Set Pieces

I'm really frustrated at our inability to deliver a good ball at set pieces this season so thought this deserved a thread of its own.

Surely this is down to practice, and as a full time team we should be setting out time in the day to find a player that can put in a decent ball, and then tell them to get practicing doing so. Although as a professional football player they should be doing that themselves anyway, even in their own time. It's something that makes a player an asset and would add to their skill set, raising their stock as a football player.

Anyway, who do you think would be best to take corners and free kicks to put in a good delivery?

I've always thought Kyle puts in a good ball, his delivery from the wing for White's goal was fantastic, so surely should be able to do that with a dead ball if he practices enough.

What you practise in training can't always be replicated on the pitch but practise makes perfect as cliches go.

I remember when Gary Bollan was in charge, we would have everyone in the eighteen yard box apart from Deuchar when defending corners and 9/10 the counter-attack wouldn't lead to anything. This was probably down to the liability that was Andy McNeil who couldn't even catch a cold and to this day still gives me a shiver every now and then.

To answer your question, as I've said in other threads, I wouldn't mind anyone other than Jason Talbot taking our set-pieces. More realistically, O'Brien, the Jacobs' and McKenna seem like other good options.

I think O'Brien is the biggest culprit of the lot, Cub. His free kicks are almost always flighted in to the box at least a yard or two to high, and when they're not to high, they're easily cleared because they have no page on them.

Get them fired in low and hard for fuck sake.

That should say pace, obvs.

Yeah I'd prefer a bit of variation to our corners, knocked to the back for them to be headed back into the danger area is fine now and again, but mostly I'd like them whipped in for us to attack them, they don't need anything other than a player to get some direction on them when put in with pace.

Similarly when we hit the byeline I always want to see the ball hit in with pace, only this time low across inside the six yard box so a defender is likely putting it towards his own goal if he manages to get his foot on it.

I hate how often the ball doesn't get past the first man so if they are at least given a chance, if a bit long, it doesn't bother me too much.

I don't think anyone is particularly good at taking corners in our team so I'd rather it's one of the smaller ones, so on the off chance it's good, our big boys might get onto it.

Not clearing the first player, or floated into the keeper, think we can all agree those are an annoying waste. Oh and even worse is when we hit it out for a goal kick directly from the corner, either when it it bent in the wrong way and has gone out and swung back in (fecking criminal doing that), or over hit and goes out of play.

I had great hopes of us at set pieces this season with the height in our team, Dycey & Gallagher are pretty good with their head, and we've several others 6ft or over.

mozam76 wrote:I think O'Brien is the biggest culprit of the lot, Cub. His free kicks are almost always flighted in to the box at least a yard or two to high, and when they're not to high, they're easily cleared because they have no page on them.

Get them fired in low and hard for fuck sake.

Only reflection his deliveries have been as poor as everyone else's apart from the free kick that led to our goal against Hibs.

The problem with hitting them low and hard is that we don't seem to have anyone who can do that as they all seem to want to float them in.

We've always been shite at set pieces. Since we've returned to the 1st Division, we've been the worst at them in the league each season from what I've saw. We've never had that player who's been able to deliver a stinging ball in the box, it's one of our major downfalls.

So so this week. Both Keaghan and Talbot hit free kicks straight out of play, then Talbot put in a wicked corner and we scored, we also put in a good cross from the wing just before that.

Hopefully this is a sign we're working on them and will continue to improve.