Nedum on Mario + City Corners

[johnny crossan]

Analysed: The fearsome simplicity of Manchester City’s corners

Manchester City, corners

By Sam Lee and Nedum Onuoha Feb 11, 2022 8
Manchester City are good at corners now, so much so that even Pep Guardiola admits it (remember, he often saves his praise for the opposition).

“Yeah, a lot, this is the best season so far for corners and free kicks, offensively, the best.”
What is behind this turnaround?

“We take a look and just do it simple,” Guardiola insists. “At the right moments, not be too complicated.”

There is bound to be an element of the City boss playing down his side’s intricate tactical approach but, actually, it is pretty simple.

Last week, Nedum Onuoha, the former City, Sunderland, Queens Park Rangers and Real Salt Lake defender — and editorial consultant for The Athletic — helped cast an eye over their his old team’s routines this season and the upshot is this: their approach is simple but effective.

Let’s start with the actual kick itself and whether City go short or “out” the ball into the box.

This is normally determined by whether the number of City players in the corner outnumbers the opposition. If so, they will often take it short and try to work the ball into the area from a different angle — either from one of the two players involved in the initial kick or, for example, by bringing Joao Cancelo into the equation.



City actually take more short corners than anybody else in the division, although they do get more corners than everybody else.

Overall, most of City’s corners go directly into the box and the signal for this is the taker raising and lowering his arm. This is, as far as can be established, for timing rather than to signal whether the ball is going to the front or back post.

When the taker starts running, that’s the cue for the players in the box to make their movements.

Now, let’s look at the set-up inside the box, which does have some variations, but the only real “secret” behind any “success” is that they have a well-defined structure and three main attackers who are aggressive in trying to win the ball in the air. These are the two centre-backs and the holding midfielder.

“We are strong in that department,” Guardiola says.

The rest are essentially there to create space for the main threats, with players such as Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva taking up positions elsewhere in the box.

The three main threats all work hard to get free from their markers and try to get free headers.

Below is a very cartoonish but common example against Leicester, with Ruben Dias, in this case, trying to occupy two markers so another team-mate can get a free run.



Aymeric Laporte, with the blurry face here due to his speed of movement, makes a dart for the near post. Fernandinho peels off around the back.



Dias simply gets the better of Hamza Choudhury in the air and should score, but his mistimed header is converted by Sterling.
[/img]https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2022/02/10085752/export-2022-02-09T154607.681.png[/img]

Let’s look at some similar movements in the recent game against Chelsea.

John Stones is on the inside.



Then the outside.



Then he moves back in as Laporte moves around, a switch triggered by the taker, Kevin De Bruyne, beginning his run-up.





It’s common for this trio to set up shop at the near post, which usually means one of them will spin around the back and try to get a free header.

Here’s a good example from City’s win at Swindon Town in the FA Cup. If a marker can’t be blocked off by getting caught in the crowd, a simple push and run might do the trick, as Rodri demonstrates.




With City’s other players stationed at the near post, it creates more space for the free header but, on this occasion, Rodri’s contact isn’t great.



This one below shows a bit of variation as City have four big men on the pitch, as Stones played right-back against Leeds, so the three are at the front post and Laporte is behind.



As the taker begins his run, Rodri runs around the pack…



Stuart Dallas, his marker, runs into Stones and falls, allowing the Spaniard a free header at the far post, but the ball is too high.



Incidentally, Guardiola believes his side’s delivery could be better: “Phil (Foden), Riyad (Mahrez), Kevin, Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) — we have to improve a little bit to put the ball on the right spot because I believe we can be dangerous in that position.”

They certainly do look a threat these days and this is about as complicated as their approach to corners gets: they have three guys who are very aggressive in going after the ball and who work hard to break free from marking.

There are some variations, but not a lot. Against Arsenal on New Year’s Day, City had Nathan Ake at left-back, adding another good option, so they used a group of four to attack the ball. Against Brentford on Wednesday, when Stones played right-back, they stuck with the group of three and had Stones at the near post.

