Set Piece Specialist
- Thread starter OohAahMartial
- Start date
Nobody is particularly good at corners at OT. I don't know if we have done it on purpose but the slope at the side of the pitch makes a comfortable run up impossible.
Pogba and Ibra are both decent at freekicks alongside Mata.
Pogba and Ibra are both decent at freekicks alongside Mata.
I have the feeling that there are generally less goals from direct freekicks in the league than 10 or 15 years ago. Maybe (probably) I am totally wrong.
I thought about this as well. In the PL this season, we have only scored 5 goals from set pieces, 3 of them vs Leicester (i think?) which is downright poor and very uncharacteristic of a Mouhrino team. If Fellaini plays, half of our outfiled players are really tall players and we should honestly be scoring more from those kinds of situations.
What we have been seeing though is FKs in scoring positions go wide or in the wall and crossing FKs/corners fail to clear the first defender or be some tame floating ball that's easy to defend against.
I suspect Mou will be on the lookout for a Carrick replacement in the summer, and imo we should be looking for a quality CM which is also a set piece specialist. Break the bank if we have to.
Our players seem to have no clue whatsoever what to do for set pieces. Looks like we have no plan at all. No one really challenging in the air neither. It's a bit of a joke considering the height we have in the team.
One gets the feeling it's not something they work very hard on during training. Maybe more work on it and possibly a new set piece coach will do the trick.
Also, we only ever take out-swinging corners now, whatever happened to the good 'ol whipped in swinger?
Give all fk and corners to Mata and we are set.
He's scored 5 for United.
One on his debut, 2 in the 8-2 against Arsenal...
That's 3 in 2 games, and 2 in the other 500+ games he's played...
I wouldn't call it decent...
Mata is our best direct free kick taker by a mile. He just gets shunted to the side by Zlatan and Pogba's inflated opinion of their free kick taking abilities. Even Rooney is better than Zlatan, IMO.
As for corners, we should stick Carrick or someone similar on the front post area so he can have a touch on it and then we go for the second ball. Seen Arsenal do this with Mertesacker flicking it on and it causes problems for the defence as the ball movement is less predictable. It would work well with our inability to beat the first man from corners.
As for corners, we should stick Carrick or someone similar on the front post area so he can have a touch on it and then we go for the second ball. Seen Arsenal do this with Mertesacker flicking it on and it causes problems for the defence as the ball movement is less predictable. It would work well with our inability to beat the first man from corners.
Our set pieces are really really bad, so many chances from corners and free kicks and almost none of them are even threatening
Apart from two goals against Leicester I struggle to remember the last time we scored from corners
Apart from two goals against Leicester I struggle to remember the last time we scored from corners
We are in dire need of a player who can take these.
For as long as I remember players would lose their FK ability when they joined us. Hargreaves in 07-08 and RVP in 12-13 are the only ones I remember who did not lose it when they joined us in the last 10 years. Carrick, Young, Mata, Blind were all good FK takers in the past. Heck even Shaw sometimes took FKs for Southampton and England's under 21.
In dire need of getting rid of Rooney and his self-delusion.
That will happen this summer..
Every corner hits the first man.
Embarrassing.
Embarrassing.
Mata, Blind and Rooney are terrible.
Sigurdsson 
Mata is the best we've got. Rooney isn't nearly as good as Mata.
Mata is still terrible. His corners and free kicks today were high and slow, Jones wouldnt be any worse. Compare him to the better ones and Mata is pretty average.
It's insane. They are ridiculously well paid professional sportsmen who can't even get a corner into the box.
We're getting worse in corners every season. Can't even remember when was the last time we were good at them. Failing to beat the first defender or over-kicking the ball over to no man's land is fecking criminal.
Mata is still the best we've got.
Rooney is pointless. Mata is accurate but gets no pace on the ball. Blind used to be pretty good though.
Main problem though is even if/when we get them right, there's nobody that's particularly dangerous at the other end. Yet again, it wasn't just Vidic and Rio but our fullbacks used to chip in there as well (even Evra went into a purple patch for a while).
Not sure about that. Some would say Blind.
Plus who says Herrera, Pogba or Mkhitaryan arent better? They never take them, but i refuse to believe they would be worse.
If Ferguson's last season Evans scored 5 goals and Evra scored 4.
Think Herrera should take them, he's probably our best crosser in the team.
Thread revived.Yeah, it's funny when this happened, it's like they no longer practice set-piece or our coaches is so bad at set-piece training drills.
Embarassing tbh. RVP eventually lost it though, and Hargreaves is just no longer fit to play.Sigurdsson
Nope, he will lost his free kick skill once he joins us.Do we even practice corners and set pieces anymore?
I think we should get a goal scoring specialist first. Then worry about supplying him.
Don't forget Memphis last season.
It should be a priority this summer. One of our incoming has to be a set-piece specialist as an added skill. We are a disgrace at them.
It pains me to see how completely woeful we are at corners. If we're going to waste every corner we get, just play it short and pass it to midfield. At least we could get a decent attempt out of it.
Beckham needs to give this squad a crossing, corners and free-kick crash course. Coaching is needed. We are one of the worst teams at delivering a ball into a box.
A good set piece taker and routine could've given us a few more very important goals this season. A dull part of the game perhaps, but still matters just as much as any other goal.
Absolutely horrible the last few seasons. At least this year we're not conceding that much from set pieces.
Absolutely horrible the last few seasons. At least this year we're not conceding that much from set pieces.
Some of Rooney dead ball kicking today was absolute pants. That one in the first half he played into Cech's mid rift from the angle of the box was pathetic.
Mata has scored half a dozen free kicks for us, hasn't lost it in the slightest, just doesn't get to take them often these days. Also I don't remember Van Persie ever scoring a good free kick for us; there was the one against City which got a lucky deflection, and one against Olympiakos in the CL where the keeper was on holiday.
Anyway I wouldn't worry, looks like Marcus is becoming an ace free kick taker
Conversion rates of direct freekicks are so low these days. I think its better to have various routines and disguises to be effective, than relying on some specialist. Example, the dummy by Blind was effective in Rashford scoring.
For corner kicks and longer freekicks, we do need better delivery and better aerial threats from the CBs. Ramos is an example of what a CB good in the air can contribute in goals. Bailly for all his athleticism is quite poor in the air.
For corner kicks and longer freekicks, we do need better delivery and better aerial threats from the CBs. Ramos is an example of what a CB good in the air can contribute in goals. Bailly for all his athleticism is quite poor in the air.
We are absolutely fecking wank at set pieces.
The thing is even our deliveries are so woeful, either it hits the first man or it goes too far
So even if Ramos is in the team he won't even score, if we had Kroos taking our set pieces, Fellaini probably will score 20 goals