Rank, Team, Open Play,Fastbreak,Set Piece,Penalty,Own Goal 1 Manchester City 55 5 16 7 2 2 Manchester United 51 2 18 9 2 3 Arsenal 49 9 7 2 0 4 Tottenham 43 3 7 3 1 5 Chelsea 36 2 12 4 2 6 Newcastle 33 4 7 2 4 7 Aston Villa 28 1 3 3 0 8 Sunderland 27 3 9 1 2 9 Norwich 27 3 15 2 0 10 Fulham 26 3 7 3 4 11 Queens Park Rangers 25 0 9 2 2 12 Swansea 24 1 7 5 1 13 Wolverhampton 21 1 9 3 0 14 Everton 21 1 11 4 1 15 West Bromwich 20 3 15 1 1 16 Liverpool 19 3 13 1 4 17 Bolton 18 0 12 3 3 18 Blackburn 17 2 18 4 4 19 Wigan 16 2 9 5 1 20 Stoke 11 1 16 3 1 Our three remaining opponents are in bold. We are going up against 3 of the best teams in the league at scoring from set plays. So the order of the day should be to not rush in to tackles in our own half and deny space wide... Oh and by the way Man Utd have the most goals from penalties (nine!) Must be all that possession and play in the final third, except Arsenal beat them on those stats and we have 2 penalties.
Different proposition at home though - they score more from set plays than any team in the league at home and in their last 4 home games... 3 wins and a draw.
Interesting stats! Penalties aside look how far behind on set pieces tottenham and arsenal are on the Manchester clubs. It's a key area that is costing both clubs IMO
Play this formation and we will create plenty of chances. ---------------Scz---------------- ----------Kosc----Verm--------- --Sagna------------------Gibs-- -----------Song ----------------- --------------------Rosicky------ -------------Oxo----------------- ---Walcott---------Gervinho--- ---------------RVP--------------- If we rely on Ramsey again can't see our midfield producing flowing actions.
Walcott is likely out for the season though so Ramsey is going to play every game. What would be very sweet is if he were to get the winner at Stoke
oxo just isn't ready to play in the middle yet. he came on against wigan and couldn't do anything, because he hasn't learnt how to drift between the very little space in the middle. much better with him on the wing. and rosicky is too attacking to play the deep lying mid role.
Set plays are a major problem for us - attacking wise and defensive wise. I don't think it is something we focus on, despite it being important.
I wouldn't mind Ramsey starting the game if Wenger was willing to sub him if he has a ****(ter than usual) game. But Wenger, aside from injuries, almost never subs before the 70min mark. Probably his principle not to demotivate players or whatever.
It's something we have improved on since the Gallas/Toure times though. I don't think other teams would agree that we aren't dangerous from set plays (on attack).
Do you have a goals scored per set-play statistic? You can't compare us to say ManU, they get waaay more corners and fouls near the area compared to us.
I didn't mean they do so 'undeservedly', but their way of play gets them more fouls and corners through the duration of a game.
We have had 21 direct free kicks, scoring 2, missing the target 12 times, and had 7 saved. Utd have had 16 direct free kicks, scoring 2, missing the target 6 times, and 8 saved. We have had 239 corners Utd have had 241. Utd have 18 goals overall from set plays, we have had 7. We're poor from set plays attacking wise any way you cut it.
By the way the free kicks and corner count comparison to Utd is another indication that actually the possession excuse for Utd's penalties is cack. Now for 'luck to even itself out' perhaps we will get 7 penalties in our last 3 games.
