Cheer up we are not the worst at defending set pieces...Leeds are (we are second worst)

SAFMUTD

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I think if any part of the game can be attributed mainly to coaching it has to be set pieces. Scoring and defending them, after tuesday and tonights shit show I did some research sure that we would be the ones with the worst record at set pieces, it turns out I was wrong. Leeds are the worst but we are the closest to them.


TeamScoredConcededDifference
West Ham156+9
Manchester City123+9
Southampton146+8
Everton137+6
Chelsea116+5
Aston Villa107+3
Burnley86+2
Arsenal64+2
Newcastle United87+1
Tottenham67-1
Fulham46-2
Liverpool810-2
Wolverhampton Wanderers1012-2
West Bromwich Albion69-3
Leicester610-4
Brighton610-4
Crystal Palace612-6
Sheffield United411-7
Leeds815-7
Manchester United714-7



This can all be verified here:

https://1xbet.whoscored.com/Regions...amStatistics/England-Premier-League-2020-2021
 

VidaRed

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How many points difference does that translate to between us and city ?
 

hobbers

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Wonder who Leeds have who manage to be even less competent than Fletcher Carrick and McKenna.
 

SAFMUTD

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How many points difference does that translate to between us and city ?
Hard to say since goals don't necessarily means points but a 16 goal difference between us and them in that regard is surely something that weights in big time.
 

Counterfactual

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I think if any part of the game can be attributed mainly to coaching it has to be set pieces. Scoring and defending them, after tuesday and tonights shit show I did some research sure that we would be the ones with the worst record at set pieces, it turns out I was wrong. Leeds are the worst but we are the closest to them.
So why are we bottom of the table?
 

SAFMUTD

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Sadly this is all coaching.
It got to be, I mean how the feck are we so poor when we have many tall players in the starting XI, Maguire, Pogba, McTominay I mean ffs this part of the coaching is as poor as it gets.

We need to fix this next season otherwise we won't compete, an awful lot of games are decided on set pieces, specially the tougher ones.
 

Leftback99

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The list is very unsurprising. Towering centre backs and good set piece experts. City win the most corners and concede the least. Liverpool scored the most last season with Van Dijk.

We have one player good at heading the ball. It baffles me that people go on about pace being the most important thing for our next centre back signing. What we need is another Maguire.

It's not coaching, it's just being switched on and winning your duels in either box.
 

AltiUn

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We've got an incredibly easy, exploitable weakness. If we don't fix our set piece organisation over the summer then teams will barrage us with set pieces next season.
 

Bubz27

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Zonal marking from the big lads and smaller, weaker players picking up their biggest threats.
 

Betson

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You would have to wonder sometimes do they have corners at all in any of the practice games among themselves.

We are so poor at defending them and almost as bad creating anything out of the ones we take.

For a team with so many big men in it , it really is baffling how poor we are at them.
 

SAFMUTD

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The list is very unsurprising. Towering centre backs and good set piece experts. City win the most corners and concede the least. Liverpool scored the most last season with Van Dijk.

We have one player good at heading the ball. It baffles me that people go on about pace being the most important thing for our next centre back signing. What we need is another Maguire.

It's not coaching, it's just being switched on and winning your duels in either box.
Of course there's coaching involved, actually if you take a closer look you'll see many set pieces even have basketball tactics in it, blocking a player's run, etc

You don't achieve that just being switched on, it takes tactics and training.
 

FrankDrebin

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I'm starting to think, minor Maguire and Cavani, our whole squad just hates heading the ball.
 

Morpheus 7

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Coaching and leadership, no vocal leaders at the back. It's such a glaring issue wherever team plays. CB's are not commanding and do not control set peices. It seems to be every week.
 

Leftback99

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Of course there's coaching involved, actually if you take a closer look you'll see many set pieces even have basketball tactics in it, blocking a player's run, etc

You don't achieve that just being switched on, it takes tactics and training.
Obviously there's some coaching involved but it's no coincidence West Ham with Soucek, Ogbonna, Dawson, Antonio, Rice are top of the list, with Cresswell delivering.
 

Betson

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12th in the league.

Below mid table but actually shocked we are that high as we seem to have no threat at all from our own corners.

Seems in many games we would be better off just giving them the goal kick and getting on with the game rather than even taking the corner as we do so little with them.
 

SAFMUTD

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Obviously there's some coaching involved but it's no coincidence West Ham with Soucek, Ogbonna, Dawson, Antonio, Rice are top of the list, with Cresswell delivering.
It's not like we are a short team we have some towers in Maguire, McTominay, Pogba and also some fairly tall ones in Rashford, Lindelof and Cavani.
 

SAFMUTD

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Below mid table but actually shocked we are that high as we seem to have no threat at all from our own corners.

