How do set piece assignments work in FC 26 Pro Clubs?

EA lists five assignments for an attacking corner. Near Post, Back Post, Target Player, Top of Box and Defensive Cover. The first three carried over and the last two are new.

Defensive Cover is an attacking assignment. The name reads like a defending setting and it is not one: it is the player who stays back at your own corner while everybody else piles into the opposition box.

Threat Marker, Post Watcher, Near Post and Back Post. Four separate assignments where there used to be one blanket instruction for the whole side, which means a club can decide who picks up the danger and who stands on a post instead of hoping the game works it out.

Give the Threat Marker job to whoever is happiest defending in the air. Post Watcher suits a player who will stay put, and staying put is harder than it sounds when the ball comes in.

Left Throw-in Taker and Right Throw-in Taker are two more assignments in the same tab. In the match you can ask for your nominated taker with R1 or RB, so the throw does not default to whoever happens to be nearest the line.

That button is the most useful thing in this whole list. A throw-in taken by the wrong player is how a settled attack turns into a goal kick.

EA gave the list and left the behaviour undescribed. What Top of Box does with the ball, how wide a Threat Marker ranges, whether Post Watcher tracks a runner: none of that is written down anywhere official, and the confident explanations you can find were assembled by people watching the same replays you can watch.

The Practice Arena is the honest way through it. FC 26 lets you take corners in there and change the kick taker without leaving the session, so ten minutes of that beats an afternoon of reading.

EA adjusted where attacking players stand and run at a corner, with two aims: thin out the crowd in the box, and cut the counter attacks that kept coming straight back off a corner. Free kick trajectories moved as well, after timed finishing was taken out of the game.

If your club scored a lot from set pieces last year and does not now, the routine is the thing to change. The assignments above are the only lever Clubs gives you for it.

What are the attacking corner assignments in FC 26?

Five of them: Near Post, Back Post, Target Player, Top of Box and Defensive Cover. The last two are the ones EA added this year.

What are the defensive corner assignments in FC 26?

Four separate jobs: Threat Marker, Post Watcher, Near Post and Back Post. Defending a corner is four assignments handed out this year, where it used to be one setting for the whole side.

Is Defensive Cover a defending assignment?

No, and the name catches people out every time. EA lists Defensive Cover among the attacking corner assignments, which is where it belongs: it is the player who stays back while everybody else is in the opponent box.

Can you pick who takes a throw-in?

Yes. Left Throw-in Taker and Right Throw-in Taker are two separate assignments, and during a match you can ask for your selected taker by pressing R1 or RB.

What does each set piece assignment actually do?

EA published the names and left the behaviour alone. The Practice Arena is the honest way to find out, and FC 26 lets you take corners in there and change the kick taker without leaving the session.

Why do corners feel different in FC 26?

EA adjusted where attacking players stand and run at a corner, to thin out the crowd in the box and cut the counter attacks that kept coming off them.

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