Last season, United averaged 5.7 corners per game and this season it is 5.4. 15% of the corners we took last season lead to chances, and this year it is 13%. Just 1.4% of our corners last season resulted in goals and this year, so far, it is 2.5%.

In real terms, that means this season we’ve scored 3 times from 119 corners this season, which is pretty shocking. To give that some context, Chelsea have scored almost treble that, with 8 goals. West Ham, just behind them, have 7.

Judging from a quick poll on Twitter, Wayne Rooney has been our favourite corner taker this season, but alarmingly, just 30% of his corners have reached a United player. That’s 9 corners from 30 attempts. Even worse is Angel di Maria, with a success rate of 24% from his 47 corners taken.

To give that some perspective, 47% of Joey Barton’s corners have found a QPR player, whereas Steven Gerrard has found a team mate with 43% of his. Barton’s corners have lead to 15 goals, Santi Cazorla and Stewart Downing 14, Gerard and Seb Larsson 13, and Cesc Fabregas 10. None of our players even feature in the top 20.

Phil Jones took two corners for United against QPR at the weekend, much to the horror of the fanbase. The first fizzed past the goal line and should have been tucked in by someone, whereas the second was cleared by the first man.

Whilst it’s difficult to see the logic behind Van Gaal’s decision, given that it’s so odd to have your central defender on corner taking duty, it’s hard to see what harm it can do. He surely can’t be any worse than anyone else who has been taking corners this season?

You might say that we need his height in the box, but then in three and a half seasons, he’s never scored a header from a corner. His only goal from a corner in this time came in the Champions League last season, when after bobbling around the box he booted it in to the back of the net. In his entire club career, in all competitions, Jones has scored just 5 goals, so we shouldn’t be worried about making sure he’s in the box when a corner is floated in, because chances are, he won’t be scoring from it. Would you rather the ball fell to Rooney or Di Maria in the box, or Jones?

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Stats from Opta. Follow @oilysailor.

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