http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...m-news-Younes-Kaboul-aiming-to-beat-fear.html I had a read of this today, and focused on him saying "how to break defensive teams down"....how about brushing up on some bloody set pieces! Time and time again the delivery of corners and free kicks is nothing short of dire. We rely heavily on scoring our goals in open play, occasionally its just not going to be enough. Teams like United (in previous seasons! ) have come up against this and thwarted it with quality delivery and players attacking the ball. What is it about VdV, Mod and Bale who just seem to fail so miserably at this. I can recall a couple of Bale near post headers and Kabouls winner at the ****hole down the road, from the best f/kick I've seen VdV deliver, for me though its not enough and its been this way for....well, you tell me! Thoughts.
We had 14 corners against West Brom. They were ****e, almost without exception. Do we have the right players taking them?
I think Modric and Krancar take the best corners. I remember once when VDV was lurking just outside the box, and scored a wonderful goal from there, from a corner. Never seen it tried again though. Pitiy imho.
Shouldn't that be where van der Vaart stands on corners, though? His delivery on them isn't great and his goalscoring ability is. I think you're referring to his goal against Liverpool at Anfield last season, LS. One of their players got a head on the corner, deflected it to the edge of the box, one touch and he hit it, took a nick off Johnson and in. [video=youtube;z9eX0_3NUJk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9eX0_3NUJk[/video] That's where he'll do the most damage from corners, in my opinion.
Maybe we should take it short, VDV, Modric, Bale, etc are all great crossers and passers when the ball is rolling but their talent seems to turn to **** when the ball's still. Benny seems to want to take freekicks now so maybe let him take corners and promote him if he does well.
Must admit it's one of the worst parts of our game. There must be a solution somewhere,but I can't see it.From corners if we bought Samba I can assure you we would score some. Why don't we try Bale taking corners from the right and really whipping them in?
PNP - The most accurate long passer we have is Hudd who even when fit never gets a look in. I know he's not in the equation this season, but apart from that, it seems everyone else can pass on the move, but deadball situations are just crap, I really don't get it. Having said that I don't recall too many rippers from outside the area in open play either, I think we're trying to walk it into the net too much...who does that remind you of! don't want that tag!
Modric generally struggles to beat the first defender, VdV often goes too long, can't wait to get Tommy H back.
Not sure who else we have, PNP. In fact, since the era of Ginola himself I can't recall ever having a consistently deadly set-piece expert. Redknapp blew hot & cold. Ziege wasn't too shabby, but nothing special. Dead balls were actually one of Bentley's strong points- probably b/c they don't involve much movement. Wierdly enough, a mate of mine tells me that Bale was an AWESOME free-kick specialist at So'ton. Not sure which toilet that particular skill was flushed down...(He's such a nice bloke, he probably felt bad for his fellow players and decided to at least be crap at something!) Had a quick look on You Tube to verify my mate's opinion... [video=youtube;7EbDBhwRNoU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EbDBhwRNoU[/video]
The common problem with lefties taking them on the right is the ball swinging out of play before it gets there Pat.
It's definitely one of our weaker areas. Corners and freekicks are a bonus to most teams - they're a waste of time for us. It's almost like they don't practice them on the training ground...
I said the exact same thing while watching against WBA,"we're trying to walk the b***** thing in like *******".
This. A few teams might get wise and start pushing aplayer out to mark Modders/Bale/Niko, at which point we could try whipping it into the box and see if it passes the first defender (for a change...)
I have to agree. Our Free Kicks and especially our Corners are piss poor. I think that VDV and Luka seem to rush and not set themselves for the corners, nearly always hitting the first man and we need to be a little more imaginative with the FK's. We know Modric, VDV, Bale, Ade and BAE can all hit a ball from distance and I think thats why we find it so frustrating when they fail miserably, usually putting us under pressure because we've thown people forward for the set pieces. And its like Notso said, teams are now learning that they have to 'park the bus' somewhat when they play us. I'm sure 'Arry must realise this is a problem that needs addressing very soon.
You have to have variety, and it would seem teams are able to set themselves up for our open play threat, unless we're really on it that game, we are going to struggle to kill them off.
As others have said - VdV should be involved in corners and freekicks in some way. If you haven't seen YouTube compilations of his striking ability (before Tottenham) then I recommend you go watch as some of the goals are awesome. Corners - he should be on the edge of the box. Freekicks - perhaps set up for a lay-off + strike?
The other thing is who's great in the air? 3 on the pitch at any one time perhaps, how easy is that to defend!, to pinpoint say 3 players every time is impossible.
Adebayor, Bale, Kaboul... Dawson if fit, King if fit - Gallas can be alright. Lennon, Defoe, Modric and Parker aren't exactly Goliaths in the ol' height department are they
