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.

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.

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:

1. A simple goal scored from the near post

2. 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.

3. 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.