Fans still get very excited when their team win a corner but, in the Premier League, only three per cent lead to a goal. Maybe taking one isn’t so easy after all
Football fans have a curious relationship with corners. For a set piece that, according to Opta, leads to a goal only 3.2% of the time, they don’t half get excited about them. A stadium invariably gets louder when a corner is given and there is a heightened sense of anticipation or fear depending on who you are supporting. Yet, never before has the prevailing opinion on this particular set piece seemed more scathing, with many fans’ forums containing a thread with a title along the lines of “Why are we so bad at corners?” and the phrase “You’ve got to be able to beat the first man” right up there at the top of the co-commentator cliche bingo list. But is it really true that, when footballers’ technical ability has seemingly improved in the past decade or so – particularly from an attacking perspective – their ability to knock a ball 25 yards into the penalty area has deteriorated?
In the past five seasons, the Premier League’s goals-from-corners ratio has barely moved, varying between 0.32 goals per game to 0.38. It’s probably fair to assume that this figure isn’t wildly different across Europe’s leading leagues or in international football. So, if there hasn’t been a sudden drop in the effectiveness of corners in creating goals why is it that we now appear to have such a dim view of them?
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