Set Pieces

[stevenurse]

Thank god we have bale for next season. EVERY one of our set pieces since he has been injured has been pony. we had so many chances last night from free kicks around the area and every one looked gash. such a waste of time and leaves us horribly exposed on the counter when you are facing a player like farfan. I just get a feeling of disappointment every time we get a free kick before its even taken. i get no faith that its going to be whipped into the top corner or flashed across the face of the goal (just like farfans by the way). aston villa have shown how important set pieces are this season by scoring at almost every bloody corner.

Come on lads sort it out....

 

[tRiKS]

aweful set peices. Jenas, Lemon and Hud all failed to clear the first man over and over. We've seen them do it. Jena's delivery in the Ar5ena1 and Chavs games was superb... but last night was rank. Two of our free kicks we nearly conceeded from and i think the goal started from our free kick.

 

[alamo]

EVERY one of our set pieces since he has been injured has been pony.

Yeah that whipped free-kick by Jenas onto Woodgates head in the CC final was awful. Just amateurish. :wink:

Edit: Am very surprised Berbs didn't have a crack at some of the more central free kicks we earned. I could imagine him at least testing the keeper.

 

[SpurSince57]

It did indeed, as did the counter-attack that resulted in Gilberto's yellow and a dangerous free-kick for them.

 

[donny1013]

Under Juande though are set pieces have looked a lot better. JJ also put a free kick onto Dawson's head against Wet Spam and Bendtners head when we beat the scum 5-1. Last night delivery was crap in all areas, not just free kicks. Was a bad night overall but i still think we can win over there

 

[Chaplain]

JJ has vastly improved his FK ability, however, he's still not as naturally talented at them as Bale is.

 

[BoringOldFan]

I was almost praying for O'Hara to put in a decent FK inthe second half "Don't just hit it over the bar!" But he did :-(

JJ scored two scorchers v Man U and Boro away two seasons back. I don't think his delivery has improved - or even stayed at that standard. Very disappointing.

 

[stevenurse]

hmmm but was the free kick onto woodgates head really? or did it take a punch onto his face to go in? any other day cech would have caught that. Lucky but in a glorious way.

 

[Fordy]

i cant stand it when Lennon takes our free kicks, he doesnt look like he's got enough strength to get the ball off the floor.

 

[Paxtonite]

It did indeed, as did the counter-attack that resulted in Gilberto's yellow and a dangerous free-kick for them.

I think you will also find that their goal may have come after they cleared one of our free kicks from the right as a result of a poor delivery by Lennon.

Quality balls into the box were non existent. That includes corner kicks and attempted crosses from wide positions.

As for the "direct" free kicks, they never troubled the keeper either. Hudd banged one into the wall if i recall, O'Hara always shapes up as if he means business and then blazes it off target. We don't seem to have a threat. And yet Berbatov hit a beauty against spammers last season and never seems to be allowed/up for taking one. Our only real threat from free kicks (direct shot or delivered cross) seems to be Jenas, but he is a bit hit or miss too!

 

[stevenurse]

they are all hit and miss.....They hit it and then they miss

 

[llamafarmer]

Edit: Am very surprised Berbs didn't have a crack at some of the more central free kicks we earned. I could imagine him at least testing the keeper.

I just wish we'd pick a freekick taker and stick to it. Everybody seemed to have one go each last night - had it been the same player 3 or 4 times they might have got their eye in and actually hit the target.

We have some good set piece takers, but Bale and that magic left boot can't come back soon enough for me. :bowdown:

 

[Krafty]

Consistency - The thing Bale has and no others it seems.

JJ can put in a good ball, but he also puts in a lot of shit ones. Its almost more annoying. If he just did rubbish ones then someone else would take over.

 

[Spurs_Q8]

I could accept Jenas ones because he did two good set-pieces against Chelsea in CC final ( one of them for Woody ) .. and i think he did ok yesterday if we campared his balls to Huddlestone and O'Hara

Huddlestone took the nearest ones for shooting and every time hits the ball ( not just this game ) and O'Hara did awful in long balls or direct shoots.

I was telling my cousin, Ramos should give Robinson the chance to shoot or make long balls instead of these two. I trust him more and I really would like to see him given a chance to be the next Chillavert !

i know it is easy to talk, but it isn't easy to not get anything good from all of these set-pieces recently.

 

[paulspursman]

they have improved but yesterday they were terrible. you see better delivery in the southern league div1 south and west

its not like we havent got the height and danger at set pieces so its about time we take advantage of set plays in the same kind of way Aston Villa do

 

[Flatters]

I think Berba should take them. He always seems to put perfect crosses into the box, on the rare occasions that he's outside the box in a position to cross it.

 

[DC_Boy]

our free kicks were poor - but here's some free kicks this season that had nowt to do with Bale - the Carling Cup winner - the vital 2nd v Arsenal in the semi - our equaliser v Spam - I'm sure I could name more if I wanted

 

[chinaman]

Yeah that whipped free-kick by Jenas onto Woodgates head in the CC final was awful. Just amateurish. :wink:

Edit: Am very surprised Berbs didn't have a crack at some of the more central free kicks we earned. I could imagine him at least testing the keeper.

The problem is we have so little option or variety that as soon as Berbs is on the ball, people will know what we're up to and that would nullify the element of surprise that any set piece should create.

 

[Spurs_Q8]

our free kicks were poor - but here's some free kicks this season that had nowt to do with Bale - the Carling Cup winner - the vital 2nd v Arsenal in the semi - our equaliser v Spam - I'm sure I could name more if I wanted

if you are counting the direct goals by direct shoots, the result would be very disappointing.

if you are countung the long balls ones, it would be OK considering we scored some goals

we are concerned because some of them ended very poorly, big teams wouldnt allow these things happen

 

[DC_Boy]

Hi Q8 - I'm just pointing out the statement about all non-Bale free kicks being 'pony' is incorrect and that indeed one of our two biggest goals of the past 9 years, possibly of the past 18 years, came from a JJ free kick