Set pieces

[Newtopia 517]

Emi a fantastic footballer, his corners and free kicks do not seem to carry any threat, they either hit the wall, the front man, go behind the attacking players or have so little pace on them that a goal is not going to come.   I assume we just not have a better set piece taker, or is there another reason, my son suggested that perhaps Farke is quite set in his opinions of which position a player comes from who takes free kicks and corners.

Or am I wrong and being overly critical?

[Nuff Said 5,082]

We do have a better set piece taker, unfortunately it’s Quintilla. ☹️

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

12 minutes ago, Newtopia said:

Emi a fantastic footballer, his corners and free kicks do not seem to carry any threat, they either hit the wall, the front man, go behind the attacking players or have so little pace on them that a goal is not going to come.   I assume we just not have a better set piece taker, or is there another reason, my son suggested that perhaps Farke is quite set in his opinions of which position a player comes from who takes free kicks and corners.

Or am I wrong and being overly critical?

You are right

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

13 minutes ago, Newtopia said:

Emi a fantastic footballer, his corners and free kicks do not seem to carry any threat, they either hit the wall, the front man, go behind the attacking players or have so little pace on them that a goal is not going to come.   I assume we just not have a better set piece taker, or is there another reason, my son suggested that perhaps Farke is quite set in his opinions of which position a player comes from who takes free kicks and corners.

Or am I wrong and being overly critical?

You are not wrong. It is not just that they rarely give us a chance but as often as not (and I don't think that is an exaggeration) they lead to a dangerous breakaway for the opposition.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,154]

1 hour ago, Newtopia said:

Emi a fantastic footballer, his corners and free kicks do not seem to carry any threat, they either hit the wall, the front man, go behind the attacking players or have so little pace on them that a goal is not going to come.   I assume we just not have a better set piece taker, or is there another reason, my son suggested that perhaps Farke is quite set in his opinions of which position a player comes from who takes free kicks and corners.

Or am I wrong and being overly critical?

You're right that Emi is actually not very good at taking set pieces as compared to the rest of his game. You're totally wrong in claiming that Farke is "set in his opinion of which position a player comes from who takes free kicks and corners."

Just this season (as well as Emi) we have seen Vrancic, Stiepermann, Quintilla, Placheta and Josh Martin taking corners/free kicks. 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,421]

100% correct

Emi is fantastic - with the exception of restart delivery . I can’t quite believe it . I said to Mrs Beard from behind the sofa that you could stick the mortgage on his free kick hitting the wall - and it did. Near post corners are headed clear ! 
 

Even with the glow of another fantastic result it doesn’t get any better 

Kenny takes free kicks for the sweaties? 

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

Must be something in his contract about it. Maybe we had to assign him as set-piece taker to keep him over the summer... 

[GenerationA47 746]

1 hour ago, Hank shoots Skyler said:

Must be something in his contract about it. Maybe we had to assign him as set-piece taker to keep him over the summer... 

I’d take that deal 

Although Mario is not the free kick assassin he was 2 years back (possibly down to not getting starts till recently) he was missed when we got a couple of classic ‘top corner’ opportunities - having already been taken off for Onel, not that I disagreed with that at the time.
 

Shame he can’t match that quality in his open play, although he does still provide   many magical moments like that back heel return for Todd’s recent goal (v Stoke I think?).

 Imagine a cross between him and Emi...

Edited February 24, 2021 by GenerationA47

[repman 633]

Funnily enough I think Emi's set piece delivery on wide free kicks is often superb, however his corners do seem to be lacking. I do think its likely he is told to whip the ball near post, due to us not being the most dominant side in the air, and a header on the near post is probably the easiest chance to score from a corner. 

[lake district canary 4,531]

If there is a free kick where a shot can be taken, Emi hasn't (as far as I can remember) ever looked like scoring from one, so I am not sure why he takes them, unless he is brilliant at them in training and it is just a matter of time before he clicks.  McLean is pretty good at set pieces......

[GenerationA47 746]

28 minutes ago, repman said:

Funnily enough I think Emi's set piece delivery on wide free kicks is often superb, however his corners do seem to be lacking. I do think its likely he is told to whip the ball near post, due to us not being the most dominant side in the air, and a header on the near post is probably the easiest chance to score from a corner. 

And if we can see that.. it’s unlikely the opposition coaches are blind to it

[glory.win or die. 270]

I think it's partly due to our players not being great in the air.

Hanley could easily have had 3 or 4 goals from corners and is often first to the ball.

I would like us to mix it up a bit and do the occasional short corner routine 

[TheGunnShow 5,909]

Definitely think a short corner would be worth a look. Get one or two of their lads out of the box and change the angle.

Oh, and hit a ****ing inswinger!

[Newtopia 517]

I really can't say I have seen any of his dead ball delivery which is very threatening.  I guess it is either contractual (this seems unlikely) or as Lakey suggests that he is the best we have and is amazing when he is not under pressure - so Farke is giving him time to improve. 

[lappinitup 629]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

If there is a free kick where a shot can be taken, Emi hasn't (as far as I can remember) ever looked like scoring from one, so I am not sure why he takes them, unless he is brilliant at them in training and it is just a matter of time before he clicks.  McLean is pretty good at set pieces......

If only we still had Snoddy, he'd have been the perfect fit for this team. With Max behind him and Emi more central they would have been excellent together. And that's without his set pieces.

[repman 633]

1 hour ago, GenerationA47 said:

And if we can see that.. it’s unlikely the opposition coaches are blind to it

Yes I agree. There is an edge to be gained from set pieces but we don't seem to be trying to exploit it, the only variation on an attacking corner I can remember was Hanley against Coventry recently, which was well worked and should have resulted in a goal. Also were he still in the side, I think Placheta would be on corners (certainly inswingers from his left), his delivery has looked superb whenever he has taken them.

[Ken Hairy 3,757]

As good as we have been this season, its glaringly obvious we're not just poor at attacking set pieces, but possibly have the worst statistics in the league with them. 

Emi's delivery is often poor, but also when he does put in a good one we're absolutely atrocious at doing anything with them, which is totally because we're a poor side in the air, which is why given how much we love tricky fast play on the deck, little triangles etc that I can't believe we don't try clever short corner routines etc. You'd think that sort of play would be right up Farkes street. 

[dylanisabaddog 4,846]

35 minutes ago, lappinitup said:

If only we still had Snoddy, he'd have been the perfect fit for this team. With Max behind him and Emi more central they would have been excellent together. And that's without his set pieces.

Dylan runs screaming from the room.... 

[lake district canary 4,531]

42 minutes ago, lappinitup said:

If only we still had Snoddy, he'd have been the perfect fit for this team. With Max behind him and Emi more central they would have been excellent together. And that's without his set pieces.