I tried, it usually ended with the offside or with bad decision of the "come short" player who decided what to do late and the opponent took the ball. Or worse, he just hit the opponent and the same repeated three or four times in a row.

But I started using it again during the save when the quality of my players was higher and some of the players developed the key attributes.

I don't know if my theory about the off the ball movement is right. But I will live with it. Especially as the striker, who is set to attack near post, is able to score from the far post area because he is able to find the space. And another player is able to find him unmarked with a well-placed cross (see more in the video below).

Time from time, I switch the Go Forward role to Attack Ball from Edge of Area. But I always try to keep two players with Lurk Outside Area role to protect the deflected or cleared balls.

My FM21 attacking corner routines - Short

2020 vs 2023

I mentioned that I used the short corner routine at the beginning of the save. The routine looked slightly different but the main point was the same. Two players were set to lurk outside area to help with everything around the penalty area.

It worked well with the wing-back within these two players as he was helpful quite often with thanks to his speed and also crossing ability.

The biggest difference is that the players who should be the main threat for the opponent were set to attack the far post as I wanted to see the cross to this place or to offer enough space around the near post for the short option.

You can see how the routine looked like in 2020 HERE. As I already wrote, the same as the save, the club or the league developed through the four years, players also developed and their decisions are much better within the short routine. That's why I decided to try it again with small tweaks and improvements. And I gave my players another opportunity to prove this routine can work.

Not working short routine in 2020 season

Thre examples from the recent time within my save with GAIS. I'm not playing too fast so it's quite young examples.

Youth teams as the best testing

One of my favourite things for probably the last three FM editions is to check the highlights of my reserve/B or youth teams. All my squads play with the same tactic. That means all teams are using also the same routines.

I consider this as a fantastic testing option for how my routines work for other teams. And I always receive the info about the match to the mailbox with the simple Watch Highlights button so it's easy to just watch the goals. I like to do it, especially if I see one of the defenders is in the scoresheet as it means a corner or free-kick goal.

But I like to check it also because of the throw-in goals because my U19s team is scoring quite a lot of goals thanks to the shrot throw-in routine.

And if I don't have enough time to watch highlights, or I forgot to do it, I just check the youth team analyst report/scoring and assists screen. Unfortunately, and I have no idea why, but you can't select more than the last 5 matches here within the youth team.

Attacking set piece search filter

I wrote about it in the past (here) and I'm still using the same method. You can find some very good players, not only for set pieces, with the filter including the key attributes for roles like attack near post, mark keeper etc.

Most of these are useful also for the defensive routines as some of these attributes are the same for both attacking and defensive roles.

It's mainly about playing with the values of the attributes within the filter. You can set all of these attributes to 15 but you can't expect it will find some player when you play outside of the top nations/leagues. Or better worded, it won't find players who are not interested in transfer/loan to your club. And the reasonable value/expected transfer fee/wage also play role in it.

I have set the attributes threshold to 13 in this FM21 save for the best attributes - bright green. So, I also set the default value for these key attributes to 13. If it finds some players, good. If not, I will lower all the values. Or only some of them.

In the example below, I lowered attributes to 10 except the Bravery and Off The Ball attributes. It found nine players. I can see the values of these 7 attributes straight thanks to the custom view. We can all spot that 19 years old Finnish striker Joni Kovanen looks promising and I started scouting him.

Training?

As I shared in the post about the fourth season, this is my current training scheme. Set piece sessions have their place in it but usually only the delivery and attacking corners sessions prior to the match.

I don't have more right now, also because I still remember what Oliver Jensen suggested some time ago during FM20.

You may or may not know this but the reason you didn’t notice any difference with more set piece training is because you can only get boosts once for a match from those sessions, so if you put three attacking corners sessions before a match, you get the same boost as you would just having one attacking corners session.
I asked SI when I wrote about training and they said that you can add many in the week but only one session will work. Doesn’t make sense that you can do more sessions. It should limit to one before each match.

One thing I will change probably in the future is the defending session on Thursday to attacking free kicks. But that's not so important.

I just want to say that your main player for the corners doesn't have to be the strongest defender just because of heading or jumping reach. It's more about combining all the required attributes together. And just to think about simple things. It's not as complicated as some FM players think and they rather ignore set pieces.

To be honest, leave the set pieces by default, especially the throw-ins is a really bad idea in FM21. But that's a different story.

Latte Quarterly - OGC Nice: November 2020

I was recently asked to join the OGC Nice FM21 save by @LatteQuarterly to help them with set pieces within the save.

I couldn't refuse. It's always great to do something together with Matt, Tony and with other members of the Board of Directors of Latte Quarterly.

Feel free to read about how November 2020 went in the save. I'm not usually into sharing saves but this is really enjoyable. Mainly thanks to all involved around. Thank you.

