Corners

[Howard_lfc]

I noticed ManU made the breakthrough against Blackburn with a corner the other day. IIRC they also beat Everton and Sunderland 1-0 thanks to scoring from a corner. That's just of the top of me head.
Chelsea almost beat Everton on Saturday thanks to a Drogba goal from the corner. And the blue****e themselves (Lescott in particular) have scored their fare share of goals from corners this season.

We on the other hand, have not scored a solitary goal from a corner this season - so far as I can remember anyway.
When games are tight, they are often decided by a set piece and it would appear we're not doing much to help ourselves in that area.
On Saturday against Fulham, I couldn't for the life of me understand why Aurelio wasn't taking the corners from the right hand side (instead of SG who's corners are average at best). Surely having a left footer fizzing the ball in with pace to the near post is more dangerous and difficult to defend than the run of the mill stuff we're producing.
It's almost as if we don't practice set pieces as much as other teams which is strange because the defence is so well drilled with zonal marking (remember that? That was last years 'rotation').

I know people will probably pick holes in what I'm saying here and point to Aggers goal in the CL SF as a case in point but IMO we need to do more from corners which have been crap since Gary MacAlister left us.

[El Jefecito]

I noticed ManU made the breakthrough against Blackburn with a corner the other day. IIRC they also beat Everton and Sunderland 1-0 thanks to scoring from a corner. That's just of the top of me head.
Chelsea almost beat Everton on Saturday thanks to a Drogba goal from the corner. And the blue****e themselves (Lescott in particular) have scored their fare share of goals from corners this season.

We on the other hand, have not scored a solitary goal from a corner this season - so far as I can remember anyway.
When games are tight, they are often decided by a set piece and it would appear we're not doing much to help ourselves in that area.
On Saturday against Fulham, I couldn't for the life of me understand why Aurelio wasn't taking the corners from the right hand side (instead of SG who's corners are average at best). Surely having a left footer fizzing the ball in with pace to the near post is more dangerous and difficult to defend than the run of the mill stuff we're producing.
It's almost as if we don't practice set pieces as much as other teams which is strange because the defence is so well drilled with zonal marking (remember that? That was last years 'rotation').

I know people will probably pick holes in what I'm saying here and point to Aggers goal in the CL SF as a case in point but IMO we need to do more from corners which have been crap since Gary MacAlister left us.

To be fair we don't really have anyone all that good at attacking the ball compared to Vidic etc. Arsenal are about as bad as us.

Buy you are definitely right, SGs corners are woeful, someone else needs to be taking them.

[NICKZS]

Pennant is our best corner-taker.

*Runs and hides for cover*

[Joe King]

We never score from corners. We have **** takers, they all hit the first man or are slowly floated at the back post with no whip or pace to confuse the keeper so its in his hands. The way I was taught to take corners was to create pressure towards the keeper and the men on the posts unless you are Nigel Worthington at Old Toilet. This meant it was an inswinging corner with the tallest jumpers challenging the keeper and putting him off and having the quick reactors about a few feet away in order to sweep up any chances.

We have neither

[Dan]

Babel is good at corners aswell. I'd have Aurelio taking them all though, great accuracy

I've always been surprised at how few corners Alonso has taken compared to Stevie G who is **** at them

[niallers1]

also gerrard is VERY good in the air, when mcallister was with us he used to take all the set pieces and gerrard scored quite a few headed goals that year

[BJC]

wasn't there a fanzine in the mid 90s called "another wasted corner"... or maybe it was just a feature in one of the others...

[El Jefecito]

also gerrard is VERY good in the air, when mcallister was with us he used to take all the set pieces and gerrard scored quite a few headed goals that year

He should be hanging out on the edge of box to collect the clearances. He's far more accurate from there than is JAR.

[Joe King]

He should be hanging out on the edge of box to collect the clearances. He's far more accurate from there than is JAR.

Anyone but JAR

[Marky]

One thing i know is - Gerrard is awful when it comes to taking corners, truly awful.

[desertscouser]

Is it just me or have we been sh!te at corners for 15 years now?

[Dhav]

Yep Gerrard is a poor corner taker. Can't really understand the logic in him taking them - given what a sweet striker of the ball he is shouldn't he be around the edge of the box looking to get on the end of any loose balls a la Scholes?

[rage]

i've yet to see him beat the first man. if he starts, aurelio every time although i reckon alonso couldn't do any worse than gerrard

[El Jefecito]

Yep Gerrard is a poor corner taker. Can't really understand the logic in him taking them - given what a sweet striker of the ball he is shouldn't he be around the edge of the box looking to get on the end of any loose balls a la Scholes?

[CrazyHorse]

Yep Gerrard is a poor corner taker. Can't really understand the logic in him taking them - given what a sweet striker of the ball he is shouldn't he be around the edge of the box looking to get on the end of any loose balls a la Scholes?

kewell when hes back is a great corner taker.if hes not there, aurelio/pennant/babel/alonso or even stevie finnan - anyone but sg and jar - they are shocking - never seen worse wastes of set plays.stevie takes a good free kick every now and then but corners,urgh.hits them hard and low for some reason everytime.surely someones clicked by now and should run away with the ball everytime he goes to take one.