[Albion] Surely we must have some decent free kick takers in this squad?

[Seagull58]

Maybe it’s a lot harder than many make it look? To get up over on target at pace enough to beat a top class keeper like Allison.

Dunk doesn't try to do that though. He hits them straight at the wall and hopes they get out of the way.

 

[METALMICKY]

That’s out of order - Sandra is not only a bloody good accountant, she okayed in goal for her school team in 1973-1978 and was always goalkeeper of the year.

But what's her tits like?

 

[Bodian]

Dunk doesn't try to do that though. He hits them straight at the wall and hopes they get out of the way.

Maybe they do in training?

 

[portlock seagull]

Dunk doesn't try to do that though. He hits them straight at the wall and hopes they get out of the way.

Or maybe he’s trying to do that as well and not succeeding? Who knows, but I’m fairly confident they practice and have discussed as a team. Just because doesn’t work doesn’t mean there’s no method in the madness.

 

[raymondo]

Don’t really matter who takes our set pieces that remain an absolute embarrassment

Apart from our second goal today...yes!!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

This problem would have been comprehensively studied both on and off the training pitch.

For whatever reason, Dunk was decided to be our best player to take the shot in those particular scenarios today. The reason is likely to be success rate in training, or perhaps there was a flaw identified in the opposition's defending of set pieces that we tried to exploit.

Either way, Dunk's taking of freekicks has been studied, planned and practiced. It was not a decision Dunk made on a whim.

If he scored, which could have happened, this thread would not exist.

Except he didn't, and it does.

 

[maresfield seagull]

As Toyah would say, "it's a mythtery". His technique is to hit it dead straight at the wall and hope that it magically parts. Was he Moses in a previous life?
Gross would certainly take a better direct free-kick and I'd be very surprised if Joao Pedro couldn't produce a better effort (he's only useless from inside 6 yards).

No he left for Chelsea if one of the guys near me is to be forgiven for his mispronunciation of Moises

 

[A1X]

Are you going to fight Lewis? I’m not going to fight Lewis.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Look, I would love it if he did, and I will happily eat my hat if that happens.

It just seems odd that there doesn't seem to be a single player in the squad who could curl one- or smash it- into the top corner. Mac Allister used to take them, and I'd guess Enciso would fancy his chances if he was fit, but other than that, clearly nobody else is interested. Bizarre.

Yet it was only a few years back when everyone in the squad was seen as capable of curling one out

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Banged a good few in training.

It's the only explanation

 

[tigertim68]

Once again, I'm blown away by the fact that, upon being awarded a free kick in a decent attacking position, the players on the pitch (and presumably the coaching staff) are happy to stand back and watch while Lewis Dunk lines it up. Happened on Thursday, happened again today, and has happened on various other occasions over the years. And I genuinely have no idea why.

He once pea-rolled one into the Liverpool net while Alisson was busy sorting out a wall and didn't realise the whistle had gone, and he managed to toe poke one past the West Brom keeper at the Hawthorns, only to be thwarted by a typically abysmal piece of Lee Mason refereeing. But neither of these suggest he's some kind of free-kick maestro. Opponents do not put their hands on their heads despairingly at the very concession of a free kick, fearing a Cristiano Ronaldo special. Or even a James Ward-Prowse or a Kieran Trippier. I just don't understand how we end up concluding that Dunk is the man.

Is he somehow incredible at taking free kicks in training? Is he that much of an ego merchant that nobody dares to say "No thanks, skipper"? I'd be stunned if that was the case, as he certainly doesn't come across as the Big I Am type. So how are we in this position? I know you can take goals conceded back to the Nth degree if you really want to. But the fact is, we had a free kick in a promising location today. Even if you'd given it to somebody who'd curled it up and over the wall and missed the goal by ten feet, it would have been a goal kick, we'd have trotted back into position, and Liverpool wouldn't have been able to counter. Instead, Dunk punts it hopelessly straight into the wall again, it eventually bounces to a Liverpool player, and they break upfield, ultimately resulting in the defensive clusterfuck that created their equaliser. Surely, SURELY you'd back March, Groß, Adingra, Mitoma, Joâo Pedro...in fact any number of players to do better than Dunk did. He did the same towards the end in Marseilles, biffing it into the wall and putting us back under pressure.

It's a total and utter mystery to me that they all stand there and go "Yeah, this one's yours, skip". It's painfully reminiscent of when Roy Hodgson decided his favoured corner taker was Harry Kane.

Love you, Lewis, but please leave the free kicks to somebody else.

i agree

 

[jonny.rainbow]

This thread is ripe for a bouncing when Dunk scores from one this season.

 

[BevBHA]

Free kick!! Who’s taking? Dunk. Time for a toilet run.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

This thread is ripe for a bouncing when Dunk scores from one this season.

And I will love it if that happens. It just seems a tad...unlikely...doesn't it?

 

[tigertim68]

He never looks like he is going to get passed the wall

 

[albionalex]

Gross has scored free kicks for us before.

 

[Seagull58]

Gross has scored free kicks for us before.

Yes and that's why I don't understand Dunk taking them. Gross probably has the best delivery in the squad. Even his corners were good today.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

This thread is ripe for a bouncing when Dunk scores from one this season.

Might as well bounce it now because that's never happening!

 

[Machiavelli]

Gross has scored free kicks for us before.

As has Dunk. Against Liverpool no less IIRC. It was an odd one though, and he has chalked up plenty of misses, even more straight at the keeper, and a majority going into their wall.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

If Dunky is going to take one, I think he should forget this knuckleball stuff and just unleash some blunderbus effort off a 15 metre run up, try and get it through the wall. At the very least we might manage to concuss someone