Talking Tactics: How CFCW's Set Piece Specials Subdued Aston Villa

A Second Half showcase paid dividends for Bompastor's Blues

Another week, another Chelsea FC Women win but this time one that raises more questions than answers. A lot of these I think are going to be addressed elsewhere - why isn’t Sjoeke Nüsken playing? Are both Millie Bright and Guro Reiten in their final season as regular players, or even at Chelsea? What does Sonia Bompastor’s 1st choice XI and system look like? All of these are great questions… which is why I am skirting them all to discuss corner kicks.

Chelsea FC Women were allegedly good at corners last season, however, this was more due to sheer volume rather than specific quality. Ultimately CFCW do have some impressive aerial threats and given that some teams showed a profound inability to defend them last year, it is no surprise that Chelsea found the net multiple times from corners… despite the fact most deliveries were sub-par. However, against Aston Villa, Chelsea did get their corner tactics spot on in the 2nd half and it paid dividends, causing one own goal, forcing Ellie Roebuck into multiple saves, several defensive scrambles and also allowing Sam Kerr to mark her long-awaited return by poking home the third goal to seal it.

You join the action in the in last moments of the 54th minute. Yes, it took Chelsea almost one hour to win a corner. I promise, there is plenty to actually analyse!

Let’s look at the basic corner structure.

Alyssa Thompson’s offering the short option, and that drags one Villa defender out the box. You’ve also got to account for the 1-2 option, so another Villa player has had to shift across. In the very congested 6-yard box, you have eleven players bunchted together. Nat Björn and Erin Cuthbert are both right in front of Ellie Roebuck, with Aggie Beever-Jones and Millie Bright just behind, flanked either side by a Villa defender. More interestingly, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Keira Walsh have both pulled away to the edge of the box, with Sandy Baltimore hovering just behind the penalty spot.

Macario is going to swing the ball inwards and with the cluster around Ellie Roebuck, it is a) going to be impossible for her to see the delivery early and b) require quick reactions. At point of delivery, Björn’s going to make a near-post run to create further chaos and Cuthbert just stands her ground. Roebuck therefore has to make a snap decision - she can’t catch so she has to punch the delivery away. However, with everything else going on, she can’t get a decisive connection and the ball ends up about 10 yards out. In case the delivery comes all the way through, Kaneryd has made her towards the back of the 6 yard box and this has baited the Villa defender across, so suddenly both Walsh and Baltimore have a pretty large space to their left.

Chelsea get a semi-slice of luck here. Chastity Grant is stretching to clear Roebuck’s rushed clearance and instead of getting proper contact, she’s only going to stab it away. This is going to achieve the primary objective of getting the ball away from Sandy Baltimore, but it’s not going to fully clear it and Keira Walsh has started to move across into that huge acre of space. The two Villa players blocking the short options have realised the danger, but neither are getting across in time.

Inside the six yard box, there is now 8 players bunched on the line either trying to block the ball or help it into the net. That’s not even considering Baltimore and Grant! There’s absolutely no chance for Roebuck to have a clear visual…

And when Keira Walsh drives the low strike in, there are now three Villa players charging out, one next to Roebuck. Villa haven’t been able to push out from the corner and now have a line of players obscuring the keeper’s vision. That means once it takes any deflection, there is 0 chance of Roebuck having any chance to react because of the lack of distance…

And so once Missy Bo Kearns deflects the ball towards the goal, away from the original wide trajectory, Roebuck is powerless and just has to watch it nestle in the corner!

Again, this is really breaking this whole sequence down - in real time it happens in just 6 seconds! Macario’s initial delivery puts so much pressure on Roebuck because it swings in towards the back post. She can’t come forward to claim it because she risks it sailing over her and the in-swinger takes 4 Aston Villa players either at the back-post or inside the 18 yard box out of the equation. The sheer overload of numbers in the box turns a decent low driven shot into a dice roll and Chelsea get lucky with it.

The next corner comes in the 61st minute and is… very different. This time Sandy Baltimore goes over to take it on the other side, again trying to in-swing.

Once more, you’ve got Thompson making a short option, Keira Walsh in acres of the edge of the box, Ellie Carpenter as the insurance policy in behind and Macario hovering around the penalty spot. In the box Aggie Beever-Jones and Nat Björn are towards the near post, Cuthbert’s perching on Roebuck again and Millie Bright is at the back post. To Beever-Jones credit, she makes a great near-post run and if she connects with it, she probably scores!