My counter-corner ballad

February 8, 2021

There were times when I almost every second day shared the message starting "One for FMSamo klaxon" in the Football Manager Slack. It meant I scored a counter corner goal. It was really often and we enjoyed scoring these goals. It's really great to see the simple counter with a rippling net at the end. Sadly, It's not happening too often in my saves within FM20 and FM21 but when it happens, it's like a great ballad.

It's not that long from the time when we remembered some old saves in the FMSlack and also the FM18 save with BFC Siófok was mentioned. I think it was FM17 with Reading and the save with Siófok during which I enjoyed the counter corner goals the most.

I had a lot of great newgens around both teams and there were a lot of fast players. Simply, they were absolutely perfect to fit the counters.

I didn't see too many goals after corners since the FM18 probably. And maybe that's also the reason why I enjoy a lot every time I see it.

I wrote about conceding from the set pieces and counter goals last year during FM20 save with Celaya FC. But my defensive corner kick routine is different in FM21. And I enjoy it.

Why so cautious?

My most common defensive corner kick routine contained only one player who is set to Stay Forward and one player was set to Edge of Area. I was usually afraid there won't be enough players in my own penalty area.

I decided to change this approach because I wanted to stop being so cautious. And I wanted to use, not completely, but something new.

It led to the new system of defensive corner routine. With two strikers around the half-line line and one player as the edge of the area.

If you would open that post from FM20, there is a picture of my routine where five players were set to defend zonally all the positions within the 6-yard box. There were other players set to go back so it was almost like the invitation for our opponents to make a picnic in our penalty area. And score a goal as a dessert.

FM20 (left) vs. FM21 (right)

The defensive part

You can see there are changes within the main defensive part within the 6-yard box. We now have here only three players instead of five. As I'm using 3-5-2 formation, I am able to use all my three central defenders who are (or they should be) strong and brave enough to defend crosses.

I didn't play many seasons so far, but I saw that the near post routine is more frequent so I like to use the best central defender in terms of set pieces as the one who is set to Zonally Mark Six Yard Box Near Post. Simply - the first one in the line.

Most of crosses are headed or cleared away exactly by this player.

You can also see one player Mark Far Post. I will be absolutely clear to you, I didn't want wan to place some player here. I wanted to have two players at the edge of the area. But I accidentally left one player here and he saved at least four headers in the first couple of matches. The opponent flicked the ball nicely to the far post.

And I decided to keep that player here. It happened several times within the end of the first season and during the second season too.

The decisive part

Maybe the word decisive is not the right now in this case. But I am sure that if players around the 6-yard box clear the ball, the rest of the players in the penalty box cand decide what will happen next.

If they will be quick (with their decisions but also physically quick) enough, they can win the cleared ball and start the counter.
They don't have to start the counter if they win the ball, but they can keep the possession. And what happens when you have the ball? You don't concede.
If they will not be quick (-||-) enough, the opponent can make another attack/cross/keep possession.
It's mostly about the three players who are set as Man Mark. They usually make the runs to wide areas when the ball goes here.
The player with Edge of Area role should be the brain of the counter if 1) the ball is cleared to him, 2) or he wins the cleared ball, 3) or he makes the right run forward and support the strikers.

The strikers

The key attributes for Stay Forward role are Acceleration, Agility, Pace, Strength, Balance and Anticipation. That's what game says.

I would add also the combination of teamwork and work rate attributes. There are many cleared balls by defenders far from the box but most players (in overall, not only strikers) with low values of these two attributes are not willing to help to others and they just stand at the half-line.

They are just waiting for that final pass into the box. At least I think about it in this way.

My main strikers for the 2022 season and their key attributes for Stay Forward role

Oscar Aga has teamwork attribute of 11 and workrate of 10. Vladimir Rodić has both of 13. Rodić is playing as our pressing forward. And it's not a surprise he wins/collects more balls than Aga. He is more willing to help.

On the other hand, Aga is quick enough to beat defenders with the run from his own half. I see this very often but it doesn't lead to scoring chances every time.

How it can look?

One of my favourite examples is only a couple of matches old. I scored this goal during the pre-season after the promotion to the top tier.

There are also two new players in the key areas. Kairinen as the one at the edge of the area made a perfect quick pass to the Rodić who is our pressing forward and he was able to keep the ball and found Aga.

Our advanced forward made the rest and scored very nice goal.

Another very nice example is from the second season. Charlie Weberg won the header at the near post and cleared the ball to the right side. Daniel Sterner (Pressing Forward) helped the team with a perfect deep run to win the ball.

And he also moved down the right flank and Nuha Jatta rebounded his shot. I would like to see a pass from Sterner more but I can't have everything :)

Nuha Jatta, the goalscorer, also deserves a prise as he made a perfect run forward from the edge of the area position/role.

