11 men defending corners

[Didledee]

Mr Breezeblock used to go into ultra defensive mode when this topic came up a lot over on the now lost world.

I wonder what he thinks now? 2 goals already conceded this season from corners.

Didn't he once say " stats don't lie " well it's only September and Mr.Breezeblock i say to you " stats don't lie "

Time for us to to stick 3 men up* the field and counter attack our way to another European Tour !!!!

* Lee, Gardner and Elmander = Good !

[Big_Sharps]

3 is a bit risky but unless were really under some pressure thats the only real time to have everyone back other than that we should always have 1 up at least.

[ReebokTrotter]

That is one of my few grips. Whenever the opposition have a corner our entire team is in the penalty box. I would like to see one of our attack minded players Chung Yong, Bibi, Cohen, Taylor ) just on the edge of our box waiting for a clearance from our defence.

[Didledee]

As many defenders we remove from the box , our opponents will remove the same amount or +.

We leave our stronger and taller players to defend the corner and leave some pace upfield and we should be able to stop the defend defend defend situations, the ball just comes back at us because we have no one upfield. And hopefully see some counter attacks and hopefully it will bring variety in our game and Megson will get some much needed praise.

[Chris Rabz]

I agree, there's not much point having the pacey smaller players such as Lee and Gardner in the box losing physical challenges, they may aswell be left out of the defensive side of it, and force the opposition to leave as many people out to match it. There won't be as many defending, but also attacking. Personally I think two would be enough to leave out, give us a fighting chance of a decent counter, or at least a good chance of diffusing the attack, rather than just clearing and waiting for the second wave.

[Sir N Lofthouse]

We have no pace for a counter attack, if gardner starts are chung lee then maybe otherwise its pointless, id personally get ricky or chung lee (when playing) to go on the corner of the penalty area (at each side) to watch the short corner or over hit corners, if none happen then both sprint out (players direct headers to there position)(or if jussi catches it throw it out to the wings) they should set of running soon as the ball is not in there areas.  Both players can run and beat there men keeping a player at the half way line is pointless, how many times would us clearing a corner go to that man, the counter attack has to be progressive.

[Straight_G]

The reason we persist with this is because apart from the sky 4, last season we conceded the least goals from set pieces...

[jayjay23]

if we bring 11 men back, the oppo can put 9 in our box and cause all kinds of confusion.
that means they are likely putting big strong defenders up there who are used to winning challenges whilst we have to try to counter that with chong, gardner, etc who are not that good in the box.

if we put 2 up at half way that means they need 3 defenders back pus the goal keeper, meaning they can only put 6 forward against our 9. the numbers increase in our favour if we do this.

not only that but other teams love putting there big defenders forward for corners and we give them every opportunity to do so if we hav all our men back, if we put 2 fast players up there at half way then they are likely to need their best defenders back there instead of in our box!

[Sir N Lofthouse]

if we bring 11 men back, the oppo can put 9 in our box and cause all kinds of confusion.
that means they are likely putting big strong defenders up there who are used to winning challenges whilst we have to try to counter that with chong, gardner, etc who are not that good in the box.

if we put 2 up at half way that means they need 3 defenders back pus the goal keeper, meaning they can only put 6 forward against our 9. the numbers increase in our favour if we do this.

not only that but other teams love putting there big defenders forward for corners and we give them every opportunity to do so if we hav all our men back, if we put 2 fast players up there at half way then they are likely to need their best defenders back there instead of in our box!

Wrong imo, no matter what the circumstance is, teams will always put the big defenders in the opposite box and keep the small full backs , wingers back to defend on corners, so we aint gaining anything by putting players at the half way line, just pulling more men out of the box, creating more space for there attackers to run into, like i said how many times would we float a perfectly good ball 50 yards under pressure to the outlet, not many times. like i said chung lee back of the area (over hit corners) gardner front of the area (short corners) if we intercept we have two quick outlets who can react straight away, meaning we can move up as a unit.

[ReebokTrotter]

For what it's worth I think Matty Taylor should be doing more practice in training with his corners. Some of them have been poor so far this season.

[son of prat]

That's a fair point. If the corner beats the first man, there's a good chance we will score with our arial threat.

[Sir N Lofthouse]

Im sure they work on corners in training, maybe we need some smart thinking on these set peices.

[luczka]

Im sure i heard we conceded the least goals from corners last season. Sticking all men back is showing something. Would stick Gardner on the edge of the box to break away though. Hes quick and can take people on.

[mangler]

I'd like to see us try having Gardner and someone like Chong at least out of the box.

Although, I did notice United had all 11 in their box defending against City... if it's good enough for the Champions...
(the difference there being that they break rapidly with players like Rooney, and also they probably always try to dribble the ball upfield rather than a big hoof like how we would)

[tim_rigby]

Does anyone know how they judge whether the goal comes from the set piece. It may be the case that numbers reduce goals direct but, it does mean we have no out ball. So if, as I suspect, once the ball is cleared initially it is no longer counted as part of the set-piece then the statistics might not accurately reflect the success or not of the tactic. If as a result of having no-one out we end up with second third and possibly more balls coming into the box. Almost every time the opposition get a set-piece they get second and more balls into the box, if included in the statistics those later deliveries that are a direct result of the policy to have eleven men back might paint a very different picture. One also has to look at the missed opportunities to counter attack. I would have two men up one on each side of the pitch on the halfway line, thus you can only mark them one on one or you have to keep four men back as the opposition, if those men were Gardner and Lee we would have a very credible threat.