2 Weeks to Work on Set Pieces.

[portugull]

After 13 games we have 15 points just 38% of the points available.

We are showing some improvement and we now have 2 weeks to work hard on our weaknesses.

Yet again this season we are truly shocking taking free kicks and corners. The biggest culprit is Armani Little which is a real puzzle. He works so hard for the team but I have rarely seen a Professional Footballer at this level take so many free kicks and corners which rank as 0 out of 10.

Set pieces are scoring opportunities. Why don't we have a Competition on the training ground to find out who scores the most goals from 20 yards with just the keeper to beat? Then the same with a 10 yard defensive wall. Day after day Gary will find out who is best with a dead ball kick and on current form it will not be Armani unless he produces on the training ground but not when it matters.

Dean Moxey has a long throw so why don't we train a right sided player in the technique to throw long like Dean?

Corners. We are so predictable I mean predictably bad at corners. We waste them 8 times out of 10. Why not find the team in the Football League with the best conversion rate on corners and see why they are so good.Then copy them.

I used to be a poor putter at golf. I watched scores of golf videos on putting and now I am a good putter.

Why are my team not thinking outside the box. I do not mean the 18 yard box I mean thinking why are we bad at a part of the game when with a bit of imagination we could be better much better.

I can hear you say what does he know. Well I say even Gary Johnson can be better but is he too stubborn to try something different.

Time will tell but starting with Dover I shall be recording every corner and every free kick within 30 yards of goal and seeing how many lead to a goal.

This post comes from my utter frustration at what I see as missed opportunities every game.

[Taelee73]

Set pieces are meant to be rehearsed goal scoring opportunities, ours we just seem to give the ball away.
Its wasted opportunity after opportunity.

And maybe some variation, quick corners, whatever. Way back in the early 90s we used to come up with clever set piece routines, didn't always work, but it kept the opposition guessing.

On another point, the injury situation. Just tell us if a players weeks away or months. Is it really such an advantage to opposition managers to know, will they really change their tactics?

[Dutchgull]

Maybe a start would not to let Armani Little take every bloody thing !!!!!

[DWB]

After 13 games we have 15 points just 38% of the points available.

We are showing some improvement and we now have 2 weeks to work hard on our weaknesses.

Yet again this season we are truly shocking taking free kicks and corners. The biggest culprit is Armani Little which is a real puzzle. He works so hard for the team but I have rarely seen a Professional Footballer at this level take so many free kicks and corners which rank as 0 out of 10.

Set pieces are scoring opportunities. Why don't we have a Competition on the training ground to find out who scores the most goals from 20 yards with just the keeper to beat? Then the same with a 10 yard defensive wall. Day after day Gary will find out who is best with a dead ball kick and on current form it will not be Armani unless he produces on the training ground but not when it matters.

Dean Moxey has a long throw so why don't we train a right sided player in the technique to throw long like Dean?

Corners. We are so predictable I mean predictably bad at corners. We waste them 8 times out of 10. Why not find the team in the Football League with the best conversion rate on corners and see why they are so good.Then copy them.

I used to be a poor putter at golf. I watched scores of golf videos on putting and now I am a good putter.

Why are my team not thinking outside the box. I do not mean the 18 yard box I mean thinking why are we bad at a part of the game when with a bit of imagination we could be better much better.

I can hear you say what does he know. Well I say even Gary Johnson can be better but is he too stubborn to try something different.

Time will tell but starting with Dover I shall be recording every corner and every free kick within 30 yards of goal and seeing how many lead to a goal.

This post comes from my utter frustration at what I see as missed opportunities every game.

Totally agree Portugal. The frustration that comes with any set piece is total. At any level of football now set pieces are crucial. Armani I’m sure has the ability ( he is still dining out out that free kick v Argyle!) but why is he so awful now??
We now have 2 weeks to reset, get some decent training in on set pieces and hopefully clear up some injuries, although it does seem that a lot of those are caused in training, why!!!
After the 2 weeks we have Dover at home, a game we should win comfortably!!? Or we are going nowhere
Let’s get the season going in a couple of weeks and get an unbeaten run going into Christmas ( why not) and then let’s see what the season brings

[Wolborough]

Ah yes, Mickey Cave long throw in, Jimmy Dunne deft back header on edge of box, Alan Welsh stonker into the net. We could try a combination of Moxey, Lewis and Armstrong !

