One of Everton’s secret weapons last season under Carlo Ancelotti was the threat they posed from set-pieces.
In particular, it was from corners in which they enjoyed a large amount of their success, scoring a Premier League-high 10 goals from these dead-ball situations.
Ancelotti’s son and former Everton coach Davide Ancelotti was given a large portion of the credit for Everton’s good work from set-pieces as he was the one tasked with coming up with the designs and running through routines on the training pitch.
This season though under Rafael Benitez’s control, despite operating with predominantly the same personnel, Everton’s threat from corners has plummeted.
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Benitez’s defensive approach in most matches meant Everton had far less of the ball and subsequently generated fewer attacks. A consequence of this is that they’ve won far fewer corners on average.
In fact, their average so far of 3.85 per game is the second-lowest across the league. Like a domino effect, the same then also impacts the number of shots they get away from corners - an average of just 1.62 so far this season.
Even when Everton have been able to get shots away from the few corners they do have, they’ve often lacked quality, most likely due to poor cross execution and deficient attacking routines.
This is why they place as one of the lowest ranking teams in terms of xG from shots originating from corners.
The consequence of all the above is that Everton have scored only three Premier League goals from corners this season - only four sides have managed to score fewer.
This is another dismal facet of Benitez’s legacy that new manager Frank Lampard will need to rectify, particularly given Everton’s current predicament in the league, with every goal and point likely to be crucial in their bid to avoid a relegation dogfight.
The good news is that it does seem as though Everton can and will be better from corners under the ex-Chelsea boss.
The opening goal in last week’s 4-1 FA Cup demolition of Brentford came via a corner when Yerry Mina broke free to head home Demarai Gray’s cross.
Furthermore, Lampard’s Chelsea did rank respectably within the league’s top eight for goals from corners (six) during his full season in charge at Stamford Bridge.
Blues fans will hope he and his staff can quickly come up with more innovative and dangerous routines in the coming weeks to start improving on this real shortfall in Everton’s game.
