Match Thread (a) v Wrexham League (Carabao) Cup 2nd Round - Tue 29 August 2023 7.45pm

I went into the Wrexham board to get their take on our performance because I couldn’t believe so many of our fans jerking themselves off over it.
Yes it was an improvement on the previous games but quite frankly that wasn’t hard to achieve.
Anyway, we move on to Saturday at Mansfield.

 

Sometimes in football you have to endure the small steps until the team start to feel confident.

 

I believe you have coaching badges Ian so what's the logic behind have all your players back at corners, lets take the lad Smith as an example what does he offer with regards defending headers, he has pace so surely him near the halfway line make the opposition keep at least one defender back to mark Smith if we win the corner and play it to him.

 

And Halliday isn't one of them. He's about as much chance of ever being called a wing back as Stephen Darby had.

 

People keep saying that but I think he is better going forward than defending

 

That doesn't make him a wing back though, anymore than playing Gilliead up front makes him a centre forward.

 

A good question Dave. It's certainly the modern thing to do.

The corner itself is one of the most direct attacking positions that leads to chances and therefore goals. An unopposed cross into the goalmouth. The idea being that you are very unlikely to turn the defending of a corner into an attacking situation by having somebody outside the box (statistically) so little point in having one, plus the number of extra defensive bodies in the box should limit the attacking threat. Extra defenders to defend the unopposed cross.

The idea of the zonal marking is that the defending is not then a 1 on 1 whereby if the defender loses the battle it can lead to a good goalscoring opportunity. The defender is not fixated on an attacker and watching him but can watch and focus on the ball and judge the flight etc to clear if it comes in their zone.

Theory appears sound but I see that, in practice, it doesn't work, in my opinion. It allows additional attackers in the box which creates a greater threat rather than negate it. It also allows the attackers a free run and jump at the ball against static defenders. It does also allow the attacking team to potentially target an area in the box where the weaker or smaller defenders are, creating more of a threat. As Vin Weasil alluded to also, it leaves you open to short corners where the defenders don't want to leave their 'zone' as that is their job!! We saw that at Burton last season where they did it several times and we just stood and watched!! It also creates greater threat and pressure from the second and subsequent phases as the ball is more likely to come straight back into the box due to the unpressured attacking team retrieving the ball. I think this is the most dangerous element to it as the ball will be coming back into a 'transitional' box where the defence and the defenders are not set or in position. A more chaotic box that the ball gets returned into.

It's not for me!!

 

At last , a comment and post with substance, reasoning and belief brought with experience.

Cheers Ian.

 

Wow, thank you for your excellent summary of zonal marking. Obviously I am just a fan but it is so frustrating to see our defence come under so much pressure every time there is a corner. All 10 players in the box causes confusion in my view, plus the lack of protection outside the box.

 

It would be interesting to see the stats about how many goals are scored from corners. You almost expect to score from them, but in reality it’s probably not as high as we think. Most end up with a foul against the keeper or pushing by the attacking team. For all that goes on in there, it’s remarkable that so few end up with a penalty.

 

I can understand referees reluctance to award penalties, especially when they have such an influence on a game. It's why I don't have a problem with fouls outside the box being given more readily than inside the box. In the refs mind there has to be a higher degree of certainty.

I think the goals to corners ratio is something like 1 in 20.

 

The extra 'phases' are a huge issue for me. Time and again from set pieces we have to defend 3 and sometimes 4 crosses because we have no outlet and generally the extra phase crosses are even more dangerous because we haven't yet recovered the shape and there's zero pressure on the ball.

 

Yes, totally agree with this. I wouldn't use Cook on the halfway line at corners because he is an excellent defensive header but placing one of our pacier forwards there would mean the opposition have to leave 2 men back. Less congestion in the box and an outlet for a counter attack

 

There were some stats from the Premier League a few seasons ago and only 2% of corners result in a goal with 5% resulting in a shot on target. I would expect most other leagues will be around the same. The issue with fouls in the box from corners is that you can nearly always find fouls by both teams so if you give a penalty the defending team will point to a foul somewhere else. People forget very quickly a free kick given but a penalty is remembered. Every team holds and blocks players from set pieces but complain when it happens to them.

 

Wrexham have seen the Luke Amrstrong signing rejected by EFL.

Last minute. Tough.

 

Boo hoo.

The circus will go on.

 

He he.

 

Exactly.

 

My heart bleeds for them.

 

I'm sure I saw a post quoting goals from corners were about 6% in the lower league. If you have a half decent drilled defence it's pretty hard to score from a corner. Gives us something to get excited about though I guess.