Swansea City lost 3-0 away at Newcastle United last Saturday, conceding twice from a corner before Townsend added a late third against the run of play.
Francesco Guidolin watched his side concede from a corner in 4 of his first 5 League games in charge. In fact, it was the first time this season when the Swans had won a game in which they had conceded from a corner.
Against West Brom and Crystal Palace, we dropped 4 points as both sides equalised directly from a corner. And despite being easily second best against Spurs in a 2-1 defeat, they only lost by the 1 goal – and 1 of them from a corner.
After that disastrous run of conceding from corners, Guidolin was relieved to see his side only concede from a corner once in the following 6 games. But that proved to be costly too as AFC Bournemouth netted a late winner to deny Swansea a point.
Since Guidolin arrived in January, his side have conceded 15 goals, 7 of them from corners. – costing his team 5 points at least.
Fortunately, we`ve managed to pick up points elsewhere, with a big victory against Arsenal before taking 3 points in edgy wins against fellow relegation rivals Norwich City and Aston Villa.
If we hadn`t picked up those points, the Newcastle game was going to be huge – the biggest of the season. It had little meaning for us, we are all but safe, but the players produced a performance that suggested to us fans that their work was done – 40 points was enough.
That attitude and lack of desire to try and kick on and build on recent results was frustrating – a point would have been enough to send us up to 11th in the table.
But our total lack of being able to defend corners came back with a bang, and not one, but two – for the first time of the season.
Incredibly, Newcastle only won 3 corners all game – which was enough to score 2 goals.
Their first corner, just before the half hour mark was a poor one – thankfully. A low cross aimed at the front post was easily headed away by Ashley Williams – who yet again – occupied the space at the near post – marking no one. Unless the cross is a poor one, Williams` position in the 6-yard area means he`s not involved in defending the set piece. A waste of an excellent defender in situations that we`re vulnerable in.
But the co-commentator on Saturday spotted that players weren`t even looking at the ball as it was coming in, instead simply focusing on the player they were marking. LIke he said, how can you expect to defend the ball when you`re looking the other way?
Goal 1:
You can see a few issues already with Swansea`s defensive setup at the first corner they concede from below.
Defenders not looking at the ball near the penalty spot, defenders not goal side of their markers and Sigurdsson allowing the goalscorer to run more than 10 yards to the front post to score.
Again, Ashley Williams offers nothing in his position. There`s a lack of communication too because there`s no way that Lascelles should be allowed to run all that way towards the front post, without Williams knowing to score. Sigurdsson`s strengths aren`t battling with players in the box, as he loses Lascelles easily.
In hindsight, wouldn`t Taylor be better and more effective standing on the near post? Our decision to never put players on at least one of the posts has been questioned all season. 
Goal 2:
The second corner sees a similar setup, although this time, Sigurdsson isn`t given a player to mark. Williams and Taylor again occupy near post areas.
Newcastle`s three main attackers, near the penalty spot – are marked by Fernandez, Rangel and Gomis. Players that don`t give you a lot of confidence when defending aerial balls. They all lack physical strength to compete.
In the screenshot above, Gomis has lost his marker, Rangel isn`t looking at the ball and Fernandez is at fault for getting attracted to the ball, losing Mitrovic who hangs back to win a free header.
The ball comes back off a Swansea player and luckily for Newcastle – into the path of Sissoko to fire home.
There was some slight misfortune for the second goal, but having said that, Fernandez was poor, Mitrovic has a free header and the loose ball isn`t cleared.
We did a detailed analysis of our corner defending here
The same characteristics and problems are still evident, and it`s a wonder how we managed to go 6 games and only concede from a corner once.
How can the Swans improve in this area? Well, committing at least one player to stand on the post, get Williams marking the opposition`s strongest player in the air, and ensure the players look at the ball!
Guidolin has said it`s not difficult to improve, but it`s just the basics that we`re failing on.
It has to be improved though. The statistics on games where we concede from corners compared to those when we don’t is staggering. In a nutshell, the Swans are three times more likely to win when they don’t concede from a corner.
when Swansea don’t concede from a corner:
P – 23
W – 9
D – 8
L – 6
PPG – 1.52
when Swansea do concede from a corner:
P – 11
W – 1
D – 2
L – 8
PPG – 0.45
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