https://www.thetimes.co.uk/sport/football/article/ben-white-corners-Woolwich-title-race-5tx3mvxm3
Woolwich may not win the Premier League this season but they appear to have an unassailable lead in one area: superiority from set pieces.
Two goals from corners in Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur took their total this season to 16 from corners, as many as have ever been scored by a team in one Premier League season. Their total from all set pieces, excluding penalties, is 22; the league’s next most effective team, Everton, are four behind.
Who deserves the credit for Woolwich’s pre-eminence at dead-ball situations? There is the obvious answer: Nicolas Jover, the 42-year-old French set piece coach who followed Mikel Arteta, the Woolwich manager, from Manchester City in 2019.
But there is one player who has been fundamental to Woolwich’s success and yet who doesn’t have a single assist or goal from a corner to his name. In fact he rarely touches the ball in these situations.
Ben White’s role is to be chief disruptor, causer of confusion and a general sly winder-upper of opponents. If Woolwich were trying to keep his stealthy antics under the radar, their cover was blown at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where he was caught on camera attempting to undo the glove of Guglielmo Vicario before a corner, distracting the Spurs goalkeeper, who flicked out his right hand in agitation. When the ball was then delivered, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg turned it into his own goal. Later in the first half White stood directly in front of Vicario, preventing him from making what might have been a routine catch so that Kai Havertz had an easy header to score Woolwich’s third.
White’s behaviour was clearly naughty, but should it have been punished? Peter Walton, the former Premier League referee who is now a Times columnist, said White could have been booked for unsporting behaviour when he tried to unfasten the glove. However, since the ball was not in play at the time, the corner would still have been taken and the ensuing goal would still have been legal. “But if White had actually loosened the glove and a goal was scored, then VAR could have intervened and flagged the incident to the referee,” Walton said. “Perhaps, after the scrutiny, it will be something that officials are more proactively looking for.”
Players can stand where they like on the pitch, meaning White can legitimately take up a position in front of Vicario. A player commits an offence if they impede an opponent’s progress, step across their path or block them. “If White moves across and impedes Vicario, it is an offence, but it is very difficult for referees to detect when they are looking at the flight of the ball, perhaps to the far post, and a player moves across the path,” Walton said. “White has it down to art and it is down to the officials to detect.”
White’s methods began to be noticed midway through last season. They backfired when a video review of his tug on Danny Ward, the Leicester City goalkeeper, led to Leandro Trossard’s strike being disallowed in February. Two months later he wound up Illan Meslier by tapping the Leeds United goalkeeper on the arm before the ball was delivered.
In the 5-0 win against Crystal Palace in January this year, White stood in front of the Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson and two slightly deeper corners were each headed in by Gabriel. Tyrick Mitchell was tasked with marking White that day but each time did not affect the situation.
Former professionals will say there is nothing new about what White is doing. Kevin Nolan and John Terry performed similar jobs for Bolton Wanderers and Chelsea, respectively, two decades ago. As teams got wise to them, players like Gary Neville were shoehorned in front of their goalkeeper to usher the disruptors out of the way.
It is perhaps no surprise that Woolwich have profited least from White’s manoeuvres against more wily teams and referees in the Champions League, where officials are often stricter — and sharper. In the round-of-16 tie against Porto, when Woolwich scored only one goal of any kind over two legs, Guillermo Varela used his back to lever White clear of Diogo Costa, the goalkeeper, and Porto won a number of fouls while defending set pieces. Now it is for Premier League opponents to catch up and remember to mark White at set pieces, even though there is little threat of him attacking any dead-ball delivery.