Ten Corners, One Chance: Tottenham’s Attack Still Stalls
Ten corners against Nottingham Forest produced exactly one chance – an awkward, close-range Micky van de Ven header he couldn’t even direct on target. That’s the trade-off, in miniature, of Roberto De Zerbi’s rebuild: more territory, more control, and precious little to show for it in either box.
The pattern started early. Brentford beat Tottenham 3-0 on the opening weekend, with the final goal arriving from a corner, and De Zerbi dismissed it afterwards as a quirk of facing what he called one of the league’s best set-piece sides. A week later Newcastle won 2-0 at home, their second goal again from a corner, Spurs again failing to win the first contact before the ball was headed across the box to an unmarked finisher. The 0-0 at Forest was progress in the standings but not in either penalty area, per The Athletic.
More corners, no end product
Ten corners at the City Ground is a total Tottenham managed only four times in the league last season before De Zerbi’s late-March appointment. The fifth and final occasion was May’s draw with Leeds. It reflects a genuine improvement in sustaining pressure in the opposition half. It just hasn’t translated into chances created, which is the whole point of winning a corner in the first place.
The physical profiles are gone
Of the ten players signed this summer, none carries a strong aerial reputation, including 6ft 5in Tosin Adarabioyo and 6ft 2in Jan Paul van Hecke. More tellingly, look at who’s left. Cristian Romero, dominant in both boxes, is at Atletico Madrid. Joao Palhinha, five Premier League goals during his loan year including the winner against Everton, is now at Benfica. Richarlison, 11 league goals and Spurs’ usual first point of contact at defensive corners, is left out of De Zerbi’s official squad entirely. Kevin Danso, once praised for enjoying the physical side of the game, joined Sunderland on deadline day. Those four were arguably Tottenham’s most dominant physical presences last season, and all four are unavailable.
The numbers have flipped
Last season Tottenham scored 19 of 48 league goals from set pieces – 39.6 per cent, the highest share in the division – and conceded just nine, second only to Arsenal. This season, against both Brentford and Newcastle, they’ve failed to win first contact from deep corners and been punished for it. Height isn’t the whole story either: Tottenham fielded the fifth-shortest starting XI in the league at Forest, but De Zerbi’s own selection, picking Conor Gallagher over £85million signing Mateus Fernandes for his duel-winning instincts, suggests he knows spirit and structure matter as much as inches. Rodrigo Bentancur, outstanding at Forest, is now probably Tottenham’s best header of the ball by default.
Verdict
The technical upgrade is real; so is the cost. Set pieces kept last season’s Tottenham above the relegation places when little else worked, and De Zerbi now has to find a way to raise the ceiling without knocking out the floor. Whether that means recruiting differently in January or simply coaching harder with what’s left, the current squad can’t keep losing duels at both ends and calling it a rebuild.
