Set Pieces

[Minhosa]

As it's now abundantly clear Geremi and N'Zogbia can't strike a decent free-kick or corner for toffee, who do you feel BSA will look to use in future?

 

Can Barton take free kicks? I don't recall seeing him take any for Citeh?

 

How about Enrique? Has anyone seen his dead ball ability from his previous club?

 

Don't think he'll use Duff, whose (very occasional) delivery last season was poor and Emre often fails to beat the first man too.

 

Thoughts?

[Wullie]

I think we could sign that Juninho from Lyon and he'd soon turn into Amady Faye from a dead ball. God knows what it is about us.

[Kev]

Talking about set pieces...i thought they train a few times a week on set pieces!

Every corner from the past 4games hasnt got past the first man so we just waste excellent chances of scoring a goal

Milner is pretty good at free kicks, N'Zogbia is good at them just not so far this season...

[Keefaz]

I think we could sign that Juninho from Lyon and he'd soon turn into Amady Faye from a dead ball. God knows what it is about us.

 

This.

[Keefaz]

I'd let Milner take the FKs. No one else looks close to scoring from them.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Ermm N'zogbia's free kicks arent bad :?

[Dr Spectrum]

Can Barton take free kicks? I don't recall seeing him take any for Citeh?

 

He took them all. Didn't manage a goal himself. And we got one headed goal from a corner last season, despite the presence of Distin, Dunne and Richards amongst others.

 

He's absolutely fucking shocking. Not suprised you don't recall them...corners into the first man tend not to be shown on MoTD.

[Baggio]

I thought our dead balls have been pretty good apart from yesterday, the problem we have is that we don't have the height in the team to take advantage of them.

[Guest teepee]

the deadball delivery was fuckin awful yesterday - barr one or two balls the rest was unacceptable.

 

it is a mystery to me why a consistently good delievery is so hard to achive....

[Skirge]

Zoggy could hit a dwarf in the knackers he hits his free-kicks and corners that low, how hard is it to put a decent cross in from a dead ball ffs!

One decent set piece last night, well on target but lacked power and thatw as from Geremi.

[Dunedin]

I have actually been thinking this for a long time. Our set pieces must be amongst the worst in the whole EPL. Corners, we rarely deliver a ball in the right area and mostly don't clear the first defender. Free kicks are without any guile or innovation. Smack it into the wall or in row Z is our usual.  What is this ridiculous Geremi attempt at a long throw every time we are in the last third ?  Please let's have some variety and not be so f*cking predictable. These are professional players and presumably practice every day at set pieces. Even our clearance by either Given or Harper are almost always the same ie a huge punt upfield to somebody's head and usuaully the opposition. I have said it before and will say it again....Football is a team game and we rarely play as a team. It needs balance both from left to right as well as in midfield and not have players playing out of position. Anyhow rant over but watching last night was excruciating.

[Guest bluegeordie]

I think we could sign that Juninho from Lyon and he'd soon turn into Amady Faye from a dead ball. God knows what it is about us.

 

 

Too fucking true Wullie ... but I think that the solution is obvious lads - we need to think laterally. You know, all that "if you can't bring Mohammad to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammad" stuff. Therefore, from the likes of a corner, instead of opting for the apparently futile path of trying to improve the quality of our delivery, we should simply place six or so of our players in front of their first man. Now, I know what you're thinking - "but they'll simply call our bluff and put their first man in front of our six". But here's the clever part - we just stick to our strategy, and then eventually our six men will be within ten yards of the kick taker, at which point the laws of the game will prevent our opponents from getting their first man closer to the ball than us. At that point, one of our six players simply needs to get a thirty yard flick-on, and wor Mickey will no doubt do the rest!          

 

 

[Yorkie]

I thought our dead balls have been pretty good apart from yesterday, the problem we have is that we don't have the height in the team to take advantage of them.

 

We have more than enough aerial capability in the squad. From a 'shooting' point of view, anyway. I'm not going to mention flick-ons/holding the ball up.

[Kev]

I think we could sign that Juninho from Lyon and he'd soon turn into Amady Faye from a dead ball. God knows what it is about us.

