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WESTY_SUFC

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As someone rightly pointed out in another thread that we seem to lack a presence in the box for corners, I thought a new thread to cover set pieces should be discussed.

This season in particular we don't seem to be a threat from them. Not just corners but free kicks and throw-ons. Without looking at any stats I think a fair percentage of goals are scored from set pieces in all levels of football and should be considered an important part of the game.

What worries me the most is not that we don't have a big enough side but our lack of ideas. Every corner seems to be aimed/attempted to be put in the same area and throw ons are repetitively long to the same target (which is rarely even reached).

A least a few variations of set pieces should be practiced and known by the team. It gives us that extra advantage of knowing what is planned to get in the right areas first and keeps the opposition guessing.

Basics like looking to throw the ball long with a late runner going short, or someone who isn't an aerial threat going to the corner taker to bring out 2 of the opposition, players running in space for the option of a quick free kick. We just don't seem to try anything different. No big players on the pitch....why not roll one to the edge of the area for someone to have a crack. Do we not practice set plays? We don't we even attempt to do any of this.

Defending set plays including goal kicks against Wimbledon wasn't even thought about. Our defence couldn't handle Akinfenwa's strength one on one, it didn't take long to work that one out. Why didn't we double up on him with someone standing in front and behind him when he was the target every time. Basic stuff again.
 
And me and a few others. Yep, especially corners and free kicks. We don't even look like scoring from them. Nothing is more annoying than when it is nodded away by the first defender.
 
I would say about a 1/3 of goals are from set pieces maybe more and yet I can't remember many goals, if any, have been scored from corners especially this season.
I think scoring goals from set pieces are just as important as this "20 goal a season striker" everyone keeps talking about.
In recent times we had Phillips, Mohsni, Creswell and even Barker scoring up to 8 goals, we haven't replaced that and that is a huge loss!
 
Barker scored one goal for us and that was against Crewe in the last minute of the playoff second league. He never scored. Take the point though. Prosser, Leonard and Thompson are all more than capable in the air, probably the delivery that's **** poor. Coker has a decent delivery and so does hurst, sadly both are injured/out of form and therefore out the team at the minute :'(
 
Have said the same thing for a while. Also don't understand why John White is often kept back for corners, he's got as good a head as anyone in the team, I'd rather see Thompson kept back, as he also seems to get in Prosser's way - and Prosser has got previous where this type of scoring is concerned. I've also seen Lenny kept back a couple of times recently - that's just madness!
 
More importantly we don't have a 10 goals- a-season midfielder. I recall a season in which Gower, McCormack and Bailey got 30 or so between them.
 
More importantly we don't have a 10 goals- a-season midfielder. I recall a season in which Gower, McCormack and Bailey got 30 or so between them.
 
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More importantly we don't have a 10 goals- a-season midfielder. I recall a season in which Gower, McCormack and Bailey got 30 or so between them.
 
As well as Thompson and Prosser being suspect at the back they have not scored a goal between them this season. Phil Brown has also selected too many non scoring midfielders since he has been here, the likes of Atkinson, Timlin, Deegan etc when he could select Payne and Clifford on a more regular basis.
 
Ah Napster, you were 1 minute off!

I think we do have midfielders who can score goals. Hurst has proven he can get in the goals and assists. Worrall gets into the right positions as shown for his goal and against Morecambe when he came very close twice. Clifford and Payne will get around 10 this season.

Back onto set-pieces, we were pretty dominant in the air during Sturrock's reign and it seems that Brown has opted for those who can pass the ball along the floor rather than those who will cause defenders problems in the air.

What I don't understand is why we persist with the long throw ins when we don't have the right players for it. There needs to be a player a few yards infront of the front post to flick it on or go for goal, and someone in the middle attacking any flick ons or if the ball goes beyond the front post.

As for corners, there aren't many things I hate with a passion but the short corners we did under Tilson are up there. Half the time the player was offside and the majority of the other times it didn't beat the first man. Short corners should ONLY be used if the opposition is still getting ready and the attacking team is quick to react.
 
As for corners, there aren't many things I hate with a passion but the short corners we did under Tilson are up there. Half the time the player was offside and the majority of the other times it didn't beat the first man. Short corners should ONLY be used if the opposition is still getting ready and the attacking team is quick to react.

I remember Kevin Maher telling me that the corners at Roots Hall are really hard to get traction from in order to get a decent cross from, hence why a lot of players opt for a short corner, or try (and fail) to get it in the mixer.
 
The problem is no defender makes a run onto the ball and powers it towards goal, like Creswell and Phillips did. Everyone is just static!
Also there never seems to be midfielder's hanging outside the box waiting for the second ball, so we never sustain pressure during set plays.
 
I remember Kevin Maher telling me that the corners at Roots Hall are really hard to get traction from in order to get a decent cross from, hence why a lot of players opt for a short corner, or try (and fail) to get it in the mixer.

Guess that is because of the incline. Always thought it would be best to have a left footer on the left side and right footer on the right side having an outswinger going towards those running in. Would mean they don't have to run up a small hill!
 
A lot of good points made. My main point being with corners we should have players capable of putting the ball in roughly the right areas of the box. A simple signal from the taker to tell the guys in the box whether they intend to but the ball near or far post for example.

We should be using the difficult slope in the corner at Roots Hall to our advantage. Take the players down there and practice this to get it right.
 
Reinforces my view that I don't think Brown understands the ingredients needed to get out of this division. Good football alone won't do. Tilson and Sturrock both worked highly on set pieces and bought players who could be useful in the opponents box. Brown hasn't. We were 20 goals short last season and thats probably what most promoted teams score from set plays. I don't look at any of our centre backs and feel they will even get a header in. Nor do I think anyone can put in a ball like Ryan Hall could.
 
In my mind there are a several of issues with our set pieces

They tend to be floated over towards static players , this gives the Keeper and defenders time to read the flight and get underneath it.

The tend not to be outswingers so the keeper has no concerns about coming out too far

No one is meeting the ball , they are all letting the ball come to them. Stand further back keep the ball in front of you at all times then you can see it and move to it.

No one seems to attack across the front of the keeper , Aim a run and a jump about 3 ft in front of the keeper, it may take his eye, it could pull a defender across the front of the keeper as well , possibly impeding him and if the cross comes in a bit shorter at least some one is in the vicinity
 
Reinforces my view that I don't think Brown understands the ingredients needed to get out of this division. Good football alone won't do. Tilson and Sturrock both worked highly on set pieces and bought players who could be useful in the opponents box. Brown hasn't. We were 20 goals short last season and thats probably what most promoted teams score from set plays. I don't look at any of our centre backs and feel they will even get a header in. Nor do I think anyone can put in a ball like Ryan Hall could.

Or anyone apart from Corr. Hurst has got a decent delivery, but can you play someone who is out of form just to take corners? Worrall and Atkinson would be the next 2 choices, but they aren't as good as Ryan Hall.

From the Premiership last season (no stats for League 2), 21.3% of all goals were scored from set-pieces. So even at the highest level they are a key part of the game, which makes it more surprising that Brown doesn't practice them in training.

Just a small point, but 20 goals short is an exaggeration. We were more like 5 short, 10 more points from draws into wins, would have won us the league.
 
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