[Albion] Corners. Attacking and defending

[raymondo]

I read an interesting piece by a former pro about this - can't remember who or I would link - and he was saying that whilst this is one of the biggest moans of fans it is not as straightforward as it looks. He was saying that absolutely the best corner is hard, fast and misses the top of the first defender's head by a tiny margin so getting the ball six inches over the first defender was just as bad as hitting him.
He said that people who moan about hitting the first defender don't understand the tiny margins in professional football.

Sounds like a poor excuse to me

 

[McTavish]

I used to take corners and cross a lot, being a (slow) left winger . . . . I always aimed corners for the penalty spot, right in the mix, too far out for the keeper and there for our teams players to attack. the style of delivery is variable obviously. Not beating the man on the near post is inexcusable for a professional.

I'm sure all our players could aim for and hit the penalty spot almost every time...there is a reason they don't, it is largely a waste when you are dealing with professional defenders.

I found this article interesting - it essentially says that the best corner is hard, fast and in-swinging; high enough to beat the first man but dipping fast enough for an attacker to get accross his defender in front of the near post. This is such a difficult skill that the best footballers in the world only manage to do it once in every seven attempts.

Interestingly for the unacceptable-for-a-professional brigade, the article says that in the six out of seven times that this attempt doesn't work, it is better to be too low and hit the first man, than to go too high. If you hit the first man you may get another crossing attempt or the ball may fly off to one of your other attackers. So a player who hits the first man has taken a better corner than the one who gets it over the first man but misses the front post attacker.

 

[blue-shifted]

I've been saying this for a while. The 'A professional footballer should be able to beat the first man from a corner" cliche is bollocks. Anybody can beat the first man, I could do it every single time. But to beat the first man and get it into the danger area hard and fast and with swerve on it, and low enough for somebody to head it in, but not too high so it goes over everybody, is seriously hard. You're talking about a 6 inch difference, 30 yards away from where it is hit, at full power. It's the equivalent of putting the ball right into the top corner at pace from 30 yards out. To be able to do that consistently is an unbelievable skill, and very few players can do it properly, every time. Charlie Adam is probably the best we've had in the Premier League at it.

You've exaggerated the margin of error, but the basics of what you're saying is true

 

[amexer]

Havent read whole thread but defending corners and freekicks is the one thing that has got worse under Potter. Last night summed it up. Scorer not known for heading ability . We just dont mark or track runners. On Saturday why on earth was Maupay marking Mcguire. Captains dont have much to do but surely could at least make sure every player knows there job.

 

[raymondo]

There are lots of ways to take a corner apart from trying to get it a nano-inch above the first defender: quick short corner and clip it in; to a player on the corner of the box who clips it straight in; to our one or two runners (if we have any) from deeper than the'train'; take a normal corner but quickly, rather than waiting for our train and the defence to line up to 'perfection'.
We need a corners coach to get these options into the team so they can vary it as appropriate during the game. Simples!!!

 

[zefarelly]

Whatever happened to heading/flicking it on at the near post

whats ever the opinion of approach and technique are, our corners have been a waste of trime recently. Largely resulting in us defending within 10 seconds.

 

[zefarelly]

I'm sure all our players could aim for and hit the penalty spot almost every time...there is a reason they don't, it is largely a waste when you are dealing with professional defenders.

I found this article interesting - it essentially says that the best corner is hard, fast and in-swinging; high enough to beat the first man but dipping fast enough for an attacker to get accross his defender in front of the near post. This is such a difficult skill that the best footballers in the world only manage to do it once in every seven attempts.

Interestingly for the unacceptable-for-a-professional brigade, the article says that in the six out of seven times that this attempt doesn't work, it is better to be too low and hit the first man, than to go too high. If you hit the first man you may get another crossing attempt or the ball may fly off to one of your other attackers. So a player who hits the first man has taken a better corner than the one who gets it over the first man but misses the front post attacker.

Interesting, but a bit tunnel vision, there are so many variables and options from set plays.

 

[Bald Gull]

However good we are in open play, we will get relegated if we carry on like we are at set plays. With the defenders we have, we need a big keeper who can dominate his six yard box. I love Ryan but he is the wrong keeper for the team we have now.

 

[Luke93]

This thread really hits the nail on the head. Has been an issue for years. A huge weakness in Dunks game along with the other players. Perhaps why he isn’t picked by Southgate (I still think he’s worth a spot though).

 

[Bladders]

Chelsea got one against us from a corner , was soft

UTD got their first , and Maguire was totally unmarked which led to the penalty , so effectively two goals from set pieces

Everton get two from set pieces


Us? We pass back to the defenders when we get a corner or free kick

Baffling


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hugo Rune]

How many of our corners have gone back to one of our centre backs or even keeper.

Awful.

Short corner after short corner.

And here comes another.....Ryan wants it!

 

[SimpKingpin]

THIS is the thread I expected to see.

It feels like we have ZERO plans for corners and set pieces, attacking and defending.
And our opposition knows it.

DEFENDING: It's gotten to the point where I absolutely expect our opponents to score from corners and set pieces.

ATTACKING: When we have corners or free-kicks we should be in an advantageous position but we either go for something quirky or pass the ball back to the halfway line.

How are we so bad at this?

EDIT: Everton better go on to win the bloody league.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

How many of our corners have gone back to one of our centre backs or even keeper.

Awful.

Short corner after short corner.

And here comes another.....Ryan wants it!

Obviously a tactic. Probably worried about the speed and accuracy of Pickfords long ball distribution.

Unfortunately we made a mess of every set piece so it's impossible to tell how it might have benefited us.

Back to the drawing board.