In recent seasons, crosses to the near post were favoured by attacking teams. Chelsea opted for this same approach against West Ham too.
Teams often commit extra players to the near post as a way to prevent dangerous flick-ons in this area, so naturally there are fewer players elsewhere, which includes the far post. As a result, some teams are deliberately choosing to cross to the far post from corners and with good success.
Against Spurs on 13 September, West Ham appeared to place more players towards the near post, perhaps as a result of Chelsea’s previous success against them in that area.
Spurs instead targeted the far post where West Ham had fewer players. Spurs put two attackers at the far post to West Ham’s one defender, meaning eventual scorer Pape Matar Sarr was left unmarked.
Spurs didn’t block the goalkeeper like Delap did for Chelsea, but they did use blocking in another interesting way.
With a looping ball played to the far post, Potter’s West Ham players tried to move from the near post towards the ball. As the Spurs’ attackers were positioned behind them, they were able to hold their ground, blocking the West Ham players’ path. This prevented any West Ham defender from getting close to Sarr.
With the number of players in the six-yard box, Hermansen was again unable to leave his line too.
Sarr headed the ball in before running off in celebration, pointing to set-piece coach Andreas Georgson.
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