Corners

[doddisalegend]

Is anyone else getting frustrated with our corner taking or is it just me?

 

We seem to get a lot of corners especially when playing at home, yet we seem to make so little of them. So often the ball doesn't even beat the first defender or sails right over the box reaching no one in a dangerous area. Why do our players fnd it so hard to get the ball into the danger area around the goal?

 

You'd think with Lambert and some of our big lads from the back would score from a lot more corners than we do if the ball ended up in the right place. It's not just this season either we were awful last season with corners too. The best corners I've seen this year at SMS were taken by Lee Holmes in his sub apperance.

 

It just seems like we waste a lot of corners should we be doing better with them?

[Katalinic]

The last decent corner taker we had was Le Tiss and since leaving The Dell our corners have been awful. Under successive managers since the move to SMS our corners haven't improved one bit - I doubt we have averaged more than 1 or 2 goals a season from them. The last thumping headed goal I remember from a corner was against Wolves a few years back by Alex Pearce when he was on loan from Reading.

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Yet when we get a free kick 2 yards from the corner flag we score from it!

[beatlesaint]

The last decent corner taker we had was Le Tiss and since leaving The Dell our corners have been awful. Under successive managers since the move to SMS our corners haven't improved one bit - I doubt we have averaged more than 1 or 2 goals a season from them. The last thumping headed goal I remember from a corner was against Wolves a few years back by Alex Pearce when he was on loan from Reading.

 

Absolutely. We haven't taken a decent corner since 1993 :-)

 

They really do need to get a bit of practice in. I bet we are the worst goalscorers from a corner in any league.

[Lets B Avenue]

What always annoys me, is when we are taking an inswinger, no one is positioned beyond the 6 yard box to run onto the corner that sails over the keeper's reach. At least twice a match someone has to chase a ball out to the touchline/corner flag.

[jamesfp1]

Le Saux was good at corners

[shurlock]

We were so bad from corners last year that Rickie had to take them...

[The Kraken]

Poor corner-taking really annoys me in professional football. There are two things that any professional footballer should be able to do with complete competence; take a decent corner, and take a throw in. Yet the amount of times we see extremely poor corners that don't beat the first man, and foul throws (particularly when Papa was taking them) is just unforgivable. Even Lallana, who is brilliant with the ball at his feet, is not a great taker of corners. I really don't understand it, striking a dead ball is one of the easiest things to do in football. And as Shurlock sayus, our delivery was so bad last year that our main aerial threat ended up taking them. Ridiculous.

[Saint Fan CaM]

What always annoys me, is when we are taking an inswinger, no one is positioned beyond the 6 yard box to run onto the corner that sails over the keeper's reach. At least twice a match someone has to chase a ball out to the touchline/corner flag.

 

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head here. Of course you cannot excuse the corner that does not even beat the first man, but IMO the effectiveness of corners is the positioning and movement in the box to attack the ball once it's launched into the area. The attackers in and around the box do not seem to have an effective strategy to hit the target and as you point out, there are key areas we do not seem to fill - one at the back post and the other is mid-field 6 yards out of the box (if the ball comes out, it will invariably fall to an oppo player who can clear).

[Third Division South Days]

Le Saux was good at corners

 

Wonder if Terry Paine could give them a master class. Scored a few direct, if I remember correctly.

[SuperMikey]

Hammond scored once or twice from corners last season - and Surman a few times the season before that. We do lack somebody with good delivery though, that's something we need to address in the transfer window imo.

[dronskisaint]

Wonder if Terry Paine could give them a master class. Scored a few direct, if I remember correctly.

 

As did Jason Dodd against the fish furkers....can still picture it in my mind...poetry!

[Window Cleaner]

Wonder if Terry Paine could give them a master class. Scored a few direct, if I remember correctly.

 

wouldn't happen nowadays though, there were some pretty sh*t goalkeepers and defenders in his day.

[rooney]

Agree our corners are poor as we rarely score from them. Le Tiss took the best ones and Steve Neville the worst.

[Hamilton Saint]

Remember Paul Telfer? He had a hard time getting the ball over the first defender!

 

Things are better than that now.

[Lets B Avenue]

No, they aren't.

[SNSUN]

Was it The O.C. that took a corner when coming on on Saturday? That looked pretty good. It'd be another string to his bow to practise corners and become the regular corner taker.

 

But I did spot the irony at scoring from a free kick two yards away from the corner flag!

[Window Cleaner]

But our first goal came from what was effectively a corner, Fonte got a free header that's all. The effectiveness of corners depend on how well the opposition defend them. I'm sure that all our routines are magnificent on the training pitch, it's just that the opponents defend better than our reserves.

[The Kraken]

But our first goal came from what was effectively a corner, Fonte got a free header that's all. The effectiveness of corners depend on how well the opposition defend them. I'm sure that all our routines are magnificent on the training pitch, it's just that the opponents defend better than our reserves.

 

No, the effectiveness of a corner is firstly dependent on the quality of delivery. Only when the delivery is right does the quality of defending take effect. Far too many times this season and last season I've watched the ball into the box either not beat the first man or sail over the heads of everyone in the box.

[for_heaven's_Saint]

On the flip side, we also rarely concede from corners. Maybe our defenders are so good at defending them that the attackers never have a chance to practise scoring from them!

[hackedoff]

Why the crowd gets excited when we win a corner is beyond me , it just wastes time. Might as well give a goal kick. Moan over.

[markr27]

Schneiderlin seems to be the best option IMO. Puncheon's are a bit hit and miss, by that I mean whether they curl out before they come back into play!

[doddisalegend]

Why the crowd gets excited when we win a corner is beyond me , it just wastes time. Might as well give a goal kick. Moan over.

 

yep that's how I feel.

[NickG]

was thinking that on Saturday - not sure if its right but my childhood memory is that a corner led to a goal about 50% of the time - at both ends, now its rare to score or concede.

[Dr Who?]

yep that's how I feel.

 

I think this, but at the time, I think you live in hope. A bit like a free kick around the box. Saying that when we break out people get excited when we are just coming over the half way line. I think this is just football in general, just gets you excited for strange reasons!

[doddisalegend]

I think this, but at the time, I think you live in hope. A bit like a free kick around the box. Saying that when we break out people get excited when we are just coming over the half way line. I think this is just football in general, just gets you excited for strange reasons!

 

yeah a bit like Wotton's shot on saturday a few seconds of hope. Big shout of "shoot" from the crowd you see him tee up let fly and......................

somehow you knew it was going to fly miles wide before he'd kicked it but just for a second you dared to hope that Wotton was indeed a football genius.