Breaking down the Fulham corner routine Manchester United just can't deal with
It's uncommon for a team to score the same goal against the same opponent at the same ground three years in a row.
Yet Fulham's goal in the fifth round of the FA Cup against Manchester United on Sunday was the third consecutive season where Marco Silva's side scored from a right-sided outswinging corner at Old Trafford.
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Calvin Bassey's header last Sunday was similar to Aleksandar Mitrovic's goal in the sides' FA Cup encounter in 2022-23. Last season in the Premier League, Bassey scored from another outswinging corner towards the near post, albeit without the flick towards the far one.
In Sunday's game, which Fulham won on penalties after a 1-1 draw, United were defending in their adjusted setup under Ruben Amorim but were beaten once again.
In the grab below, United have six zonal markers around the edge of the six-yard box, two man-markers (red) in Rasmus Hojlund and Manuel Ugarte, and Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes (white) defending the area around the penalty spot and the short corner.
Meanwhile, Fulham are using Alex Iwobi as a short option to drag Fernandes away from the area near the penalty spot, where Adama Traore and Timothy Castagne (red) are ahead of Rodrigo Muniz, Joachim Andersen and Sander Berge (white), with Bassey (yellow) looking to attack the far post. As Andreas Pereira starts his run-up to take the outswinging corner…
… Castagne and Traore (red) move towards United's zonal markers at the near post to disrupt their jump and prevent them from defending the cross. Behind them, Fulham's runners (yellow and white) have a three-versus-two advantage against Hojlund and Ugarte, who cannot catch Muniz (yellow).
Muniz initially uses Andersen and Berge (white) as a screen to distance himself from United's man-markers, before attacking the space towards the near post (vacant because Fernandes was dragged out to defend Iwobi's fake short option) and blocking Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt (red) who are the zonal defenders in that area.
Towards the far post, Bassey (yellow) is waiting for the right moment to start his run…
… and he dashes forward to be in a goalscoring position as the ball approaches Muniz. Bassey's movement at the far post readies him for the rebound or the flick, which pays dividends when Muniz heads the ball into his path…
… and the centre-back scores to give Fulham the lead.
Fulham's trio of corner goals against United weren't specially designed to give them an advantage against this specific opponent. The right-sided outswinging corner attacked at the near post has been Fulham's trademark set piece since their return to the Premier League in 2022-23.
This season, Marco Silva's side has played 69 per cent of their right-sided corners as outswingers, mainly targeting the near-post zone as illustrated by the graphic below.
In another example, from the 2-1 victory against Nottingham Forest last month, Fulham are facing a zonal-oriented setup with Anthony Elanga (Forest No 21) defending the short corner, Chris Wood (white) protecting the far post, and Elliot Anderson, Danilo and Morgan Gibbs-White (red) keeping track of the runners.
Fulham's setup is almost identical to the one they scored from against United: Castagne and Traore (red) are ahead of three runners in Raul Jimenez, Berge and Andersen (white), and Bassey (yellow) is lingering towards the far post.
As Sasa Lukic prepares to play the outswinging corner, Castagne (red) moves up to block Neco Williams (Forest No 7) and Traore (red) pins Anderson…
… to create space for Jimenez (yellow) to attack towards the near post. Meanwhile, at the far post, Bassey (yellow) takes a couple of steps forward when the cross is played…
… which puts him in position when Jimenez flicks the ball towards that area.
Bassey attacks the flick-on and heads the ball into the far corner to score the winner.
Flicking the outswinging corner towards the far post is one variation of this move. It is targeted when the opponent looks vulnerable in that area, but it's also seen as more of an insurance policy when the player attacking the near post can't head the ball directly on target.
Fulham have also scored directly through the runner attacking the near post. In this example, against Bournemouth in December, the opponents are defending in a hybrid setup with four zonal players around the six-yard area, four man-markers (red) and two players defending the area near the penalty spot and the short corner (white).
Again, Fulham's setup is familiar with Iwobi and Castagne (red) ahead of three runners, and Bassey (white) in position to attack the far post.
Jimenez's marker is Milos Kerkez and the centre-forward uses Andersen and Issa Diop (white) as a screen to distance himself…
… which gives him an advantage when Pereira swings the ball towards the near post. Aiding the move are Iwobi and Castagne (red), whose roles are to disrupt Bournemouth's zonal defenders, Ryan Christie and Dean Huijsen, towards the near post and vacate that area for Jimenez…
… who connects with the cross and heads the ball into the far bottom corner. It's also important to note Bassey's movement, which puts him in position to attack the rebound if the header is saved.
Fulham haven't been as effective from attacking corners this season as the last two, with their goals-per-100-corners rate in all competitions dropping from 6.2 in 2022-23 and 3.7 in 2023-24 to 2.7 this campaign.
However, their signature corner isn't easy to stop because the players have been perfecting the delivery and the timing of their movements for three seasons, while the far-post option acts as an insurance policy.
It won't come as a surprise if Fulham score this corner goal again.
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Near-post weakness and exposing Onana: Why Manchester United are so bad at defending corners
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