How do Nick Montgomery's Hibs approach attacking corners?

Well, they are, unfortunately, a facet of football that generates disproportionate excitement compared to how often they actually result in a goal. According to Opta, only 3-4% end in the ball hitting the back of the net, but that doesn't stop teams the world over putting the hours in to try and craft the perfect set-piece outcome.

Under Nick Montgomery in this season's Premiership, Hibs have scored two goals from corner kicks (more on those later), and four in total across the campaign. We've taken a look at how his team have approached attacking corners, the success rate, how they try and vary deliveries, and comparisons to the rest of the division.

Main setup

Hibs' go-to setup under Montgomery hasn't changed much through the season, with the examples below showing the win over Dundee in November, and against Motherwell earlier this month.

Initially, players attacking the box will group together at the edge of the area, leaving themselves space to run into. The idea is often then to split and occupy, roughly, the width of the posts. There is almost always a front and back post runner, with the other two between the sticks. One player looks to unsettle the goalkeeper, another provides depth to pick up second balls at the edge of the box, while whoever initially offers the option to play short will sprint towards the centre. The example below is a typical snapshot of how Hibs fan out, and the delivery is varied to hit front, centre or back post areas.

The centre-backs are almost always among those attacking the delivery, but there is variation in who moves towards which area, presumably to keep opponents guessing. In the example below, Lewis Miller makes a deliberate run to open space for Paul Hanlon to attack space at the back post.

In the second example below, Chris Cadden makes a late run from the front post zone to the back post, opening space for others to attack the delivery, albeit with no success on this occasion.

Variations

Hibs haven't shied away from trying something different to bamboozle opposition defences, and arguably should have done better on occasions that creative set-piece routines have resulted in an opportunity to shoot. Against St Johnstone earlier this month, Joe Newell signals for players to pack the six yard box, before receiving short from Emiliano.

Martin Boyle makes a dart towards Newell, dragging a St Johnstone player with him, and opening up space for the captain to find Cadden at the edge of the box. Cadden gets his shot away but can't get his effort on target.

In the win over Livingston in March, another well-crafted sequence results in a chance being passed up. Newell again makes the signal, this time raising both arms above his head, prompting Cadden to make a subtle run that clears space for a ball to Emiliano at the back post. Again, though, he's unable to get his shot on target and the chance is gone.

Success rate?

As stated at the outset, Hibs have scored four times from corners this season, and twice under Montgomery. The first of his tenure was a Miller header away at Dundee, and the second from Will Fish at home to Aberdeen. Both came about from the go-to setup described above, with the timing of runs, delivery and finish all combining to make the goal happen. The other two, Josh Campbell vs Livingston and Christian Doidge vs Aberdeen, were prior to the manager replacing Lee Johnson. 

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Even with those two, Hibs - along with Ross County and St Johnstone - are the joint second worst performers in the league from corners. Their corner xG of 5.64 suggests a slight underperformance, but it's clear they're not regularly fashioning good quality chances from these situations. For comparison, Dundee - who pipped Hibs to the top six - have scored 11 goals from corners this season.

The next graphic below plots Hibs' outcomes from corners across the season. The blue dots denote where the opposition has made first contact from the delivery, and red where it was a Hibs player.

And the third graphic shows every shot taken by a Hibs player after a corner delivery. The blue data points denote low xG efforts, while the yellow/orange signal higher xG chances, with most of those coming from situations where Hibs have managed to get efforts away close to goal.

Despite the discrepancy in goals scored detailed above, Dundee (the league's highest scorers from corners) have managed only 11 more shots from these situations than Hibs, but have scored seven more goals. As has been an issue for Montgomery's side from open play, inefficiency in front of goal seemingly also applies to attacking corners.

A lack of threat from these corners can, perhaps, be partially explained by player profiles. This Hibs team does not really possess a player who could be described as a real danger from set-pieces. Often, teams will look to centre-backs in these situations, but neither Fish nor Rocky Bushiri are known for their aerial prowess.

As with other areas, it's something that manager could seek to add to his ranks this summer, as it's certainly an area Hibs can work on.