How Nick Montgomery has ramped up Hibs set-piece threat

And yet, their primary source of chance creation last weekend was from set-pieces. 14 of 23 shots in the goalless draw with Dundee arrived from dead ball situations, greater than 50 per cent of their opportunities on the day. With considerable focus being trained on how Hibs are building up in-play, the pre-prepared corners routines which have clearly been worked on in training have flown somewhat under the radar.

Nick Montgomery admitted his frustration with his team being unable to find the net in a Premiership fixture they largely dominated, and he may have felt particularly annoyed by the failure to capitalise on the numerous set-pieces openings they created. With the first Edinburgh derby of the season looming large, both sides will be hammering away on the training pitch in pursuit of the perfect gameplan.

READ MORE: Patience and trust key as Hibs eye further commercial growth - exclusive Ben Kensell interview

After Saturday’s match, Lewis Stevenson discussed how Montgomery had been implementing a focus on marginal gains – and there are few occasions defined more by the fine margins than when Hibs and Hearts collide. With so much at stake, these are often tense, cagey affairs with chances from open play at a premium.

With that in mind, it feels likely there will have been meticulous work carried out on set-pieces at the Hibernian Training Centre this week. Here, we use Wyscout to examine how Montgomery’s Hibs attacked corners in their last outing, with some notable strategies and variations.

As seen above, Hibs’ basic setup from corners has remained largely the same, with the execution then incorporating a number of tweaks. In-swinging deliveries are preferred, with Martin Boyle delivering from the left and Joe Newell from the right.

As the taker prepares to cross, four players will bunch together near the edge of the box, sometimes even forming a straight line, which makes it difficult for opponents to go man for man before the ball is back in play. This quartet generally consists of the two centre-backs, Lewis Miller and Adam Le Fondre. Dylan Vente is instructed to take up residence around halfway between the middle of the goal and front post, while Elie Youan initially stands behind the keeper.

As in the above example, when Newell runs up to cross, two things happen initially – Youan moves from behind the keeper to in front of him, while Vente inches slightly towards the front post.

Hibs’ aim here is to create as much space in the six-yard box as possible, with Youan’s movement intended to block the keeper, and Vente’s to pull his marker away from the space. As this happens and Newell delivers, Fish, Miller, Hanlon and Le Fondre split to attack the space Youan and Vente have helped to free up.

As shown above, Hibs’ highest value chance of the game resulted from this routine via the opposite side. Runs from Le Fondre, Miller and, to an extent, Fish drags Dundee jerseys to the front post, allowing Boyle to deliver to the back where Hanlon has peeled off. The cross drops just in front of the Hibs captain, and the ball bouncing up at speed makes his header more difficult to control, and he is unable to keep it down.

Hibs repeated this routine for their first three corners. On the fourth, with Dundee perhaps expecting the same again, they initially start in the same formation before Hanlon beckons the other three into the six yard box, dragging the visitors’ defence as close to goal as possible.

Newell, until then sitting deep and feigning disinterest, comes alive at this moment and darts for the edge of the box as Boyle lays the ball back into his path. Dundee, in fairness, get out quickly and Newell never quite looks fully comfortable with a shot that flies over.

There were a further two variations in the second period.

The first involved Vente, who had taken up more of a screening role to preserve the space behind him. The rest of the routine unfolds as normal, but this time Boyle delivers low to the front post and Vente attempts to catch Carson unawares with a deft flick. He gets his effort on target but the keeper is equal to it.

The second tweak featured Miller stepping away from the initial line-up and loitering towards the back post area. As Boyle moves to deliver, Miller makes a diagonal dart towards the penalty spot/six yard area while Hanlon again pulls away around the back.

By that point in the match, Dundee were likely growing familiar with Hibs’ initial corner setup, and Miller stepping away from it introduces something else for Dundee to think about, in terms of where the right-back may choose to run, and how his team-mates will react to it.

In this instance, neither Miller nor Hanlon make first contact, yet the all-round movement causes enough chaos to allow Fish to meet the cross, albeit his header fails to find the target.

Like much about Hibs at the moment, these routines remain a work in progress, with a few examples of delivery not being quite right, players arriving a fraction too late and the finishes not quite being clinical enough.

But given the number of chances created from set-plays at the weekend, it’s evident this is another area in which Montgomery has made this team more dangerous. Expect more of the same, and perhaps further variations, at Tynecastle on Saturday.