All 5 goals conceded are from set pieces

[DeeTheDog]

As poorly as we played, all five goals we have conceded have came from set-pieces. Too often we are conceding soft free kicks, the same happened during the Stoke game but fortunately they were unable to punish us.

Villa were dogged and defended compactly but offered very little in attack, yet the game was presented on a plate with the gift of soft freekicks.

Without Alonso acting as a metronome for our play, we appear hurried and the loss of possesion in vital areas have resulted in team conceding these freekicks. Any thoughts?


Liverpool Aston Villa
Shots (on Goal) 24(11) 8(4)
Fouls 14 11
Corner Kicks 10 4
Offsides 1 3
Time of Possession 68% 32%
Saves 2 10

[Nicey]

I have loss the will to live

[DannyMan2006]

Without Alonso acting as a metronome for our play, we appear hurried and the loss of possesion in vital areas have resulted in team conceding these freekicks. Any thoughts?

Yes, we conceded lenty of free kicks last year, that has nothing to do with Alonso.

I was the first to mention that all goals were conceded from set pieces in the match thread. But I did not mention this as a way of having a pop at the club. I mentioned it because it shows that we are still strong at the back despite a loss of form.

Break down the set pieces. One was a penalty. One was a freak own goal. One was a fluke of a thuder bolt from a player who had never before scored a goal in senior football for any club. Two were corners.

The first three can happen at anytime and there is nothing you can do about them. The corners are an issue, but unless you get our squad on a stretching rack we will probably always concede the odd corner. We are in relative terms a small team height wise. It's also why our set piece delivery looks so rubbish.

I would be a lot more worried if the teams who we played had carved us open at will. But aside from a ten minute spell by Spurs this has not happened.

[Scratch]

Yes, we conceded lenty of free kicks last year, that has nothing to do with Alonso.

I was the first to mention that all goals were conceded from set pieces in the match thread. But I did not mention this as a way of having a pop at the club. I mentioned it because it shows that we are still strong at the back despite a loss of form.

Break down the set pieces. One was a penalty. One was a freak own goal. One was a fluke of a thuder bolt from a player who had never before scored a goal in senior football for any club. Two were corners.

The first three can happen at anytime and there is nothing you can do about them. The corners are an issue, but unless you get our squad on a stretching rack we will probably always concede the odd corner. We are in relative terms a small team height wise. It's also why our set piece delivery looks so rubbish.

I would be a lot more worried if the teams who we played had carved us open at will. But aside from a ten minute spell by Spurs this has not happened.

Yes, but Lucas is at fault for the goals scored from the corners, that's what you're saying isn't it?

[PTP]

Well firstly - spurs 1st!! - that just came from nowhere, and imo had nothing to do with the free kick/set piece. Granted it was a hell of strike by the lad, but it was ****ing lucky too - if the set piece had not been so ****ing ****e, it wouldn't have sat up perfectly for the lad too lash and swing his boot at it, and it could have gone anywhere but unfortunatley for us it flew into the net! - I discount that goal - noones fault

Again Villa's 1st - took a ****ing deflection - i'm not arsed about the free kick being giving, the actual free kick was ****e and was just pure luck to have ended up in the back of the net

Villas 2nd was disappointing, as was their 3rd where the blame lies solely on gerrard

I seemed to have erased Spurs 2nd from memory though haha

[DeeTheDog]

It's the concession of so many needless free-kicks in dangerous areas, which is the main point of the thread. Villa were barely a threat yet the concession of these fouls resulted in the loss of the game.

[PTP]

hmm but that is always going to happen! it could be down to bad timing by the player, poor referinng, or diving -

[DannyMan2006]

Yes, but Lucas is at fault for the goals scored from the corners, that's what you're saying isn't it?

No I'm not. I think he could have cleared the Davies goal before it reached the near post. But Carra and Torres should have been alive to the danger.

But it's hard to say if we are being beaten to the punch by not being alive to the danger, or that we are going to struggle with good delivery due to the height of our team.

The only problem with Zonal marking I see is this. If I was the opponent taking the corner I would aim to put the delivery in the area one of the shorter defenders is marking. I would also ask the attacker to attack this space. Get it spot on and the attacker should win the header and present a problem.

There are not many players good enough in the league to get that delivery right though. Go to a man marking system and you just have different problems. Lose a marker and you'll always have a free header and the attacking team can also put in illegal blocking moves to stop a defender following the attacker.

It's horses for courses really. The best defensive teams in history - the great Italian ones of old - used the zonal marking system. It is never really a system that it is to fault. It's the players being used in the system. But sometimes is just down to a world class delivery.

[Scratch]

Yes, but Lucas is at fault for the goals scored from the corners, that's what you're saying isn't it?

No I'm not. I think he could have cleared the Davies goal before it reached the near post. But Carra and Torres should have been alive to the danger.

But it's hard to say if we are being beaten to the punch by not being alive to the danger, or that we are going to struggle with good delivery due to the height of our team.

The only problem with Zonal marking I see is this. If I was the opponent taking the corner I would aim to put the delivery in the area one of the shorter defenders is marking. I would also ask the attacker to attack this space. Get it spot on and the attacker should win the header and present a problem.

There are not many players good enough in the league to get that delivery right though. Go to a man marking system and you just have different problems. Lose a marker and you'll always have a free header and the attacking team can also put in illegal blocking moves to stop a defender following the attacker.

It's horses for courses really. The best defensive teams in history - the great Italian ones of old - used the zonal marking system. It is never really a system that it is to fault. It's the players being used in the system. But sometimes is just down to a world class delivery.

I was being facetious, it's Lucas bashing day today, cos we lost yesterday, hadn't you noticed??

[DannyMan2006]

I was being facetious, it's Lucas bashing day today, cos we lost yesterday, hadn't you noticed??

Sorry.