And keep an eye out for Foden lurking in positions like these:




He got the ball in one of these examples but not the other, and one of the key reasons is that Brentford’s two men in the corner blocked off his route to it, whereas Fulham left him wide open. (Foden stood there often against Brentford but the option was never on.)

When the option is on, it is something that City like to use, and they have done for a few years now: Foden scored from this position against Burnley in June 2020, as well as Borussia Dortmund last season and Wycombe earlier this season.





Finally, the positioning of the players not expected to win headers serves several purposes. Not only do they take markers away from the main targets but they are also there for second balls, of course, and to prevent transitions if the opponent clears, by ensuring they can quickly counter-press.

This is important but in the Wolves game in December, City seemed to leave the edge of the box unattended.

At one corner, Bernardo makes Cancelo (off-screen) very aware of where he should be (although he rarely takes up that position).


It’s not something that City fix but for three of the next five corners from that side, Sterling, who notes the above exchange taking place, occupies that space.

It is rare for these sorts of issues to arise on the pitch, with Guardiola crediting two of his backroom staff, Carlos Vicens and Carles Planchart, with doing an “incredible job”.

“Carlos Vicens is a great communicator,” he says. “The meetings about set pieces are simple, so inspired and clever, and I think the players are perceiving that.”

Simply but effectively.

[nottsblue]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

[PeterParker]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

[stupot]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

I think we used to be really shit at corners, this season we've been really good as the 1st line in that article says.
You said recently you'd love Ward Prowse at City, i saw that his 2 assists at Tottenham are the 1st time he's managed that in all his years in the Prem which seeing as how every free kick, every corner is taken by him is pretty unimpressive.
Like you said- Kev, Gundo, Phil and Mahrez who you didn't mention all take them for us so although we get more corners as a team i think he's taken more than any player in the Prem this season.

[Nigels Tackle]

Still dont score enough

edited for you

[PeterParker]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

You said recently you'd love Ward Prowse at City.

Not just for his set-piece ability, everyone said great words, but his overall movement is really good. Great squad player to have, but I think he wants to play week in and out.

And yes, you are right, we've been better this year at corners, but still a long way to go.
Mancini's era was a delight when it comes to those.

[Scatman]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

I raise you Joey Barton

[PeterParker]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

I raise you Joey Barton

Yeah, but those from above are footballers. Can't say for sure what Joey actually is.

[Mase]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

I raise you Joey Barton

David Silva is the worse corner taker we’ve had. He could never beat the first man!!

[ayrshireblue]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

I raise you Joey Barton

David Silva is the worse corner taker we’ve had. He could never beat the first man!!

Did Silva not put the corner in for Dzeko to get the equalizer against QPR in that game?????

[Mase]

Still dont score enough from corners for my money seeing how many we get every game. We have height in Rodri Laporte Stones and Dias

I think we are actually really shit at corners.
The Ginger Socrates, Gundo, and Foden must be the worst takers I've seen in my life, incredible with the quality they have.

Free kicks also most of the times.

I raise you Joey Barton

David Silva is the worse corner taker we’ve had. He could never beat the first man!!

Did Silva not put the corner in for Dzeko to get the equalizer against QPR in that game?????

Not a clue. But if so one in five hundred thousand isn’t great.

Didn’t Corradi score from a Barton corner?

[PeterParker]

Not a clue. But if so one in five hundred thousand isn’t great.

Didn’t Corradi score from a Barton corner?

He did. Also Vinnies goal with the rags. Under Bobby, Dave was taking corners.
After Bobby he went shit.

I think Mancini paid a lot of attention to these things.

[Mase]

Not a clue. But if so one in five hundred thousand isn’t great.

Didn’t Corradi score from a Barton corner?

He did. Also Vinnies goal with the rags. Under Bobby, Dave was taking corners.
After Bobby he went shit.