Conclusion

As always, rule number one is to use the right players in the right roles. The small striker defending the near post area is wrong, right?
If your player makes a lot of runs but the counter ends by losing the ball, try to use another player here. Sometimes even the player trait like 'runs with ball down right' or 'hugs line' can make a big difference (insert :eyes: emoji).
Don't expect counter corner goals in every match. I didn't write this post because of this reason.
The best part of this game is don't be afraid of experimenting. And set pieces, no matter how many bugs they consist, are ideal to have fun. Or to find out you made something wrong :)
Btw. I conceded 0 corner goals in the first two seasons with this routine. #MythMike incoming...
Have fun.

FM20 Far Post Corner | Tweaking the good old trick

February 20, 2020

The fifth season of my Football Manager 2020 save in Mexico is well underway and I failed again. I mean, I wanted to add make the most from set pieces to the club culture/vision. But there was not option to do it between the seasons. So, I decided I will just keep it in my head and will try to tweak/edit/improve set pieces through the season.

It led to the fact I decided to try to recreate the good old trick with the far post corner kick routine.

It's simple. When you want to use a short routine, you place someone to offer short option role.

If you want to use near post routine you concentrate the best options in terms of your best-suited players around the near post. It's logical.

But I made the opposite this time

My idea was to use far post corner delivery but don't place all players to attack far post, lurk at far post etc.

I decided to put most of my players to the near post. Two players are set as attack near post & lurk at near post, two players are set as go forward and one player lurk outside area.

That means at least two, but better three players stay back. And the last one is set to attack far post.

This is my initial set-up as it's available to see in the picture above. The idea was to convince the opponent's defending players to go and defend mainly the area around the near post.

And the main and the most important task you have is to select the best possible player with the best possible tor the attack far post role as he will be here alone. Sometimes against two or three defensive players.

But sometimes only against one...

This is how it ended in the picture above.

In this case, our young central defender Infante was set to attack far post. This our own newgen was (almost) unstoppable in the previous season for our U20s team in terms of set pieces.

He scored 9 goals in 15 matches and seven from them were from corners.

I found out it's easier to score from set-pieces for my first-team players when they play in the Under 20 league. But this defender was still 17 years old so I thought: wow, that could be great if he will be able to score at least a half of these goals also for the first team.

And he scored the winning goal in the "Campeones Cup" against Salt Lake. But it was not that easy as I thought.

The young Josué Infante. Orange highlighted attributes are the most important to me, the red highlighted attributes are important as well but not necessary. On the other hand, it's obvious he is not the best header or finisher.

I can say, the young Josué scored only twice during the first part of the season. It was clear he is not that good in the top tier matches as against the young and not that good players in the youth league.

And I started to test different players in the attack far post role. But one thing became like a tradition - strikers or defenders were the best here.

The current striker #1 and the key attributes for the attack far post role

I also made one change to the whole set-up during the season as I decided to add offer short option role as it means another defensive player will be dragged out of penalty area position.

Do you know that feeling when you made some change and it worked in the first match after you made that change?

It happened when we played Chivas away. I decided to test Daniel Cisneros in attack far post role.

And, as I mentioned, I added one player to offer a short option. Well, Cisneros opened the score in the 20th minute after the corner kick.

As you can see, 6 players were concentrated to defend near post area, 1 player went close down the corner and 1 is outside the penalty area. Only 1 player defended the far post. — As you can see, 6 players were concentrated to defend near post area, 1 player went ***close down the corner*** and 1 is outside the penalty area. Only 1 player defended the far post.

Cisneros was able to beat his only one defender and opened the score with the perfect header.

The main idea behind this routine was complete. See gif.

Sometimes, it can also lead to an own goal or the player set to attack near post can score. If the players around the near post are able to avoid offside position. For example like this one...

As I already said, the main task is to select the best possible player for the attack far post role in terms of Off The Ball, Bravery, Decisions or Finishing attributes.

I was not able to sign some good players in terms of "SfS" strategy the same as last year as most players with the right attributes for set pieces are out of our financial possibilities.

But it's fun to test my current own players at least.

**Dojaquez (ST), Infante (CD), Osorio (AMR), Cisneros (ST or AMR), Moreno (ST), Lecanda (CD).**

The last gif shows two goals by Óscar Moreno, the 18 years old newgen striker, who scored twice in a single match for our U20s against Cruz Azul to seal 2-0 win.

Note: this is not intended to be routine what will assure you will score many many goals with it. This is mainly about the fact I had some idea what to do and how it ended with the limited options within the set pieces in Football Manager.

It's a different type of the FM20 Far Post Corner routine this time but I really enjoy it.

If the only thing what you want is the download link, read the post again 😉