Corners

[Guest Si]

I know we finally scored from one today, but does anyone found our absolute ineptitude from corners one of the more frustrating aspects of our play?

 

That awful routine where a ball is played to the edge of the box (usually to a player with a real record of long distance efforts like Masherano) the player inevitably gets swamped and has to play the ball wide and then an overhit cross follows.

 

We must have done this 4 or 5 times today until Aurelio took over taking corners and he just lumped them beyond the back post.

 

Our corner routines are a joke and sometimes it appears like the players just make it up amongst themselves.

[Nebraska Red]

the inability to get it past the first defender is unbelieveable, we have our big defenders in the box and we never get the ball anywhere near them.

 

maybe we need to make a conscious decision to play every corner short and try to work our way into the box a different way.

 

and having Gerrard take almost all the corners is a complete waste of his ability.

[Guest Si]

the inability to get it past the first defender is unbelieveable, we have our big defenders in the box and we never get the ball anywhere near them.

 

maybe we need to make a conscious decision to play every corner short and try to work our way into the box a different way.

 

and having Gerrard take almost all the corners is a complete waste of his ability.

 

Gerrards corners are probably his worst attribute! He can do practically everything else, but hes takes a f***ing woeful corner.

 

Our players waste energy jostling with opposition players for position in the box when every Red in the stands knows the ball is gonna be cut back to the edge of the f***ing box.

 

Infuriating.

[Jim D]

I know we finally scored from one today, but does anyone found our absolute ineptitude from corners one of the more frustrating aspects of our play?

 

That awful routine where a ball is played to the edge of the box (usually to a player with a real record of long distance efforts like Masherano) the player inevitably gets swamped and has to play the ball wide and then an overhit cross follows.

 

We must have done this 4 or 5 times today until Aurelio took over taking corners and he just lumped them beyond the back post.

 

Our corner routines are a joke and sometimes it appears like the players just make it up amongst themselves.

 

 

Its almost like we just "make them up" there and then on the field of play instead of showing any real intent in what we are going to do from them. It seems to me that they are not practising these routines on the training pitch. I hope this isn't the case because a good portion of goals in the Premier League are scored from set plays. Really we should be working on them and try to turn it into one of our strengths instead of being a weakness.

 

Be interested to know how many corners we have won this season and how many of them have turned into any meaningful shots on goal. Bet its an appalling statistic. Kaizer? Also our inability to beat the first man is about effective as a chocolate fireguard.

Edited March 2, 2008 by Jim D

[dorgie]

Gerrard should be in the box, or on the edge of the box for our corners. Xabi or Aurelio should take them.

[Kuyt-fever]

Gerrards 6 foot + , f*** knows why he insists or has been told to take corners. It appeared that Bolton were content to give away corners because they knew nothing was going to happen. 11 corners and we did not force the keeper into a save.

[Mike]

weve been s*** at corners for 30 years. fact.

[Nebraska Red]

and don't forget our crappy throw ins, ever since Dalglish stopped playing we have been clueless at throw ins as often as corners.

 

how on earth do we manage to win so many games?

[Tosh]

weve been s*** at corners for 30 years. fact.

Last decent one was nodded in by Tommy Smith

 

fact

[alias75]

The problem is the best corners are those that just beat the first man whipped in quickly at the near post, if the delivery isnt spot on it will look like a poor corner, but just floating them in doesnt work either because the keeper can come and take those.

 

I agree our delivery should be better but if you watch a lot of teams corners a high percentage hit the first defender because that near post corner is the most effective. We used to have a corner where Crouch was stood on the near post (or Hyppia) and when the delivery is right its impossible to stop that near post flick.

 

Hopefully whichever attacking midfielders we sign in the summer have good set piece delivery.

[MFletcher]

I do wonder why we just don't punt the ball in the direction of the six yard line and hope for the best. I'm not a big fan of short corner routines/knocking it to a player on the edge of the box etc.

[Hieronymus Bosch]

Was listening to Radio Five wishing Chris Waddle would step onto the pitch and start whipping a few balls in. His corners were legendary.

[DazzlaJ]

Aurelio should take them.

 

He hits the first man more than Gerrard!

 

Go back to the old days of Penalty spot corners. Aim there, take the keep out of the equation, and see what happens.

[Billy Dane]

Said it before but we should employ a set piece specialist coach, as we are clearly clueless at them. I don't believe for a second we spend any meaningful time practising them. I would also look at set piece coaches from other sports rather than just football.

[abc]

weve been s*** at corners for 30 years. fact.

 

McAllister was great with them. We scored heaps (in comparison to recent years post Macca) in the treble season and a few more in the one after that.

Edited March 2, 2008 by abc

[Chili Palmer]

Finnan should take them and Carra should stay back.

[Mike]

we're s*** at defending them too.

 

anyone else hear that stat ? we've conceded 13 of our 20 goals from set pieces - more than anyone else in the prem.

 

zonal marking doesn't f***ing work rafa.

[MFletcher]

we're s*** at defending them too.

 

anyone else hear that stat ? we've conceded 13 of our 20 goals from set pieces - more than anyone else in the prem.

 

zonal marking doesn't f***ing work rafa.

 

It's worked perfectly well for the previous three years.

[Hieronymus Bosch]

we're s*** at defending them too.

 

anyone else hear that stat ? we've conceded 13 of our 20 goals from set pieces - more than anyone else in the prem.

 

zonal marking doesn't f***ing work rafa.

I also heard that Claudio Reina made a great save for us today.

[Jim D]

McAllister was great with them. We scored heaps (in comparison to recent years post Macca) in the treble season and a few more in the one after that.

 

Macca just "floated" his corner kicks in as well

 

I think with corner kicks sometimes just keeping them simple is the best way to go about it, aim for the edge of the six yard box, penalty spot or far post, mix it up between those three, these complicated routines we do never come off.

[Kuyt-fever]

we're s*** at defending them too.

 

anyone else hear that stat ? we've conceded 13 of our 20 goals from set pieces - more than anyone else in the prem.

 

zonal marking doesn't f***ing work rafa.

 

 

You're clueless.

[abc]

Get them to watch videos of when Gary Macca was around, or even ring him up and ask him to give some tips.

 

It's not very tough, we have a few pretty tall guys, and Sami is still good in the air. Stick him at the near post, float or whip it in. In theory anyway...

[Ben 23]

It's not very tough, we have a few pretty tall guys, and Sami is still good in the air. Stick him at the near post, float or whip it in. In theory FM anyway...

 

 

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Gerrard shouldn't be allowed to take any crossed set piece. Aurelio and Alonso should take care of them and Gerrard can get in the box or wait on the edge.

 

Our centre backs don't score enough from set pieces and I blame that on the delivery. Agger, Hyypia and possibly Carra' as well should all be looking at 5 a season.

[Gunga Din]

You're clueless.

 

 

we concede something like 66% of our goals from set pieces. he has a point

[John am Rhein]

we concede something like 66% of our goals from set pieces. he has a point

 

Do we concede more than other teams, though? Or is it more that we actually concede far fewer from open play and our percentage of goals conceded from set pieces is accordingly higher?