Set Pieces

I seem to recall a season when both Denayer and VVD got a decent return from corners.

 

Would I be right in saying that most goals we have conceded this season has been from set pieces?

 

Pathetic again from set pieces, 10 corners and not even a near miss. Never look like scoring from free kicks either, when was last time we scored from a free kick? Jota at RM??Is it just BR being stubborn by not addressing this issue.

 

When it comes to set pieces, we only have a couple of problems... We don't score from them, and we can't defend them.

If anything, we have actually gone backwards in regards to scoring from them. When Engels first arrived, his deliveries were pretty good, and McCowan also can deliver a half decent corner as well (as seen mostly from his time at Dundee, but has put in some pretty good ones for Celtic also... when he has been given the opportunity... which has not been that often compared to Engels).

Having Scales in the team is a bit of a bonus in this regard, as neither Trusty or CCV are much of a threat at these.

I stand to be corrected (if anyone can), but by my count, it is now 21 games since the last time we scored from either a FK or corner, since Auston Trusty scored from an Engels' corner, in the 3-0 win v St Mirren (5 January). We did manage to score a handful of goals from set pieces in the first half of the season, including Scales (x3), Kyogo, Maeda, CCV etc, but it has been a drought since then.

In terms of defending, this is as much a mystery, as a fair percentage of goals conceded come from SP's. Knowing this, surely at some point during the training someone would say, 'let's work on defending set pieces'.

It's nothing new. According to studies conducted by the National Library of Medicine and Biotechnics, at the 2018 World Cup, roughly 38% of all goals came from either FK, corner or penalty spot. That number was slightly down to about 34.7% in 2022, but that still means SP accounted for 1 in every 3 goals scored. These numbers DO NOT include goals from shootouts, just for clarification.

Admittedly, the 2018 WC was a record high in terms of SP goals, but examining this over a longer period still paints a pretty comprehensive picture, considering the 5 previous WCs (36.3% in '98, 28% in '02, 31.3% in '06, 24.1% in '10 & 22.2% in '14), but over that extended period it is still over 28% of all goals during those tournaments coming from set pieces.

After all, set pieces are the one thing in football that can be practiced and attempt to be replicated in a match situation, whether it is attacking or defending, corners, free kicks and penalties, so why is this seemingly continually neglected? If 1 in 3 are conceded at World Cup stage, is it unreasonable to expect this aspect of the game to get much more attention than seems to be the case at the Lennoxtown training complex currently?

 

We just don't have many big aggressive players from set pieces really. Thats what it all comes down to, could have am under 15s player player delivering corners and score for fun if we had Van Dijk, Jullien, Mulgrew, Ledley, Wanyama, Samras and Dembele in the team.

Our best in the air from set pieces are probably Scales, Idah and Trusty and only one of those 2 defenders usually ever play and then Idah barely plays either. So we go into most games with only 1 real decent attacker of a set piece.

Could also add Ralston, Schlupp and Bernardo are probably among our better players in the air and Ralston and Bernardo rarely play either.

 

Set pieces have been our Achilles heel for many years, in attack and defence.
I am sure the team must practice them but you wouldn’t know?

 

This may well be the case, but even still we are missing a massive trick here.

If my math is correct, we have had 151 corners since we last scored from one, including 109 in the Premiership.

Even a 3% success rate would give us 4 or 5 goals from these situations in that time. Nevermind in Europe, where we cannot always anticipate having as much of the ball, then it is essential to try to make the most of these sorts of situations. But again, nothing to show for it.

Same with direct free kicks and fk routines. I've been going back through and can't find any from the 2nd half of this season, and am struggling to think of any at all. Again, I stand to be corrected if anyone can, but I've not found one.

In a tight game, say in the Champions League, these are just too many opportunities to let go to waste all the time. 10 corners in the 0-0 game v Zagreb. Scoring from just 1 would've been enough to get all 3 points that night, and an extra 2 points overall would've seen Celtic finish 14th in the table instead of 21st.

I do get that not all corners get put immediately into the box, but of the 7 that were taken 'short' that night, want to know how many of those have resulted in Celtic even getting a shot off within 20 seconds that night? Nevermind one on target or actually scoring, just simply getting any attempt off. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. None. A big old fat goose egg.

Closer to home, in the recent St J loss, we had a 11 corners and never even looked like converting one. In the 2-1 loss to Hibs there were 10, and it was the same story.

By contrast, struggling to defend set pieces has cost us. Even recently, the FK that was St J goal in the 1-0 loss, or the corner for the sickening opener in the 3-2 loss to Sevco are just 2 examples from the last month or so. Even taking direct shots from a FK, are our players so incapable of finding the mark?

We might scoff at Tavpen, but how many goals have Sevco scored from off of one of his FK's over the years?

Alan Thompson had the benefit of Sutton, Hartson, Henrik, Bobo etc to aim for, but it wasn't just his deliveries, as he could hit direct FKs as well, because he practiced them. Naka practiced for hours after training each day, and how many goals came because of his deliveries and strikes at goal? No matter if you're talking about Christiano Ronaldo or David Beckham, they all shared something in common.

It's practice. The more you practice, the better you get. Simple.

So why is this seemingly being ignored, when it can be potentially so potent and important at both ends of the park?

 

Goals from corners are actually much rarer than people think though.

Like in the 2019/20 EPL season there was 380 games with on average 10.7 corners per game and there was only 134 goals from corners. Direct from a corner is much less also, something like 90 corners to score directly from one on average.

Statistically I think you are twice as likely to score from a short corner than crossing it in.

 

Math was never my strongest suit at school, but 134 goals in 380 games is still roughly 35% of games had a goal from a corner kick. 380 games at 10.7 corners per game is 4066 corners over the season to generate 134 goals is still a goal roughly every 30 corners, and is still a rate of roughly 3% (which was the figure I quoted in my previous post) at that pace would be a reasonable expectation of 5 goals scored in that time from 151 corners since Celtic last scored from one.

And obviously the standard SPFL defending is not going to be of the same pedigree of the EPL, so theoretically we could be reasonably expecting to score more than that, but using that as a baseline, by any metric, Celtic are seriously below par at a skill that, considering that BR doesnt bother having a Plan B, rarely changes tactics, structure or formation, then set pieces do provide some degree of fallback if they are used even moderately effectively.

 

Must be one of the worst teams in the league at them. That corner near the end where it ended up back at the centre circle with our last defender sums us up.

 

Those teams who have specific set-piece coach seem to get some joy with them, it's something we should definitely look at..

 

Something to consider would be to leave the like of say Maeda in the center circle when we are defending a corner.
That way, opposition would have to leave 2 players with him, no way are they going to go one on one.

 

Drives me mad when we waste corners.Professional footballers and we just waste our corners,how the * does Rodgers watch them waste corners week after week and do nothing about it

Was a time when ye get a corner and half expect to score,these days when we get a corner i do be thinking just give the ball to their keeper and let him kick it out,save ourselves a bit of time.

 

Mind a kind of muted roar would go up when we got a corner or a free kick round the box? People just go for a pish or a pie now.

 

Never win a header these days

we must have the weeist team in the UK

 

Need to get Engles off set pieces for starters, he reminds me of Christie now, get Jota on them FFS.