Unfortunately for her, Rachel Daly instead nods the ball away as she completely misses it. However, Daly does nod it back into the 18 yard box where Walsh is waiting! Natalie Arroyo’s side have learnt their lesson, however.

This time, Chastity Grant gets out to Walsh and puts the pressure on her and Villa quickly spring the counter. Macario’s marker is in the perfect position to mop up the loose ball and try and play through Ebony Salmon… however, Chelsea’s pocket rockets of Thompson and Carpenter have the speed to snuff it out.

1-1 on effective vs ineffective corners.

83rd minute and we’re back to another Baltimore inswinger. I’m going to show the before-and-after here as a lot of movement happens at this one.

Thompson’s there for the short option - tick. Walsh is lurking on the edge in space again - tick. Carpenter is the insurance policy if it breaks down - tick. Villa have sent two players to block the short option and the 1-2. Tick. All looking very familiar. This time Macario isn’t in the box, she’s deeper on the edge. Instead, Sam Kerr is at the back of the train featuring Cuthbert, Bright and Beever-Jones, with Björn slightly more advanced.

When Baltimore starts her run up, the train splits. Bright and Beever-Jones go near-post, Kerr drops into the space at the far post and Cuthbert and Björn stay put. If Bright gets first contact, Kerr’s movement is going to guarantee her a high xG chance… but her best mate Daly heads it away again. HOWEVER, this time Cuthbert’s perfectly placed to block Oceane Deslandes sweeping up and the ball comes back to Keira Walsh to shoot…

Again, Chastity Grant can’t resist trying to block, with Roebuck again dealing with a large crowd in front of her and if the deflection takes it towards the goal, she’s going to have limited time to react. This time, the dice rolls in Villa’s favour and over the bar for another corner. 2-1 in the useful streaks.

Once again, Macario’s looking to swing it in and practically everyone has crowded in and around the keeper. Baltimore’s found absolute acres on the edge of the box - Villa htis time choosing to use their spare player to mark perrenial goal threat Keira Walsh. The near-post defender will eventually come across to mark Alyssa Thompson as she offers for another short corner (which again is not going to happen).

This is quite a quick one to analyse. Erin Cuthbert’s going to get rugby tackled on the goal-line tussling with her defender (somehow not a penalty?) Björn will make a near-post run but the delivery is flat and easily cleared for another corner. My only suggestion here is Björn was meant to get first contact and flick the ball on with her heels, again, taking advantage of the fact Roebuck’s starting position is closer to the far post. It’s not an effective corner in this situation, but it yields another corner, so no score either way on this one.

Same situation again arises, but this time no one marks the short corner, allowing Chelsea to try a routine as Macario passes to Thompson…

Who plays it to Aggie Beever-Jones who has peeled off her markers to lay it back to… yup, you guessed it, Keira Walsh!

Walsh - who again has found space - steps inside and shoots. Once again there is a huge crowd of players for it to deflect off. This time it’s Deslandes who can’t resist throwing a boot at it and again this sends the strike flying over the bar. If the objective was for every corner to get Keira Walsh as much shot xG as possible, then currently it’s about 4-1?

Corner number 6 and again it’s Macario and again it’s an inswinger. The usual playbook of Thompson for the short option. Baltimore in acres of space on the edge of the D. Keira ‘Lampard Incarnate’ Walsh in a pocket on the edge of the 18 yard box, sizing up her next shot.

This time towards the back post, Beever-Jones, Bright and Kerr are all staying back, with Björn and Cuthbert tasked with making the moves infront of Roebuck. By the time the ball has been delivered, both Björn and Cuthbert are parallel to Roebuck, whereas Bright has pulled away to the back-post and Beever-Jones towards the penalty spot.

The delivery again is whipped towards that back-post area and again it forces Roebuck into action. Due to the presence of her own defender, she elects to punch and again can’t get decisive contact, only knocking the ball down towards the back of the 6-yard box. Bright tries to loop the ball back in but in truth it’s always sailing on the top. If Bright had made more decisive contact, it could have been very different as Roebuck again is now off her line, one defender is on the floor and there is a whole heap of players back towards the line.

(From a hindsight POV, there’s also the option of a quick pass back to Sandy Baltimore, on her left-foot, in loads of space on the edge of the box.)

Corner seven as we are into added time and this time it’s Baltimore from the far side.

I’m going to also include this close-up because it’s important here. You can see Bright clearly signal for a certain corner routine, and the first part of it plays out exactly as planned.

