Chelsea made use of an interesting tactic to stop Arsenal scoring from corners in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
It is no secret that the Gunners are among the best teams in football from set-pieces, and Nicolas Jover is continuing to improve them on that front.
Liam Rosenior had to deal with that when the two sides met at the Emirates, and he chose to push three of his players high up the pitch before the corner was even taken.
Arsenal didn’t score from a set-piece in that game, so the Chelsea boss can say that it worked. But Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris doesn’t think it will.
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Regis Le Bris perfectly explains why Chelsea’s corner trick will not work against Arsenal
Arsenal take on Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The Gunners have already dropped points against the Black Cats this season. They were held to a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light back in November.
Mikel Arteta will want to right that wrong this weekend, and one of his weapons against Le Bris’ low block will be corners.
After watching Chelsea pull players away from the box, the Sunderland boss was quizzed about that tactic. He doesn’t think it will work.
He said in his press conference, as relayed on Sunderland’s YouTube channel: “Yes, it’s important to prepare the squad for this phase of play because they are really good. Yeah, it’s possible to be brave, but I think they will also be brave.
“So you can try once to disturb their setup.
“Yeah, you can move three or four players. Okay, once, but I think they will react really quickly to fix this problem, and they have the ability to threaten in the first phase. So the second phase is another story, I would say.
“Yeah, they are the best in that part of the game, but it’s not the only one. So, we’ll have to manage the full game.”
Chelsea’s corner tactics to stop Arsenal: Clever or foolish?
Chelsea were lucky to get away with their corner tactic vs Arsenal
Managers deserve praise for trying out new things to stop Arsenal’s corners, but Chelsea were lucky that they did not concede from one in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.
The Gunners only had two corners all game, and in the one they pushed three players upfield, Arteta’s side almost scored.
If Arsenal had a few more corners, the ball would’ve gone into the back of the net.
That’s because dragging players outside the box will free up more space for someone like Gabriel Magalhaes to attack the ball.
That is the last thing any team would want, as the Brazilian is unstoppable in those situations if he is given space to run.
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