21 goals from set-pieces was quite unbelievable last season.
Hardly any direct from free kicks or corners though. 75% from penalties. Just 2 from free kicks from what I can recall (Taylor & Sarr) & cant recall many direct from a corner.
Come back when our central defenders score more than 1 each all season & we score direct from a free kick also.
Does it matter how they’re scored? Direct or indirect? Bullet header or goal line scramble? Every goal counts the same. As long as the ball is in the net from a set piece situation, that’s all that matters.
Defensively we looked vulnerable in the air. That was a strength of Inniss, and indeed Stockley when defending set pieces.
In attack, we look like a team that currently has no set piece taker, with Fraser injured, and Taylor not up to speed. Two TERRIBLE direct free kicks in the last 2 games from Payne and May.
Need more leadership at the back as everyone seems to think someone else will pick up. That needs work as they had far too many free headers.
At the other end we desperately need someone who is decent with a dead ball. Taylor can bepretty decent but not up to speed yet. Anderson's corner that hit the bar was inches away from being superb but then his next one should have hit the first man - consistency is an issue with delivery definitely
The wall for May's free kick last night was only about 8 yards away. I can't believe the players didn't point it out to the ref.
yes 7 steps the ref took. Easy to see the vast difference between that distance and the 10 yards at the half way line. Having said that don't think it would have made much difference. 30 yards out with a wall, always optimistic to shoot.
Peterborough could've, possibly should've scored off one at the weekend. Bristol Rovers did score off one tonight.
I always take set pieces as a bit of a yard stick for how well coached a team is (or isn't) and so far the signs aren't good for us.
A big part of the problem is that we are a pretty small side. Nobody like Stockley makes a huge difference while even our defenders aren't all commanding in the air (Edun?, Assimwe?). Likely to continue to be a problem with the current squad.
Peterborough could've, possibly should've scored off one at the weekend. Bristol Rovers did score off one tonight.
I always take set pieces as a bit of a yard stick for how well coached a team is (or isn't) and so far the signs aren't good for us.
A big part of the problem is that we are a pretty small side. Nobody like Stockley makes a huge difference while even our defenders aren't all commanding in the air (Edun?, Assimwe?). Likely to continue to be a problem with the current squad.
You could argue that played a part, especially against Peterborough but the goal we conceded last night had nothing to do with height.
There was a weird short corner routine in the second half which freed Assimwe into a bit of space, and he drilled it into the near post, when we had 4 players at the back post.
Yes, Assimwe maybe took the wrong option, but why did we have nobody on the near post or in the middle of the area? Surely that's something you work on.
I'll accept lack of height in the team as an excuse for set piece frailties once I stop seeing opposition players repeatedly getting left unmarked from corners and free kicks. Until then, it's about coaching and on pitch organisation.
There was a weird short corner routine in the second half which freed Assimwe into a bit of space, and he drilled it into the near post, when we had 4 players at the back post.
Yes, Assimwe maybe took the wrong option, but why did we have nobody on the near post or in the middle of the area? Surely that's something you work on.
We must be the worst team in the football league at them and have been for some time. Cannot believe there has been no improvement and we have even gone backwards.
There was a weird short corner routine in the second half which freed Assimwe into a bit of space, and he drilled it into the near post, when we had 4 players at the back post.
Yes, Assimwe maybe took the wrong option, but why did we have nobody on the near post or in the middle of the area? Surely that's something you work on.
I seem to recall someone on here - allegedly in the know - saying they don’t practice any freekick routines in training..
I love set pieces, they are great levellers at any tier of the game. When trying a new trick, chaos and the spreading of chaos amongst the opposition is the aim of the game. Everyone groans when a short corner is attempted, I get them but they have to have a purpose. If you have David Beckham in your side you can have him swinging corners in and out onto towering attacking centre halves heads all day but this level you have to be sly, deviant and different. There are plenty of ways you can do it and I'd expect our coaches to have done more regarding at least the attacking ones.
Defending them we have a problem and defending set pieces is all about communication, decisions and aggression. Attack the ball, I don't like zonal marking but I understand the point of it, when we had Jayden he was our free headerer, he could patrol his own zone and most of the time dealt with sloppy deliveries. Our defence mince too much and do a phenomenal amount of ball watching when defending free kicks and corners which is the first thing that must change
Some teams now have specialist set piece coaches, would this not be an easy way for the new owners to make a small investment by adding an extra member of staff and easily see tangible improvement (we can’t get any worse)?
Hopefully Terry Taylor’s delivery and the return of Leaburn/a new striker will mean we look better from them
Just to prove how bad we have been this season. We have conceded the joint highest xG from set pieces in the league this season. And from our own set pieces have created the second lowest xG from set pieces
Comments
Come back when our central defenders score more than 1 each all season & we score direct from a free kick also.
See Gallagher v Stoke.
It was inventive and straight off the training pitch.
Have there been any others?
Peterborough could've, possibly should've scored off one at the weekend. Bristol Rovers did score off one tonight.
Defensively we looked vulnerable in the air. That was a strength of Inniss, and indeed Stockley when defending set pieces.
In attack, we look like a team that currently has no set piece taker, with Fraser injured, and Taylor not up to speed. Two TERRIBLE direct free kicks in the last 2 games from Payne and May.
At the other end we desperately need someone who is decent with a dead ball. Taylor can bepretty decent but not up to speed yet. Anderson's corner that hit the bar was inches away from being superb but then his next one should have hit the first man - consistency is an issue with delivery definitely
Yes, Assimwe maybe took the wrong option, but why did we have nobody on the near post or in the middle of the area? Surely that's something you work on.
Defending them we have a problem and defending set pieces is all about communication, decisions and aggression. Attack the ball, I don't like zonal marking but I understand the point of it, when we had Jayden he was our free headerer, he could patrol his own zone and most of the time dealt with sloppy deliveries. Our defence mince too much and do a phenomenal amount of ball watching when defending free kicks and corners which is the first thing that must change