 

 

Too f****** true Wullie ... but I think that the solution is obvious lads - we need to think laterally. You know, all that "if you can't bring Mohammad to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammad" stuff. Therefore, from the likes of a corner, instead of opting for the apparently futile path of trying to improve the quality of our delivery, we should simply place six or so of our players in front of their first man. Now, I know what you're thinking - "but they'll simply call our bluff and put their first man in front of our six". But here's the clever part - we just stick to our strategy, and then eventually our six men will be within ten yards of the kick taker, at which point the laws of the game will prevent our opponents from getting their first man closer to the ball than us. At that point, one of our six players simply needs to get a thirty yard flick-on, and wor Mickey will no doubt do the rest!          

 

 

 

[Beren]

I honestly don't know how anyone could so consistently fail to beat the first man from corner kicks. Kicking a stationary ball with pace, height and whip really isn't that difficult!

[Unlucky Luque]

Geremi for short distance free kicks and milner/N'zog for long range shots on goal

[Guest thenorthumbrian]

Geremi's long throws are now classed as an important set peice...

[junkhead]

N'Zogbia's set pieces aren't bad

[Guest NUFC4]

i'm fine with both geremi and n'zoggy taking free kicks. they need a little work i'll give you that, but both of them when hit right get exceptional whip and pace on the ball. from what i've seen geremi puts it into dangerous areas

[Guest Knightrider]

Massively disappointed with our set play, I don't know if it's down to delivery itself or how our set play is structured, or if it's a combination of both. Either way this is one element of our play that has really disappointed me and must do so with the manager too knowing how much emphasis he places on these things.

[alpal78]

I think we could sign that Juninho from Lyon and he'd soon turn into Amady Faye from a dead ball. God knows what it is about us.

 

 

Too f****** true Wullie ... but I think that the solution is obvious lads - we need to think laterally. You know, all that "if you can't bring Mohammad to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammad" stuff. Therefore, from the likes of a corner, instead of opting for the apparently futile path of trying to improve the quality of our delivery, we should simply place six or so of our players in front of their first man. Now, I know what you're thinking - "but they'll simply call our bluff and put their first man in front of our six". But here's the clever part - we just stick to our strategy, and then eventually our six men will be within ten yards of the kick taker, at which point the laws of the game will prevent our opponents from getting their first man closer to the ball than us. At that point, one of our six players simply needs to get a thirty yard flick-on, and wor Mickey will no doubt do the rest!          

 

 

 

Just so you know, I lauged out loud in my office after reading that, thanks

[NSG]

N'Zogbia's set pieces aren't bad

 

This.

 

"Bad" is giving them a compliment.

 

Fucking shite is how I would describe them.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

Geremi's set pieces were excellent in pre-season, don't know whats happened since

[Guest bluegeordie]

I think we could sign that Juninho from Lyon and he'd soon turn into Amady Faye from a dead ball. God knows what it is about us.

 

 

Too f****** true Wullie ... but I think that the solution is obvious lads - we need to think laterally. You know, all that "if you can't bring Mohammad to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammad" stuff. Therefore, from the likes of a corner, instead of opting for the apparently futile path of trying to improve the quality of our delivery, we should simply place six or so of our players in front of their first man. Now, I know what you're thinking - "but they'll simply call our bluff and put their first man in front of our six". But here's the clever part - we just stick to our strategy, and then eventually our six men will be within ten yards of the kick taker, at which point the laws of the game will prevent our opponents from getting their first man closer to the ball than us. At that point, one of our six players simply needs to get a thirty yard flick-on, and wor Mickey will no doubt do the rest!          

 

 

 

Just so you know, I lauged out loud in my office after reading that, thanks

 

Ta. I find that gallows humour is crucial to psychologically coping with the sort of shite that the lads served up the other night. Let's just hope that there's not too many more opportunities this season for us to perfect the art! 

[Guest bluegeordie]

Geremi's set pieces were excellent in pre-season, don't know whats happened since

 

Cheers for confirming this for me - I mentioned something similar in the Geremi vs Butt thread, but after I'd pressed "post" I wondered if I was being delusional. I was pretty sure, however, that after a few seasons of frustratingly inconsistent set pieces, I remembered spending a fair chunk of the pre-season enjoying Geremi corners and free kicks that were not only beating the front man, but arriving with pace and swerve into very dangerous parts of the box. Hopefully, this kind of delivery will return soon ... perhaps when Geremi adjusts to the pressure of being captain, as that's the only thing I can think of that might have impacted negatively on this part of his game (i.e. he might almost be trying too hard, and thus losing the required level of relaxation to allow his skills to flow. Fuck, I sound like I'm after a job on Big Sam's support staff, as the Head Sports Psychologist / Tea Leaf Reader).