We have so many supposed set piece specialists yet we can barely take a decent free kick, corner or even a throw in never mind a cross!! Why. They **** theirself when we we got a half decent delivery in to the box. But for the most part we are ****ing abysmal. Hudd, when we signed him. Superb. Bag of ****e since. Maloney. Same. Snodgrass now Powell. **** me powells delivery was appalling. How many times do we beat the first man?? Not many. Once BFG went off we should have bombarded them. Then we come to throw ins. Jesus christ how hard is it to throw to your own player. how many goals have we scored from a set play this season? A free kick? A good corner? A clever free kick, corner? If Abel's got too cold, jacked it in, whatever, the rest of them need to look at themself and get their arses in gear.
It has become a standing joke where I sit that we may as well present the ball back to the opposing keeper when we are awarded a corner. We are abysmal, plus there's no creativity or variation to set pieces - they are all hit and hope.
I know its been mentioned before but the throw ins are appalling. In tonights game we get the ball for the throw then seem to have a few players in space for a quick throw. Do we get it to them ASAP? No we wait till they get marked out of the game, and then proceed to throw it to the nearest player in our team who will then pass it straight back to the thrower who then invariably loses it. Whats wrong with trying to be dangerous at throw ins, by running into a gap or even doing a Delap type throw and causing confusion amongst their ranks.
Why Snodgrass wasn't on the bench was beyond me. Elmo was one of our worst players in the first leg, so surely you have a Plan B if he's woeful again. If Plan B is subbing on Robertson and shifting Odubajo across, I haven't the foggiest why that didn't happen. Snodgrass should have started tonight, or at the very least been on the bench.
Commentator was talking up Elmo's long throw at one point then had to interupt himself with a "He goes short" in a very disappointed tone. Too right.
If this thread had of been created a few matches ago I would have thought it apt, but we have certainly improved; there is still room for more improvement, corners need to offer a ball that can be attacked in front of goal and throw-ins are training ground lazy. Like OLM said, Powell brought quality to to some of the free-kicks, better than we have seen all season, IMO.
Glad you posted that; I thought I was losing the plot for a moment. As for why we're toothless / clueless or whatever you want to call it up front, surely nobody needs to spell it out yet again (clue: 5 letters, begins with B).
Yes, a puzzling thread given the chaos that Powell's free kicks caused in the first half. Occasionally a free kick will hit the first man, that's why he's there, even the greatest set piece takers in the world occasionally do that.
It seems I have higher expectations of a pro footballer. Powell did hit some decent ones first half. Where his legs a liccle bit tired second half? As they barely reached head height. The only way we looked like scoring was from a set piece, so they should be 8/10 delivery. We are about 5. It's really not good enough for a team like us.
Lack of practice. The way to hit 8 out of 10 perfectly is down to hard wiring. Hard wiring is down to repetition, repetition, repetition. On the training ground. Every day. Hour after hour. OCD. That's how you get to bend it like Beckham.
Completely agree with Chazz. Powell put some great balls in early on but why did it not continue? We put loads of balls in after that from free kicks, corners and crosses in open play and they all not only failed to beat the first man but the first man was having to stoop to head them clear or even volley it clear. They were utter ****e. It wasn't just Powell but loads of them. Odubajo put the one good ball of the second half in and as usual we **** up the header with it spinning away off Diame's bonce instead of flying in. Their defence was there for the taking second half and we totally let them off with some shocking deliveries.
Don`t get where Powells delivery is being criticised, i thought some of the balls in he played, especially from dead balls were terrific and put the Arsenal defence under severe pressure.
Brady is another one who's set piece taking got progressively worse. I thinks it's the way they're being asked to take them as they all seem to go the same way.
Harry's free kick from his own half into the box was pretty decent, its not easy putting a dangerous ball in from there.
We've only scored 3 from set pieces this season haven't we? Davies v Preston, Dawson v QPR & Abel v Forest. If I've got that right it means we haven't scored from a set piece since early October, which is ridiculous! Surely that shows it's something we jut don't practice at all rather than just blaming the taker the runs aren't right etc.
If the ball doesn't make it as far as the box then the runs mean nothing. But I agree that there are numerous issues with our set pieces. Our heading as a team is ****e. Diame used to be good at attacking crosses but he hasn't looked dangerous doing that for ages now.