Seems in many games we would be better off just giving them the goal kick and getting on with the game rather than even taking the corner as we do so little with them.
It must be taken into account that we only have 3 more goals than the worst, Sheffield and Fulham (4), but 8 less than the best West Ham (15).

Also there's a 6 team tie with all of them having 6. So one goal less scored and we would be tied between 12 and 18th.
 

redshaw

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We have Maguire 6ft4, Lindelof 6ft2 AWB 6ft and McTom 6ft4 Pogba 6ft3, they should be helping clear the problems.

What I've seen is our keepers are both targets, De Gea being crowded with not being commanding. Henderson tries to be but hasn't got the build for it and is quite small in the goal, a gaping goal is inviting with a short small frame keeper, he's poor when the ball is pinging around on the deck. Opposition just pack the box and force a goal, it's getting silly now.

While coaching and organization can go a long way I think the keepers are a possible big flaw in their own way and we need a more general commanding type like VDS Schmeichel if we want to be on top.

The sad thing is the frozen out keeper Romero could probably do better than both, very assured pair of hands. We have De Gea the highest paid in the world performing poorly during the season and a youngish scrawny cocky Pickford type offering a different style that I doubt will be good enough.
 
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Leftback99

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It's not like we are a short team we have some towers in Maguire, McTominay, Pogba and also some fairly tall ones in Rashford, Lindelof and Cavani.
Rashford is useless in the air. Pogba is decent but a liability in our own box with his lack of concentration.
 

SAFMUTD

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We have Maguire 6ft4, Lindelof 6ft2 AWB 6ft and McTom 6ft4 Pogba 6ft3, they should be helping clear the problems.

What I've seen is our keepers are both targets, De Gea being crowded with not being commanding. Henderson tries to be but hasn't got the build for it and is quite small in the goal, a gaping goal is inviting with a short small frame keeper, he's poor when the ball is pinging around on the deck. Opposition just pack the box and force a goal, it's getting silly now.

While coaching and organization can go a long way I think the keepers are a possible big flaw in their own way and we need a more general commanding type like VDS Schmeichel if we want to be on top.
I think we can agree that the keeper is not the only problem? I mean there are other 18 teams who are defending set pieces better than us.
 

LInkash

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I remember reading back in the day that we didn't really practice set pieces in training. This was under Fergie. Does anyone else remember this?
 

Tallis

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We have Maguire 6ft4, Lindelof 6ft2 AWB 6ft and McTom 6ft4 Pogba 6ft3, they should be helping clear the problems.

What I've seen is our keepers are both targets, De Gea being crowded with not being commanding. Henderson tries to be but hasn't got the build for it and is quite small in the goal, a gaping goal is inviting with a short small frame keeper, he's poor when the ball is pinging around on the deck. Opposition just pack the box and force a goal, it's getting silly now.

While coaching and organization can go a long way I think the keepers are a possible big flaw in their own way and we need a more general commanding type like VDS Schmeichel if we want to be on top.

The sad thing is the frozen out keeper Romero could probably do better than both, very assured pair of hands. We have De Gea the highest paid in the world performing poorly during the season and a youngish scrawny cocky Pickford type offering a different style that I doubt will be good enough.
Except Maguire, Mct and Pogba, the others aren’t particularly good in the air. Lindelof is very weak in the air for his height and AWB can barely jump (more of a slider). Plus we have relative midgets in many positions - Shaw / Telles, Fred. Or those that are average height but poor in the air (Rashford, Mason)
 

SAFMUTD

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Except Maguire, Mct and Pogba, the others aren’t particularly good in the air. Lindelof is very weak in the air for his height and AWB can barely jump (more of a slider). Plus we have relative midgets in many positions - Shaw / Telles, Fred. Or those that are average height but poor in the air (Rashford, Mason)
Shaw is 1.85 mts and Telles 1.81 hardly midgets. The only small ones are Fred and James, besides that we have a fairly height team.
 

Tallis

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Shaw is 1.85 mts and Telles 1.81 hardly midgets. The only small ones are Fred and James, besides that we have a fairly height team.
I have seen Shaw in person and he looks 1.78 to me. I don’t believe the 1.85 that gets reported on websites.
 

RedStarUnited

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Not surprised by those numbers. We are horrible at them at both ends of the pitch

No of us knows how good Carrick, McKenna etc are at coaching, but looking at this it cant hurt to bring in a coach whos a set piece specialist

We have been bad at set pieces for a while, Since Jose to be honest. I couldn't understand how a coach who prides himself on defensive football couldn't teach us how to defend corners.
 

Berbasbullet

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On the plus side we’re going to finish second and it’s obvious we have a lot of faults that we can hopefully fix and lead to more points on the board next season. :D