Set pieces improvement

[BalticBlade]

Of the many positives from recent weeks, one of the main ones has been our improvement in quality from set pieces and what we are creating from them. This is not only an improvement on the beginning of the season but also an improvement on last season as well.

Last season we were pretty much totally reliant on creating goals from open play, which is probably a reason we rarely scored more than two goals in a game.

This has not been the case during our recent run of good form and has seen us improve our goals per game record.

I think we are clearly putting more work into set pieces on the training ground and this is paying dividends on match days. Who do we reckon is behind this sea change? I suspect the little Portuguese fella, Guilherme Ramos, has something to do with this. If that is the case then he could prove to be one of the best bits of 'business' we did over the summer.

 

[Beans]

WRT training ground, it's noticeable how much more we've mixed up our inswing/outswinging corners this season. Last year we were kind of hilariously committed to inswinging corners, with only 28 out of 205 being outswinging (14%).

This image is from November 2024 so not the full season, but it was much more common for teams to mix up inswing/outswing to a greater degree than we did (or Watford, wtf went on there):



This season so far we still favour inswing, but it's more even - 41 out of 128 have been outswinging (38%). We've already taken more outswinging corners than we did in the whole of last season. McGuinness could've had a hat-trick from them in the first half against Stoke alone, now I think about it.

I don't think there's a magic formula that says one is better than the other but it makes sense to me that having a bit more of a mix helps to make it harder for teams to prepare for them and deal with them. Having big geezers like McGuinness and Tanganga attacking them has also probably made a significant difference.

 

[LondonBlade89]

Must admit I have found it funny that set pieces have suddenly become acceptable as a strategy again. Ten years ago coaches would be derided for relying too much on them. Now suddenly everyone is accepting that yep, maybe a corner or a throw-in close to the box should be seen as a good opportunity. I’m glad we’re making better use of it and hopefully this general trend will be a bit of a leveller in the PL too.

 

[Kenilworth]

WRT training ground, it's noticeable how much more we've mixed up our inswing/outswinging corners this season. Last year we were kind of hilariously committed to inswinging corners, with only 28 out of 205 being outswinging (14%).

This image is from November 2024 so not the full season, but it was much more common for teams to mix up inswing/outswing to a greater degree than we did (or Watford, wtf went on there):

View attachment 227040

This season so far we still favour inswing, but it's more even - 41 out of 128 have been outswinging (38%). We've already taken more outswinging corners than we did in the whole of last season. McGuinness could've had a hat-trick from them in the first half against Stoke alone, now I think about it.

I don't think there's a magic formula that says one is better than the other but it makes sense to me that having a bit more of a mix helps to make it harder for teams to prepare for them and deal with them. Having big geezers like McGuinness and Tanganga attacking them has also probably made a significant difference.

I often ignored the fact we’d won a corner an after the end of the 22/23 season since we converted a strength to a liability whe we were last in the Prem. It’s been shocking since.
It’s all changed. We are now a danger at set pieces again and I’ve no idea why.
It’s not just the big feller.
Can’t be just the inswinger mind set - or could it?
I just see us attacking it now, like we did before, with some conviction.

 

[Blademan89]

Must admit I have found it funny that set pieces have suddenly become acceptable as a strategy again. Ten years ago coaches would be derided for relying too much on them. Now suddenly everyone is accepting that yep, maybe a corner or a throw-in close to the box should be seen as a good opportunity. I’m glad we’re making better use of it and hopefully this general trend will be a bit of a leveller in the PL too.

Has arsenal made is fashionable again?

Arteta the Spanish Pulis

 

[Blademan89]

Tbh its been a while, it was a joy to see how dominant we was over stoke on set pieces, we looked like we could have scored from every corner we had.

 

[The Fox]

Has arsenal made is fashionable again?

Arteta the Spanish Pulis

Its since the UEFA Pro licence course introduced the module " Gerrit int Mixer " .

 

[Caveblade]

I have joked for several seasons, whenever we get a corner, we may as well just hand it to thier keeper to take a goal kick. We have been useless.

