Corners - both ends

[SourceOfTheTrent]

Surely training this week (and ongoing) has to have some serious focus on corners. As we've all been on about for a while we are pretty duff at defending them and have conceded far too many goals from them and I think this has something to do with how awful we are at taking them as well.

 

Yesterday we had 11 corners, all of which were useless and ineffective. Not once did one of our corners look like resulting in a goal and, as usual, there was no variation on how we took them they're all punted over in the general direction of the 6 yard box resulting in either the keeper catching them or a defender heading them away. So, if this is how we take corners in games I suspect it's how we take corners when we're practising defending them, ie, they're easily defended.

 

We need to be more imaginative in how we use corners when attacking and also consider how we defend corners when we have no control over the attacking routine, eg, the classic ball to the back post that does us every time or the roll it back to an unmarked onrushing midfielder to smack a shot (like Poland did against Ireland last Sunday), or other routines with some modicum of imagination applied.

 

I've got to the stage now where I see us having a corner as marginally better than the opposition having a goal kick but the opposition having a corner as marginally better than them having a direct free kick on the edge of the box!

[Bald Eagle]

Missing the man on the front post would be a good start!

[Andy Proctor]

Apart from streete i dont think we have got anyone who is capable of winning a header from a corner so were highly unlikely to score of one.

[boltonsno1]

We've never been able to score from corners in all the time I've supported us. It must just be a Vale thing.

[melv]

When Vale have a corner if it actually does manage to get past the first man it seems easy work for the opposition keeper to simply collect or punch the ball with no Vale players anywhere near him.It was also noticeable yesterday that we had no player on the near or far post.Infact I noticed at one time there was not even a Vale player in the six yard box.No Vale player in the six yard box gives their keeper plenty of time to run out and get to the ball.

 

When Vale defend a corner we don't leave a player anywhere near the halfway line.Everyone is back within about 25 - 30 yards this means that in and around the penalty area is packed out which is dangerous as the ball can be hit and go anywhere with a deflection.IF we do manage to clear the ball away there is no one there to make a quick break toward goal.

 

Its all so predictable its either not even beat the first man or straight to the keeper or where he can easily get to the ball often unchallenged.

[Andy Proctor]

We've never been able to score from corners in all the time I've supported us. It must just be a Vale thing.

 

We have had players like sam collins and george pilkington score a few from corners before.

[Mellor!]

What peed me off yesterday was that Foley took every corner, while our dead ball specialist stood and defended our box. Even if Foley is taking, surely it's better to have Oakes on the edge of they oppositions box to have a crack if there are any stray clearances?

[Jacko51]

From yesterday's programme:

 

Corners! Debate has raged in the stands at Vale Park and the ale houses of Burslem regarding our performance from them at both ends of the pitch. We don’t seem to score from corners and have conceded too many goals from them for comfort this season.

 

My initial reaction when I see the ball go into our net from a corner is to ask “why did we not have men on the posts”. Traditionally teams used to defend corners by putting both fullbacks on the posts in an attempt to make the goal smaller for the attacking team and in a sense, it’s hard to argue with the logic of that. Increasingly, however, teams are not doing that. When Barcelona won the Champions League in 2011 they had one of the smallest teams in the competition yet they rarely conceded from corners and never had men on the posts. They used a zonal marking system with their two best headers of the ball, Pique and Puyol (who is small for a central defender) in key positions on the six yard line and penalty spot. The team not only won Europe’s premier competition but also the La Liga title that year.

 

If you watch Match of the Day you will see that Premier League teams have a variety of ways of defending corners but none of them seem to start with two men on the posts. Chelsea have no men there and seem to regard defending corners as an opportunity to break at pace when their defenders head the ball clear. The system hasn’t worked so well this year but last year charging up the pitch at speed from defensive positions was a feature of their play.

 

A key position for the defending team these days is not the near post but three or four yards out from it with the player tasked with clearing the ball before it reaches the danger area in front of goal. One of the best exponents of this art was, surprisingly, Alan Shearer who probably cleared more corners in his defensive role as he scored from at the other end of the pitch. Anthony Grant has this job at Vale and if the ball is played beyond him, he immediately retreats to the post where he has been very effective in clearing the ball off the line on more than one occasion this season.

 

So if Vale are setting up their defence in the same way as many Premiership teams, why are they conceding so many goals? Could it be concentration? I don’t know the answer but I hope we find it pretty soon!

 

At the other end of the pitch we don’t seem to take advantage of set pieces as well as we should. In Spain last season Athletico Madrid showed the way to improve on this and it seems patently obvious - variety of delivery. Diego Simeone lost his best striker to Chelsea after winning La Liga so he decided that making the most of set pieces would go some way to making up for the lack of Costa’s goals. His team scored almost twice as many goals from set pieces as any other team in the league and they did this by having a number of different modes of delivery – near post, far post, inswinger, outswinger - so that the opposition never knew what was coming. Easier said than done, of course, and much easier when you have millions to spend on the blokes delivering!

 

The key to our improvement must be practice off the field and concentration on it. Keep at it lads and things will only get better!

[hamilboy]

We've never been able to score from corners in all the time I've supported us. It must just be a Vale thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pity you missed mills beckford and earle then.

[Jacko51]

We've never been able to score from corners in all the time I've supported us. It must just be a Vale thing.

 

You never saw the Paul Maguire years??

[boltonsno1]

Pity you missed mills beckford and earle then.

 

As I say, before my time!

[Santa]

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd welcome a short corner.

[Andy Proctor]

When was the last time we scored from one?

I think duffy scored from a corner against scunthorpe away last season.

[24November92]

I think they should practice a whole variety of different corners. The corner kicker should use discreet signs to let the team know which one to expect. The same should go for free kicks.

[melv]

I think they should practice a whole variety of different corners. The corner kicker should use discreet signs to let the team know which one to expect. The same should go for free kicks.

 

Agree use a variety of corners because the system that is now being used is useless.It really does make you wonder what they do actually do in training.

 

As for what they do in training.Is it that when taking a corner during training that it is so bad that they can defend the poor corner which then makes the defence look better than it really is.But when it comes to defending a corner during a proper match that same defence is totally lost and thats why we conceded so many from a corner?