Any tips for set pieces?

[calbrs04]

I'm looking for any help on set pieces. Not necessarily corners or a free kick where you take a shot on goal. What I need help with is putting the ball in the box effectively for a header.

[BradyBunch88]

I’m not sure if I 100% understand what you want help with? So I’ll give you both!

If you mean set pieces. There are a few things that you can do. Lets look at corner kicks first. I always like to have a left footed player take the corner kick on the right side of the field and a right footed player take the corner kick on the left side. The ball goes into the box better. Other way around, I find that the ball goes too far out towards the outside of the box.
When crossing the football in, what you want to do (or at least what I do) is hold the left stick up and try and get the power a little over 2 bars, not much. Then once the ball is in the box, hit the shoot button and use the left stick to direct the football towards goal. A big defender will usually head it in for the goal.
Also, check your defenders traits, one of them might have aerial attack or header trait which means they’re good in the air at heading footballs!
This is the way I always take my corner kicks and I’ve got about a 60% success rate, doesn’t work a lot but doing this method in FIFA 14, I was heading in everything literally as soon as I got a corner 90% of the time I’d score a goal.

Free kicks. There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube for both free kicks and corners. But a quick overview, let’s say the ball is out by 29 yards with 4 defenders in front of you, what you want to do is line the ball between the last defender on your left and the guy next to him, you should see a gap between their heads, aim the ball to go between their heads and you should get it in most times. Again hold the left stick up as the creates a dipping effect (over the wall and into the net) and power should be just over 2-3 bars. But it’s all relative to where the free kick is. My best advice would be to watch YouTube video tutorials.

Now, if you meant in your original question how to cross the ball in effectively during game play there are a few different ways. My favourite is the early cross for PS4 hold L1 and press square. For XBOX LB button and X. I like it because it has a better chance of a goal than a regular cross or any of the others IMO.

A few others, double tap square or X for a lower quicker cross into the box, triple tap square or X for a quick ground pass. The latter is good because how many times do you see it in football where let’s say Neymar is on the wing and does a ground pass / cross and Messi taps it in for the easy goal, that’s what that is. And it’s another favourite of mine, it’s almost an alternative way of using a through ball when you’re next to the keeper and you want your teammate to score.

So those are some variations of crosses and a quick mention of free kicks. But I can’t stress enough you’d learn a lot more just by watching some YouTube FIFA tutorials! Ovvy / PatrickHDxGaming to name a couple.

[redsox4evur]

Quote: Originally Posted by calbrs04

I'm looking for any help on set pieces. Not necessarily corners or a free kick where you take a shot on goal. What I need help with is putting the ball in the box effectively for a header.

Take a look at the FIFA 15 youtube page. They have been posting some tutorial videos this year that are pretty helpful.

[GingaGeordie]

I take it he means he needs help with long free kicks where a shot a goal is unlikely. For instance if I have a FK close to the halfway line, say to the right side of the pitch, I put a right footed player to take it. Usually you will see three attackers and 3 markers on the left side at the edge of the box. My usual successful way is to aim the FK at the defender that is to the right of my attacker, about 3 bars of power while holding the left stick to the left, this gives the attackers a chance to run up and jump to head the ball in. If holding LT when going for the header, it sometimes allows for some ridiculous bicycle kick goals.

A quick tip for defending those kind of set pieces too, when the opponent is about to take it, switch your team mentality to counter attack, it is so effective in allowing a good breakaway with your fastest players if your defenders intercept the opponents FK.

As for corners, my personal favourite tactic, if a right side corner, is to use a left footer, or vice versa but main thing is they need curve stats of 75+, originally aim the kick towards the D of the box, 2-3 bars of power while holding the left stick to the right, it bamboozles defenders as the ball curls so well allowing a free header to your attack, also allows for some good acrobatic goals. Scored a kung fu kick finish with Ibrahimovic yesterday using this haha.

If you have a comfortable lead too and feel like being a right dick haha, try that same move, but start by aiming the ball at the penalty spot, applying the level of power and curve with the stick. Can sometimes score directly from a corner haha. Has a low success rate though so I don't recommend that if you are losing or tying in a game.

[calbrs04]

Yeah I could of worded that better. I did mean long free kicks where a shot on goal is not desirable. I can never seem to get the angle or power right on those, specially when it's head-on.

[grizzlies317]

On longer free kicks, I've had the most luck with LB + X (or L1 + square for playstation). I usually move the left stick upwards for the dipping effect as well. Ideally, it'll find its way onto the head of one of my guys making a run in the box. I don't think it takes a ton of power on the kick, I'd say no more than 3 bars, unless you're trying it from very far away. Around 2 bars does it for me most of the time I'd say.