I think Mancini paid a lot of attention to these things.

Good point. After Mancini it may have been a ploy to aim for the front post, but for ages I remember sitting in the East Stand thinking, “why is Silva on corners when he can’t beat the first man?!”

[mr_nool]

To be fair, I think the most dangerous corners are the hard, fairly low ones that just clear the head of the first defender and then drop in the 6 yard box. They're very difficult to defend against and often result in goals. The problem is, that it's very fine margins. Too hard and high, and it will pass everyone and go out for a throw in. Too low and you look like a fucking mug when the defender on the first post heads it away.

I really do believe that Silva was instructed to try that ball over and over again, because the few time he hit the sweet spot, it would be a golden scoring opportunity.

[johnny crossan]

Nedum on Mario
An audience with Mario Balotelli



Nedum Onuoha Mar 2, 2022 41

If I asked for your opinion of Mario Balotelli, what would you say?

We only played together for six months at Manchester City in the first half of the 2011-12 season, but it was enough time to get a feel for a guy who, we have to remember, had only just turned 20 when he arrived in England.

One story I will always remember from Carrington, the old training ground, was when somebody was talking about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Mario piped up and said that he was just as good as them.

The room fell silent but his face didn’t change; he was deadly serious.


Mario was different, for sure, and while he was never quite as different as was made out, when I spoke to him last week — after five long months of tracking him down — I could not believe the change in the man.

“I missed some chances to be at that level,” he said of that conversation about Messi and Ronaldo. “But I am 100 per cent sure that my quality is the same level as these people, but I… I missed some chances, you know? It happens.

“And nowadays, I cannot say I’m as good as Ronaldo, because Ronaldo won how many golden balls (Ballons d’Or)? Five? You cannot compare yourself to Messi and Ronaldo, nobody can. But if we’re talking about only quality, football quality, I have nothing to be jealous of them, to be honest.”


(Photo: Scott Heavey/Getty Images)
Some may still laugh at that, coming from a 31-year-old at his ninth professional club, Adana Demirspor in Turkey, but it shows that Mario is aware of his place in the world and fully appreciates his situation now.

He was a kid in a very serious dressing room back at City. We had Gareth Barry, James Milner, Nigel de Jong, Carlos Tevez, even Joe Hart, David Silva, Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany when they were younger.

But the way Mario talks about his younger self now is like a father talking about a young son coming up through the ranks.

“I think that was my biggest mistake, to leave City,” he admits. “Even in the year when I left, I played very well in Milan for a year and a half, but after that, I had some problems. And now that I’m older, I know that I shouldn’t have left City at that time.

“All these years seeing City improving, improving and improving. I could have been here like Sergio Aguero for a long time.


(Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
“If I had my mindset now,” he laughs, “when I was at City, probably one golden ball (Ballon d’Or) I could have won, I’m sure about this. But you know, when you grow up, you mature more, so…”

He really did have that quality. He used to kill me in training and, like a few players in that City team at the time, he did special things. Yaya was Yaya, Sergio was Sergio and Mario was Mario.

What made him special? Things like off-the-cuff bits of skill to wriggle out of difficult areas. We had great players who could do great things, but not squeeze between two players with a nutmeg and a drag-back or whatever — that was just Mario.

And his finishing… the way he took his penalties was the way he scored some of his goals; he could kick it hard, but he could also roll it one mile per hour into the opposite corner. Once he had a head of steam and his confidence was up he was a nightmare, because it wasn’t like he was weak.

And nobody could say he didn’t play his part in that Premier League triumph, particularly on that day against Queens Park Rangers when he rolled the ball to Sergio to win City’s first league title in 44 years with the last kick of the season. His only assist in the Premier League.


“To be honest, I wasn’t… I wasn’t 100 per cent sure we could win it,” he says about his feelings at the start of the year. “I know our team was amazing — I played with amazing players over there — but also other teams were good, (Manchester) United were good.

