Eriksen's free kick ability

[Geyzer Soze]

Interesting to read that we are not actually that bad at corners. It certainly was my impression, like the OP, that we were catastrophically shit at them

 

[al_pacino]

We've scored a few from corners but a few had their share of luck about them. Dier did well for his header against QPR but he was well in front of the front post and Chadli at Villa really shouldn't be volleying the ball in at the far post without someone in front of him getting a head on it(though that ball was in the right area).

As per the OP I think what makes Eriksens free kicks good and his corners not so great amount to about the same thing. Getting the ball up and down quickly is good for one but not the other.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

He's not just trying to hoof it into the box randomly. He’ll be trying to just beat the man on the near post, keep it away from the keeper, hit it with whip and pace etc etc etc

 

[Greenspur]

He's not just trying to hoof it into the box randomly. He’ll be trying to just beat the man on the near post, keep it away from the keeper, hit it with whip and pace etc etc etc

However, to no avail - apparently, and unfortunately.

 

[Maske2g]

I don't know how people can defend the indefensible.

He over whips the ball, and he doesn't have the power to use that technique from a corner.

The ball does not get beyond the front post on at least 95 % of corners he takes.

It's become embarrassing because the crowd know whats going to happen before he kicks it.

Chiriches goal was from a superb Paulinho corner, BTW.

With all this said, defending at corners has become much better over the years. The shape and phyicallity make it hard to score from a corner.....BUT

We don't even ask the question!!!!

 

[nicdic]

And yet I can think of a decent handful of goals scored from corners this season...

Dier, Kane, Bentaleb, Chiriches have all scored goals that came from corners.

 

[Greenspur]

And yet I can think of a decent handful of goals scored from corners this season...

Dier, Kane, Bentaleb, Chiriches have all scored goals that came from corners.

Were those corners taken by Eriksen, do you know (I certainly don't)?

 

[faze_coys]

Lamela has set up a few goals from his corners

 

[Spurs Lodge Kittens]

When I play football I hate it when our team does short corners. Feels like a wasted opportunity to me. However, in the case of Spurs I definitely think we should try more variation.

 

[Derp]

I think we need another player to take the corners. But we also need some sort of strategy when we have a corner. I know Ajax scored a lot of corner goals from Eriksen assist by attacking the first post. It's very difficult for the goalkeeper and the defence to clear it. You basically are taking the goalkeeper out, because he can't get to the ball.

A lot of teams do this with succes.

 

[dudu]

Interesting to read that we are not actually that bad at corners. It certainly was my impression, like the OP, that we were catastrophically shit at them

The truth is we are pretty bad -

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/tactics-...orner-kicks-a-dying-art-in-the-premier-league

Its not about how many we have scored over all - its how many corners it takes us to score

on Jan the 22nd we had taken the second most amount of corners in the prem with 135 having converted 3 of them - So one goal every 45 corners - 13th best in the league.

Better than Liverpool with 1 in 117 attempts but a long long way off from Chelsea with 1 in 16.5

 

[lenny7]

We've ended up buying a good few free kick specialists down the years, Bale included given that's how he made his name at Southampton, David Bentley, Niko, vdV.. etc, all of which scored the odd one, but seemed nowhere near as consistent as at previous clubs. Our Danish lad tho. All around an incredible bit of business.

 

[scat1620]

He's not just trying to hoof it into the box randomly. He’ll be trying to just beat the man on the near post, keep it away from the keeper, hit it with whip and pace etc etc etc

Totally agree with this. Lots of corner takers - not just Eriksen, and not just Spurs players - get absolute pelters from fans and pundits alike for the cardinal sin of "not clearing the first man". I've always been not so bothered by this. Of course, I don't want corners that we take to hit the first defender, but I prefer corners to err on the side of pace and whip rather than loft and float. If that means pacy and whipped corners get cleared by the first man 50% of the time, I'd prefer that to a lofted floaty corner that beats the first man 100% of the time because the lofted corners are so often caught by the keeper or otherwise won by the opposition defenders who aren't at the front post.

Better to aim for death/glory with our corner taking than it is to take the no-risk, no-reward option IMO. (Albeit any sensible side would include a bit of variety in their play, so the odd short or lofted corner is not a problem if used sparingly, again IMO.)