Offensive Set-pieces

I don't have the stats for this one, so maybe someone else could confirm if I'm mistaken on this?

Am I correct in thinking that scoring from set-pieces was one area where we were actually much better under Ivic than Xisco?

I seem to recall we scored a fair few early on in the season and generally looked pretty dangerous from them, but have hardly even looked like scoring from them under Xisco - in fact, one could say that our attacking set-pieces under Xisco have been "offensive" in more ways than one. Recently Sema and Hughes often seem to struggle to beat the first man (though Sema seemed to be whipping them in well earlier in the season).

It didn't cost us much as our play in other areas went up a notch, but it's an area we should be looking to improve on again next season.

Perhaps we need to finally get @reids on the case?!

 

On the flip side of this is that we are a better scoring "from open play" team .
Maybe hours and hours on set pieces is better spent elsewhere? .
Just my two bob .

 

Why not a polite set piece?

 

Crunched the corner stats:

Ivic:

Corners taken: 116
Goals Scored: 5
Conversion rate: 4.31%
xG: 6.39
xG per corner: 0.055

Xisco:

Corners taken: 152
Goals Scored: 5
Conversion rate: 3.2%
xG: 7.32
xG per corner: 0.048

Corner shot map under Ivic: (x is blocked or off target, circle is on target, red G is a goal)



Corner shot map under Xisco:



All the data would agree, plus shots under Ivic come in much more dangerous positions than under Xisco, goals scored much closer to goal as well so less reliant on the "lucky" corner goals you get from someone smashing it in from outside the area, for which accounts some of Xiscos corner goals.

Despite Watford offering me a job for next season, I am sadly taken for next season, although I have dropped Watford a little something for the Swansea game, now to see whether they use it

 

Our set pieces are regularly offensive to me.

 

Can't you work for more than one team then?

 

The contract I've signed is with an ownership group similar to the Pozzos (currently own 3 teams across Europe), so I'll be working for all 3 clubs under that umbrella, but aren't allowed to work for any other clubs outside that sadly!

 

Is it Steve Mcclaren's umbrella?

 

Now you’ve got me thinking.

 

Spezia, SonderjyskE and Casa Pia!

 

Don’t tell me, I wanted to work it out. You’re like the BBC putting up results and forgetting to add, “if you don’t want to see today’s results, turn away now.” Booooooooo!!!!!

Just kidding mate. I would never have worked that out. Thanks.

 

Seems a shame you couldn't have also found a way to also work for a team in a non-competing league.

 

Would've been nice but overall I'm not too fussed, they're paying me a much better wage that I would've got freelancing, only fair that they get my full focus!

 

Well done.

 

That’s awesome Reid’s, congratulations.

Hope it goes well for you, and let’s also hope you stay on Watford’s radar until a time comes that you can take it on for a year or so! They were foolish and stubborn enough not to take up your offer last season when we were found desperately wanting in most departments, so promising that they have recognised your offering even if you can’t take it up yet!

 

Reids could have been the difference between 1st and 2nd place this season!

 

You'd like to hope that as a premier league club we already employ a few Reids on the books doing all this stuff already for offensive and defensive tactics.

Maybe it's just the execution on field that's poor unless we as a club really are too short sighted to have a load of tacticians on the books, or the ones we have are just pants at their job?!

 

What is the sort of conversion rate that’s respectable? Was the Ivic period below, on or above average. I know the answer is probably in the Reid’s thread. But a quick executive summary of what we should be aiming for would be useful.

 

3% conversion rate is deemed as the average, but that can vary a bit season by season and by league, so both managers performing above the average currently. Last season we got 1 goal from 167 corners taken (0.59%) and went down by a single point - which is why I was so desperate for us to use my work last season as getting closer to that average would've most likely saved us. Staff in football are relatively cheap, so investing in a set-piece specialist is the most cost-effective thing a club can do right now imo.

Between all the teams I'm working for this season they've taken 830 corners and got 34 goals (4.1% conversion rate). They took 829 corners between them last season (when I wasn't working with any of them) and scored 23 goals (2.77%) so it definitely makes a difference!

 

Wouldn't be surprised if the club was just short sighted in this respect

 

Adam Masina direct fk vs Cardiff last gasp winner.
First direct free kick goal for (it seemed) nearly 37 years..

The goal, the reaction, the team spirit, the day I knew we were going up under Xisco.

I rest my case.

 

Ha, I recognise the sentiment, although my original post was intended to rather be about corners and wide set-pieces.

 

Fair enough, although a direct fk is an offensive set piece per thread title.

Tongue in cheek by me and reids is the man for this info.
Could never understand why our club ignored his offer.
Paying reids the equivalent of a couple of months salary of Andre Gray and Isaac Success and I’m sure he could have helped the team a gazillion times more than those two without even stepping on the pitch.

 

Sounds like a Metalworks, a furniture shop and a pizzaria

 

Another season of poor set-pieces. Achieving the league average in attack and defence would have given us another 7 goals this season.

 

£9 million on sacking coaches ain’t it? £40-50k a year to a set piece specialist is an absolute drop in the ocean compared to that.

Could do with a defending set pieces coach too tbh, some of the defending is appalling, todays throw in case in point and then Dennis ruining a line playing everyone onside.

Brentford played a beautiful corner at one point right over the goal to a man standing on the touch line who knocked it down into the box with a header for someone in the box to attack. The kind of planning and execution we can only dream about.

 

Good bump.

It would be a start if Louza could beat the first man; even his attempt at a shot from the free-kick was straight in to the wall.

Another issue though has been none of our defenders are particularly good in the air - we at least had Sierralta and Masina last season for a bit of added presence but even then we weren't great, and both of their replacements are worse in the air. In general our defence is on the relatively small side.

I even said in the summer after our pre-season game vs Palace that our lack of aerial ability would be a major issue this season, and yesterday was a clear example. It can't help our ability to score from set-pieces either:

https://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/pre-season-2021-22.58505/page-42#post-3032230

 

No surprise that they have a dedicated set-piece coach. They're on a net of +5 set-piece goals and we're on -6...

 

I know you've previously said that good routines can lessen the need for a decent set piece taker but it really beggars belief that we've gone so many years without a capable dead ball striker. At least under Javi we had a couple of pre-set routines that led to some goals/big chances - the volleys from the edge of the box and the ball worked back to Capoue to chip over for a runner out wide (usually Femenia).

Out of interest, how has this season gone for your teams? Used to really enjoy your thread on the progress you'd been making!

 

They also have players who are good in the air and ones who can whip in a decent ball.

 

Spezia are gonna survive but the whole situation there is utterly baffling, they don't use my routines and I've never met any of the coaching staff (even remotely) and can't even organise a meeting to show them my research and what I do. The result is some of the worst metrics in the league.

Casa Pia are looking good for promotion into the top division in Portugal, set-piece metrics are some of the best in the league.

SonderjyskE are sadly looking dead and buried and are 9 points off safety with 7 games to go, but on a personal level we've again got some of the best set-piece metrics in the league, with 30% of our goals coming from set-pieces.

 

Great crest they’ve got, though!