[grockle]

Ah yes, Mickey Cave long throw in, Jimmy Dunne deft back header on edge of box, Alan Welsh stonker into the net. We could try a combination of Moxey, Lewis and Armstrong !

That was 50 years ago. Has it been that long since we were able to do something similar? :~D

[Whydoibother]

Armani Little is the problem im afraid. Apart from being crap most games he has to take corners from both side and if one good one comes in he is doing well. Jake Andrews is another problem he not playing either, he does give us some decent crosses with his left. Did the other day when he played a couple of games but missing again. Armani should be dropped in my opinion but the manager likes him in the team. last season we had Hall, Cameron scoring often with headers from corners .

[culmstockgull]

I cannot agree that it would be best for armani to be dropped, in a team crying out if not begging for talent at least he has that ingrained, we ask too much of him , certainly this season I am not his biggest fan becuase he is not the armani we know. if Johnson persists with him as our playmaker then let him do that and that alone and lapslie and hall when he is fit can do the donkey work, look at the playmakers in other teams, I remember Hoddle could win a game with one pass but he never broke sweat in his whole career, Pogba, another rare talent could cut teams apart with his passes but wanders in his own little world for minutes on end, neither of which knew how to defend let alone where their own penalty box was. I realise these are not direct comparisons but their managers and fellow players tolerate them for the one pice of magic, if Johnson wants a team that runs for the full ninety minutes with attackers playing defenders then armani doesnt make the eleven, to my mind its horses for courses, if he didnt have to defend so much he could spend a lot more creative time planning the downfall of the opposition, I agree that he shouldnt take so many free kicks or corners, we are far too predictable in that manner.

[Dazza]

Yes i agree Little is a playmaker but there have not been alternatives in respect of sitting in front of the back four in recent weeks have there..?

[happytorq]

last season we had Hall, Cameron scoring often with headers from corners .

Who was taking the corners last season? Was it not also Armani Little (when fit)?

[DWB]

Who was taking the corners last season? Was it not also Armani Little (when fit)?

That is just the point. Why is he so poor this season. It is not the case of players failing to get on the end of the set piece it is a case of they CANNOT because they are so poor often sailing into touch?!

[Younonothing]

he runs the most in ever game, what are you on about !!

I cannot agree that it would be best for armani to be dropped, in a team crying out if not begging for talent at least he has that ingrained, we ask too much of him , certainly this season I am not his biggest fan becuase he is not the armani we know. if Johnson persists with him as our playmaker then let him do that and that alone and lapslie and hall when he is fit can do the donkey work, look at the playmakers in other teams, I remember Hoddle could win a game with one pass but he never broke sweat in his whole career, Pogba, another rare talent could cut teams apart with his passes but wanders in his own little world for minutes on end, neither of which knew how to defend let alone where their own penalty box was. I realise these are not direct comparisons but their managers and fellow players tolerate them for the one pice of magic, if Johnson wants a team that runs for the full ninety minutes with attackers playing defenders then armani doesnt make the eleven, to my mind its horses for courses, if he didnt have to defend so much he could spend a lot more creative time planning the downfall of the opposition, I agree that he shouldnt take so many free kicks or corners, we are far too predictable in that manner.

[North Curry House]

he runs the most in ever game, what are you on about !!

No earthly good just running aimlessly,. Keating ran and ran but with little or no end result. Little "may" be our best player and playmaker but he needs to show it more often. I agree his set pieces are poor.

[Younonothing]

No earthly good just running aimlessly,. Keating ran and ran but with little or no end result. Little "may" be our best player and playmaker but he needs to show it more often. I agree his set pieces are poor.

Aimlessly

[Dave]

To be fair Armani Little running around Aimlessly had me chuckling as well. Separating Armstrong who's only played 2 games, Armani Little with 5 goals at a goal every 190 minutes is by far our best player right now, and would suggest his work rate is anything but aimless.

Thinking about Little's brace against against Maidenhead, and that very important late goal away at Chesterfield (all his own work) is the only thing that has separated TUFC from being sat in the bottom four right now, think little himself would probably agree his set piece delivery has lacked consistency, however I'd dread to think where we'd be right now if he hadn't played this season.