“So many people when they ask me about this game, they were like, ‘Queens Park Rangers, they let you win’. I’m like, ‘Trust me, they didn’t because you were playing actually very good that game’.”

Yeah, “you”. I had left City for QPR in January and there I was on the final day battling for Premier League survival against the guys I had been playing and training alongside. I can assure you that nobody was letting City win, but this isn’t about me.



“You changed the game in 10 minutes from 1-0 to 2-1, that was unbelievable,” Mario remembers. “And when you scored the second goal, I was like, ‘No, finished’.” He tuts. “‘It’s finished’.”

He had already won three Serie A titles and the Champions League with Inter before coming to Manchester, but that day with City tops the lot.

“I think, yes, yeah. That was more emotional than the Champions League. The Champions League is amazing and obviously — it’s the Champions League and if you win the Champions League it’s the best title you can win with your club — but the way we won it with City and everything, that was emotional; too much emotion even for me, I was so emotional that day. It was unbelievable.”


(Photo: Sharon Latham/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
People I speak to now still beam when his name comes up. For those of us who knew him and even those who didn’t, he was a loveable rogue. The “Why Always Me?” t-shirt he unveiled during the 6-1 win at Old Trafford and the famous photo from the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley of Mario standing, emotionless, in the middle of a melee with angry United players helped to create a cult hero. Standing underneath the crossbar and shouldering the ball in from a yard? Only Mario.

But it’s not just the football side that provokes such fond memories in Manchester.

“I don’t know why, to be honest. I don’t know,” he says. “I think they liked me as a player.

“And then probably they read too much, too many newspapers, because the newspapers were talking… like, creating stories every time. Sometimes, I was home and somebody called me and said, ‘They say that you did this, you did that’. I was like, ‘It’s impossible. I’m in my house’. They created so many stories, they created the Mario Balotelli in England.

“But to be honest, I was more quiet than they thought. But probably the people also like this part… most of the time, it wasn’t true. Sometimes yes… but most of the time, no.

“Most of the things that people think about me, they’re not real.”


(Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
I wondered if he could have done something to change that.

“Do you know how much news came out (about me) in the two, three years I was in England? Like, every day… I wouldn’t have time to even train, I would be on the phone to try to explain myself every time. I was like, ‘I’m young, they want to say what they want to say, that’s their problem but my family knows what I really do so I don’t really care’.

“Now if I could go back to that time I would have replied and said stop creating stories because in my career, those things came against me a little bit.”


(Photo: Sam Bagnall/AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)
It’s like speaking to a completely different person now. He says the big change in his character came with the birth of his children and the responsibility that brings, but let me tell you that in football that’s no guarantee: I’ve seen players spend more time than ever at the training ground when their kids are born, just for peace and quiet.

But the determination and belief he showed in those early days at City are still there. In January, he was called up to a training camp by Roberto Mancini, our old boss at City who’s now in charge of Italy, before the World Cup qualifiers in March.

A return to the national team would be huge. Remember his impact at Euro 2012, on the back of the title win at City, when he scored twice against Germany, threw off his shirt and stood there, flexing, for the world to see?

“That was the best moment in my career, I guess,” he says.


(Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
The decade since has had its ups and downs, shall we say? After Inter, City, AC Milan and Liverpool came three years at Nice and a year at Marseille. He returned to Brescia, northern Italy, the town where he grew up and a club where he even served as a ball boy, but that was an unhappy season interrupted by COVID-19 and a falling-out with the board over training. It ended with relegation. After training with Serie D side Franciacorta for six months, he finished the season in Serie B, with Monza, before moving to Turkey last summer.

Mancini was labelled “desperate” by recalling Mario to the national team, and as he hasn’t represented his country since 2018 it’s clear that his biggest target now is to win back his place.

“The only objective I have is to go to the national team and to try to drive the Italian squad to the World Cup, and also trying to get in the first three places (in the Turkish Super Lig) here with Adana. I know it’s not easy, but that’s probably the two objectives coming out in my mind, the most important things at this moment.”