Sam Kerr’s on the prowl around the penalty spot, with a line of Cuthbert, Bright and Beever-Jones all being player-to-player marked. Villa have 4 players in that near post and mid-goal zon, forming a square around Nat Björn. She’s going to drop back and that will drag her direct marker forwards. Lynn Wilms - to her credit - is going to recognise this danger and anticipate Björn getting contact, which causes her to drop off onto the line.

Once the delivery swings in, Millie Bright is going to make her move from penalty spot to the front of the 6 yard box, helped by some less than water-tight marking from Noelle Maritz. The ball is actually just going to miss her as she is the dummy run, but she’s caused enough chaos to move 3 Villa defenders and in turn Björn has moved into position to redirect it goalwards…

Wilms is going to nod it back into the danger area, and you know who is always moving throughout this entire sequence? Sam Kerr. She goes from the penalty spot to right into the thick of it, and again, it’s going to cause problems for Ellie Roebuck who can’t be decisive again.

She’s going to palm the ball back into danger, where Erin Cuthbert is waiting. Nat Björn is also still there from her initial run too. Roebuck comes out and gets caught in the tangle, whereas the majority of Villa players run back onto the line to try and block a shot.

Kerr gets a little lucky because her initial effort is also mishit and hits Deslandes (again a chief protagonist in most of these corners) but the ball comes back to her. At this point, Roebuck’s still turning around and when the ball comes back to Kerr, she has the presence of mind to simply side-foot into the corner of the net, despite 3 defenders on the line. Considering how long she’s been injured for, it’s a remarkably composed final finish after the scrappiness that precedes it. Another mark in the yes column for effective corners.

Into the final minute for corner 8 and once again, it’s Sandy Baltimore swinging it in. Thompson’s back offering the short option, Oriane Jean-François and Keira Walsh back on the edge for rebounds, Villa have sent two players out trying to stop the short option and the 1-2, and also to open up the prospect of a a quick counter. Stop me if you have heard this before.

This time, the queue has Kerr at the back, Beever-Jones and Bright forming the base of a triangle completed by Björn on the edge of the six-yard box and Cuthbert back to buzzing in front of Roebuck.

Once more, Chelsea are going to try a similar move to corner 7, with Bright making that near-post run, either to flick it on, or for Beever-Jones to hoover up the contested loose ball as she pulls back. However, there’s too much whip on the ball and it’s an easy header away for Miri Taylor. Slightly interesting to note that once again Sam Kerr pulls off towards the back-post anticipating any kind of flick, or the ball to continue it’s original trajectory. And again, because of her issues at the previous corners, no surprise to see Ellie Roebuck once again staying at home. Can’t really say this one was effective though.

Time for the final corner, no. 9. Can you believe all of these have come in about 40 minutes! Just like last time, Thompson’s offering the short corner which drags two players away. Oriane Jean-François is back just outside the box. Keira Walsh this time has tiptoed in to the box, but remains in absolute acres, mainly because the floating defender now gets the fun task of marking Sam Kerr!

This time, Bright’s moved near post, with Björn staying in the same area as corner 7. Cuthbert’s got more freedom as she is no longer standing next to Roebuck, whereas Beever-Jones has gone towards the back-post which opens up room for Kerr’s run in.

Once again, it’s actually going to sail over Cuthbert and Björn’s heads and Anna Patten will nod it away straight into the eighteen-yard box where Walsh has loads of space. Again. This time, however, she’s going to take a touch rather than hit it first time. This allows Chastity Grant enough time to fly in and make the block. Probably have to mark that as an opportunity missed.

Assuming that these corners are going to be similar to the routines we can expect to see all season, there are a few interesting brief final observations:

• Bright’s more often expected to make the move to get first contact, but Björn’s expected to be more dominant in the centre of the penalty box.

• Macario and Baltimore’s inswingers are able to force keepers to have to decisively act and this can often lead to confusion, panic and rushed clearances. By harnessing these situations effectively, Chelsea can create good goalscoring chances.

• There are a lot of situations where the ball is going back towards the edge of the box and if the ball falls to the right player, CFC could find themselves scoring several times from this situation.

• Conversely, these situations also pose a real threat from a defensive POV, as they leave the defence extremely exposed and there is a heavy reliance on Ellie Carpenter’s recovery pace to stop counters.

• Erin Cuthbert being deployed as a blocker/spoiler in front of the goalkeeper allows her to create real disruption in the six-yard area, however, she does also sometimes get taken out of the equation by illegal methods.

Chelsea didn’t play well against Aston Villa and there was a lot of poor decision-making especially in the first half. Various players lacked sharpness and the strength of the overall squad was needed to pull through. However, on the board it says 2 wins from 2 games which is the start the Champions wanted.