Its been a revelation in our miraculous upturn, we are not only scoring more tgan one goal but we are a genuine threat from corners

 

[The Fox]

Needless to say the defending module " Bust it " and the Goal keeping module " Stop pissing abaht with it " are under consideration.

 

[KMC-1889]

Has arsenal made is fashionable again?

Arteta the Spanish Pulis

Probably Nunos Forest. Couldn’t compete with the technical ability and high press of the premier league so went kick and rush.

I do think we’re seeing the next evolution of tactics away from pep ball. It’s not quite the old route 1 playing percentages of Pulis & Allardyce but has more in common with Moyes his time round and Everton and West Ham. Have high quality players at the top of the pitch and work out the quickest way to get the ball to them.

As for corners, don’t think you can’t talk about how much better it is having Hamer and Burrows on the pitch. McGuinness doesn’t win all those headers without the ball being delivered consistently to a high quality.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Knill’s got his book back

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Hamers corners on Saturday were top quality a marked improvement on Pecks

 

[Servigliano]

Must admit I have found it funny that set pieces have suddenly become acceptable as a strategy again. Ten years ago coaches would be derided for relying too much on them. Now suddenly everyone is accepting that yep, maybe a corner or a throw-in close to the box should be seen as a good opportunity. I’m glad we’re making better use of it and hopefully this general trend will be a bit of a leveller in the PL too.

Arsenal do it - and are also famous for other set piece goals.
So it's OK now.

 

[ancientblade]

it really has made a difference to our results as another poster has said up to the last few games we were 99% certain of not scoring at corners now we look dangerous every set piece well done to the backroom staff

 

[Balham]

WRT training ground, it's noticeable how much more we've mixed up our inswing/outswinging corners this season. Last year we were kind of hilariously committed to inswinging corners, with only 28 out of 205 being outswinging (14%).

This image is from November 2024 so not the full season, but it was much more common for teams to mix up inswing/outswing to a greater degree than we did (or Watford, wtf went on there):

View attachment 227040

This season so far we still favour inswing, but it's more even - 41 out of 128 have been outswinging (38%). We've already taken more outswinging corners than we did in the whole of last season. McGuinness could've had a hat-trick from them in the first half against Stoke alone, now I think about it.

I don't think there's a magic formula that says one is better than the other but it makes sense to me that having a bit more of a mix helps to make it harder for teams to prepare for them and deal with them. Having big geezers like McGuinness and Tanganga attacking them has also probably made a significant difference.

I love owt like this, me.

Looks like there are three main camps:

Committed to the inswinger (>70%): United, Watford (99%!!), Stoke, Preston, Coventry, Millwall

Preferred taker (inswing from one side, outswing from the other): Luton, Norwich, Bristol City, QPR, Middlesbrough, Derby, Hull, Plymouth, Oxford

Mix it up: everyone else (I particularly like the one of Sunderland's which went out for a throw in on the other side)

 

[Beans]

Mix it up: everyone else (I particularly like the one of Sunderland's which went out for a throw in on the other side)

Gotta keep the opposition guessing!

 

[JohnDenver]

Stoke’s utterly diabolical marking should also get a nod.

 

[BerksBlade]

it really has made a difference to our results as another poster has said up to the last few games we were 99% certain of not scoring at corners now we look dangerous every set piece well done to the backroom staff

Not so long ago we were more likely to concede from one of our corners than score ourselves!

 

[Uganda Blade]

Its since the UEFA Pro licence course introduced the module " Gerrit int Mixer " .

Fallowfield would, of course, be best placed to advise on that.

 

[KMC-1889]

Not so long ago we were more likely to concede from one of our corners than score ourselves!

It still does my box in how we insist on bringing every man back for a corner.

 

[Bladesman]

Stoke’s utterly diabolical marking should also get a nod.

Yeah the fact we put in identical corners in the first half and McGuinness got on the end of all them. Then when he went off, in the second half Tanganga won the headers on corners.

Not quite sure why they left them unmarked? we had warned them enough.

 

[Rufus Smalls]

Our corners have definitely been shaken up a bit. Every so often we swing one to the back post and someone like Tanganga manage to get a free header at the back of the six yard box. Good to see us mixing it up.