QPR appear vulnerable from corners again, but not according to the xG, so which is it? Greg Spires hunts answers…

Defending set-pieces, and corners in particular, seem to have been a thorn in the side of Queens Park Rangers for as long as I can remember.

Having reviewed all 70 corners conceded since the first whistle of the season, here’s my attempt to make sense of our defensive set-up and where QPR might actually be exceeding expectations, in what has been a frustrating first 10 games.

How have we set up to defend corners & why?

There has been a consistent theme to how we’ve defended in and around the 6-yard box at corners – ‘four zones.

Kenneth Paal defending the front zone at the edge of the 6-yard box and then Michy Frey, Jimmy Dunne and Sam Field the central zones to protect the goal.

Who even cares? I hear you ask. Well, other teams in the Championship tend to go with three zones to cover the 6-yard box. The reason we’ve done this is to protect the box from almost any type of delivery: if it’s an inswinger then we’re in a good position to defend; for an outswinger we can go and attack it; drilled delivery and we can defend the goalmouth with numbers. The zonal structure allows space for Nardi to move around and be able to punch, catch or swat the ball away – which he has done with success since joining the club.

However, using four zones leaves the attacking team an option to play short corners in an attempt to move the zonal defenders and then whip balls towards the far post because runs attacking the back post are harder to track and defend resolutely. Also, as you can imagine – and was evident at Derby – it’s more difficult to get a good leap and dominate in the air when you’re starting from a standstill against an opponent running on to the ball.

When we played Derby, we used our four zones and also four players as zonal markers – showing a purely zonal marking scheme. This was an anomaly as we’ve previously used a man-to-man marking system for the four defenders that are spare in the box (alongside the four zonal men in the 6-yard box) against literally every other team.

As pointed out recently, we’ve defended with all 10 players in our own third and have yet to leave someone up top to be a threat for a counterattack; something that personally I would like to see but don’t think fits Martí & Xavi’s strategy of defending the box at all costs.

Were we successful?

Having conceded two worldies in the first phase from corners (Curtis Nelson’s header for Derby & Zack Nelson’s volley for Luton) and then twice from second phase crosses into the box (Dunne OG vs Luton and Baath for Blackburn’s) it feels like maybe we’ve been a tad unlucky. I believe there’s evidence to suggest this is the case too.

Having reviewed all 70 corners, here are some basic findings from reviewing the footage:
- Where there was a first contact, QPR won 34/54 of them (62.96%-win rate)
- Our far post was targeted on 27 occasions, which was 47.39% of corners we’ve faced
- The most common type of delivery QPR have faced was inswinging corners, with 31 of 70 (44.28%) being inswingers

Looking at the data (from WyScout), here’s a selection of stats to further my argument that we’re not as bad as you might think:
- QPR have conceded 27 shots from corners, the 5th lowest in the Championship
- QPR have conceded four goals from set-pieces from an xGA of 2.11 – suggesting that our opponents have been well above average when it comes to scoring chances from corners (quelle surprise)
- Sam Field ranks 19th in the Championship for the highest aerial duel success rate % in his own box, with 62.5% (Jimmy Dunne is 29th with 53.85%)
- Jimmy Dunne ranks sixth in the Championship for the most aerial duels won in his own box (13), with Steve Cook in eighth place with 12 and Kenneth Paal in 30th place with eight too

To further supplement this, I’d love to delve a bit deeper and focus on three games…

Let’s start with the recent trip to Derby. The zonal structure was proving effective, winning 5/6 first contacts and 4/4 before we conceded to Nelson’s second headed goal of the season. Derby switched up their delivery and were targeting the front post/zone in the first half, before switching to hitting flatter corners towards the edge of the area for their two corners in the second half, to counteract our effective zonal structure.

As we move a bit further back in the season, when we played Hull at home, they used a consistent short corner set-up to try and draw our rigid zonal structure out, hoping to disorganise us and hit their target men at the far post.

Five of their six corners were taken short, with QPR winning first contact from the two crosses put immediately into the box. They tried the same routine twice in quick succession, with one resulting in Drameh’s drilled finish from the edge of the area. They played short and looked to clear space to find Regan Slater on the edge of the box to whip a cross towards the back post with his right foot. We had a clear plan and Andersen (marking man-for-man) and Paal (front zone defender) were quick to address their men when the ball was played short by Hull. Plenty of positives to take, especially against a totally different style of corner than what we faced against Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday etc.

Back in August, we made the trip to Bramall Lane where we conceded four corners and won 75% of first contacts from those corners – an impressive feat against a side featuring some big targets in Kieffer Moore, Anel Ahmedhodzic and a substitute appearance for man-mountain Harry Souttar. Despite the quality delivery by Gustavo Hamer, QPR were well-disciplined against his inswingers on top of the goalkeeper. From the clip below, you can see how challenging it is to defend flat, whipped deliveries towards the six-yard box and thankfully, the foul by Sydie Peck on Paul Nardi allowed Rangers to breathe a sigh of relief. An away day against a strong opponent and we showed real togetherness and discipline to defend the corners successfully – as well as determination to bring the result back and take a point.

Reasons to be concerned

Whilst we’ve been largely successful at defending corners in the first phases, there have been a couple of performances that have worried me and could spell trouble for the future.

Let’s look at our home game against Millwall, where we won 5/9 first contacts but they were much more effective at beating us aerially than others – as some may have anticipated. Millwall hit whipped inswingers towards the far post and the back of the box, looking to get Jake Cooper free by pushing or using bodies to delay his man-marker (Steve Cook). Millwall stereotypically provide a physical presence and make it difficult to defend with a relentless attitude. QPR showed they’re capable against a team of this calibre, despite allowing Cooper to get free on a couple of occasions.

QPR had the privilege of beating Luton twice in quick succession last month and conceded 16 corners across the two fixtures.

Luton were highly effective at creating chances and getting opportunities to score through quality left-footed delivery from Alfie Doughty combined with good movement and strength from Luton’s strikers. For Zack Nelson’s goal, you can see that Colback is lined up opposite Carlton Morris, ready to man-mark the attacker, before he’s man-handled by Elijah Adebayo in a deliberate plan to give Morris a free run at the ball. Uncharacteristically, he mistimes the header and it skims off his head to the edge of the box before being rifled into the net for the latest in a catalogue of ‘wtf!?’ moment at Loftus Road. A smart plan devised alongside good delivery allowed the opportunity for Morris to get a header unchallenged from 10 yards out in the centre of the goal. Unfortunately, defending against blockers in a man-for-man system is tricky to adjust in real time and I have no doubt that there would have been some analysis of these types of scenarios in order to work out a solution for the future.

Furthermore, the issues with a zonal system are clear to see in the second clip of a corner from the Carabao Cup fixture. Jordan Clark (18) begins in the six-yard box, totally unmarked and makes a movement towards the corner taker, positioning himself in the space created by the front zone. Had the delivery been absolutely inch perfect, he would’ve had a free header from the six-yard line & in-line with the front post – a golden opportunity to score. To compound this, Elijah Adebayo and his 6’4” frame and his four headed goals in the Premier League, simultaneously wanders straight into a gap as Liam Morrison (his man-marking assignment) gets swept up in a Jack Colback & Carlton Morris tsunami. Allowing a player of his quality to get free in the centre of the goal seven yards out is a risky game. There’s an argument to be made that this was an isolated incident where the man-markers got entangled and Adebayo managed to find space, but there’s such a small margin for error in the Championship that a team of QPR’s luck need not tempt fate.

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The Twitter @Greg_Spires

Pictures - Ian Randall Photography

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