Once again, he’s deadly serious.

“I feel it can be like this for the rest of my career, and that’s what I want, I just want to go back to the national team. The last two years weren’t very easy for me, in Monza and Brescia. I had some injuries too. For me, normality should be being in the national team. The thing that’s not normal is when I’m not.

“So obviously, I’m working to be there in March when we have the qualifiers and I hope he will pick me.”


(Photo: Omer Urer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mario’s relationship with Italian football and Italy as a nation has not always been easy. Born in Palermo to Tom and Rose Barwuah, Ghanian immigrants, he was raised from the age of three by Silvia and Francesco Balotelli.

“I’m African-Italian,” he says. “And I’m very proud of both.”

I asked if he feels more accepted now than at the start of his career, when there were still those who said, “There are no black Italians”, and his answer perhaps says a lot about the kind of relationships that he has encountered in football.

“People care only when they need you. That’s what happens and I saw it many times with different players also in the world. People care — they love you when they need you. When they don’t need you, they hate. They start saying racist things and stupid things.

“This is not about everyone that is Italian, but there are some parts of Italy that I can say they don’t like me. But now, maybe because they need me, they change their mind. But as soon as things go wrong, they will go back and insult (me).”

They sound like the words of a jaded man, and when asked when he was most happy, he says, “I would go back to that age, 16, because everything was like a dream.” It’s easy to perceive some kind of discontent, but I cannot emphasise enough how the Mario I spoke to was so much more of a settled, well-rounded human being.


(Photo: Danilo Di Giovanni/Getty Images)
After five months of trying to track him down for this interview, I thought I had no chance. I must have talked to 20 people to try to get a number for him, including his agent, former team-mates, friends and even family. I even slid into his DMs on Instagram. Nothing.

Then when the interview was pushed back a few days I feared the worst. I’ve seen enough footballers agree to things with no intention of ever turning up. I once called a player to record a podcast and he was just heading into the cinema.

Although I had shared a dressing room with Mario and felt that I had got to know him relatively well, in the 10 years since we last spoke I had seen the same stories as everybody else. I knew not to believe all of them because I saw him up close, but when he seemed impossible to track down I started to wonder if this was the flaky Mario, the unreliable Mario.

“Wait, now I go on my Instagram and I see,” he says when I admit to the messages of desperation. “I have to be honest, I’m very, very bad with my phone. Most of the time, I don’t even remember where I put it.”

It turns out that all those things that could be perceived as negative were actually positive. He’s keeping his head down, living the kind of quiet life that would just not have suited him in the past.


(Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
And most of the so-called controversial stories about him now aren’t even on his radar. Did you see the one recently about him supposedly punching his team-mate after he had been substituted? He actually punched the bench, but because it’s Mario, the headlines go around the world and people will believe it without even seeing the video.

“Oh my… I never hit…” he tails off and laughs. “I’m shocked…

“At this moment, there are not really people talking bad about me. I’m very quiet. I don’t do anything special. I’m always training. Thank God, I live in a city where there is not much to do. You can go to the cinema or something like this, so there is really nothing to talk about here. And that’s what I always want, I want people to talk about football, not my life, you know, and this is happening now so I’m happy about this.”

Footballers often get offers to go to Turkey, particularly to Istanbul. The city is sold on its beauty and its nightlife, as well as the passion of the supporters there.

For Mario to go to Adana, a big city but nothing like Istanbul, and to a club without the expectations of the more traditional giants, explains exactly where he is at in his life.

The thought of him living in a quiet town, and him thanking God for the privilege, is not something that even I ever expected.

If I ask for your opinion of Mario Balotelli now, what would you say?

You can listen to the full interview with Balotelli on The Athletic Football Podcast, free on your usual podcast provider or ad-free on The Athletic app.

(Photo: Claudio Villa/Getty Images/Design: Sam Richardson)

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