A big issue for us agreed giving that they really go he'll for leather attacking set pieces is a big worry. They're really going to have to man up defence wise. Would be interesting to see how many of their goals this season have come from set pieces.
Wait a minute - so is it the Millwall game which is going to "define the season", or both the Millwall and Luton games which are going to "define the season"? Because your first two sentences suggest the latter, but your final sentence suggests the former. This is the kind of nonsensical hyperbole which hornetboy usually comes up with.
The next 2 games. If we lose to Millwall we can’t get 4-6 points can we? Given the favourable results for other fancied teams the last two weeks and the fact we are somehow only 5 points off top I think the next two games will reveal how the spirit and application is in the camp. You may not agree but you don’t need to be your usual unpleasant self,
What if we lose to Millwall, but then beat Luton and go on an unbeaten run until the World Cup break? Because I'm more concerned about Millwall away than our six other remaining fixtures (assuming we don't lose Louza to a long ban). They're a unique challenge given their home form and set-piece prowess so I can't see how the game could be potentially indicative of the season.
They've scored the most goals in the division from set-pieces with 10. That's 3 goals more than even the next team who are Sheffield Utd with 7. 10 of Millwall's 15 goals have come from set-pieces, and 7 of those 10 were at home from 7 home games. They're 4th in the table on points at home and average 1 goal per game from set-pieces alone at home, so it's almost inevitable we'll concede at least one.
Couldn’t bring myself to feel much in the way of optimism after the Norwich game. We’ve seen far too many false dawns in the past couple of years, and watched this same group of players repeatedly follow up better performances with absolute shyte in their next outing. Winning the next two would go some way to restoring confidence that we can find success this season.
As @lowerrous said, they've scored 10, the highest in the league although broken down they've scored 3 from corners, 2 from direct free kicks and 5 from indirect FKs. 5 goals from indirect FKs at this stage of the season is crazy (for comparison Luton scored the most from indirect FKs last season and scored 7) From corners we can see that they often target the back of the 6-yard area and have a good win rate of winning the ball there. This is a direct weakness of our defensive system as you can see from the picture of our defensive setup against Blackpool - we have no zonal cover in this area and therefore there's a LOT of space there for Millwall to attack. Free kick strategy seems to be similar - back post or penalty spot area looks to be the target areas
Well that should well and truly kill any posters' confidence that we are going to win this one !! If only we had a set-piece coach to combat this sort of thing.
Not that my opinion matters a jot but I do listen to you seasoned veterans on here and appreciate all of your opinions and ideas I am hoping for a victory Wednesday night and again on Sunday making my trip up with the family for the Luton game worthwhile. I am spending to much time scouring the net for injury updates and also hoping Imran Louza is cleared of the alleged incident. Come on Watford you owe us a string of victories
It's getting more popular in the Championship - Norwich, QPR, Swansea all definitely have a set-piece coach. I know Middlesbrough were advertising for a set-piece analyst over the summer (but not sure they actually found one) and I know Blackburn are after a set-piece coach or analyst as well (as they asked me ) but don't think they've found one either. Seems demand for decent set-piece staff is outnumbering the actual amount of specialists!
That’s only true since they constructed the walkway that directly connects the away end to the train station. When the ground was first built you had to go down to street level, walk along the road and then up again into the station. Just as dodgy as leaving the old Den.
Almost 10 years ago we beat a much fancied Leicester side 2-1 off the back of two dour defeats. Something clicked that night and the players who looked quality individually finally played as a team. I remember immediately sticking £10 ew @ 40/1 on us for the title (we were in a worse position than we are now). Managed to bag a few quid for 3rd. The two fixtures which followed the Leicester game were a 0-0 midweek draw with Millwall then the infamous 6-1 demolition of Leeds in their back yard. I’ll take those two scores in the next two games thank you very much.
After Saturday evening's performance it's clear the players do actually know and understand what they need to do to gain points in this division. Okay, so Norwich under Dean Smith are not the sturdiest of opposition but the first half was excellent and in the second Watford did the ugly work of seeing it out. Wednesday, and Sunday, will be a different proposition because both Millwall and Luton will fight for everything and make it uncomfortable from the first minute. Random old memories of Millwall – my one and only trip to the old Den on Boxing Day 1991. We won 4-0. Steve Butler, who hadn't scored for ages, got two. We were in a little pen in the away end, fenced in. The Millwall fans were not happy and rushed across the terrace towards us. We were 'safe' in our pen but it was still pretty terrifying. Anyone else remember that? Opening day of the 1992-93 season – first match after Fifa banned back passes to the goalkeeper. There were a few moments when both goalkeepers looked a bit dodgy having to use their feet. We won 3-1. October 1993 – two miserable trips to the New Den in five days. Lost 4-1 there on the Saturday and then lost 4-3 in extra time in a league cup tie second leg. David Holdsworth and Paul Furlong were both sent off that night too. December 1995 – we were in the bottom three, Millwall were top of the table. We won 2-1 – Kevin Phillips with both goals. At the end of the season, we went down – as did Millwall. March 1997 – One of the very few occasions I've been on the receiving end of violence at an away game. We were held back by the police outside the ground. The Millwall fans were making disgraceful comments towards Sky's SoccerAM presenter Helen Chamberlain, who had been in the away end that day. As the police were preparing to let us go, I clocked three man-thumbs in their 40s (a good 20+ years older than me at the time) sizing up my mate and I. Once in the back streets looking for our car, two of them cut in front of us and the other walked behind us. They asked us the usual idiotic question: "Who's Millwall's left back?" My mate made it clear we weren't the sort who wanted any trouble. One of the manthumbs threw a punch so lame, my mate caught it in his palm and spun him away. We both then ran off, easily outrunning the tubby geezers, and getting safely back to the car. January 1 2002 – New Year's Day. Lost 1-4 at home. Neil Harris had not long returned to football after treatment for testicular cancer. He came on as a sub and scored their 4th. The Watford fans gave him a decent round of applause for that, which was a nice moment. Funniest moment was after the game, walking up Occupation Road, when my mate said: "You know what? I'm starting to think Vialli's not a very good manager."
Your mate was right, he wasn't very good. He was bloody awful. Filled our side with PL rejects like Ramond Vega, spent all our money on their wages and amounted a massive squad that we just could not afford. Gino isn't much better in that regard, but there was a reason the emocion on this forum was a devil head at one time when you entered his name. Worst part is, he was hired to follow on the legacy of GT after his retirement (before Villa) and took us to the verge of extinction (not helped with the ITV Digital collapse of course). One of the few manager's I was glad to see the back off, as well as Slithers.
Going to the old Den on club coaches was absolutely stupid too. Getting escorted onto the coaches and then sitting there for like an hour waiting until the police moved them on. This was after they smashed us 5-2 aswell!
Indeed – my view from the very start, but there were plenty of fans in January 2002 who still thought that if the squad 'gelled' Vialli would get a tune out of them.
Oh my god the sideways football we played was worse than anything I've seen in my life. I'm convinced the sheer boredom of one game finished off at least 20 in the upper Rous....
How do you become a set piece coach? Is it something that people who are not good enough to be coaches of everything do or is it something selected by the individual like a medical student deciding to be a proctologist?
Never interviewed for the job GT told me. The board were star struck. I remember " we are darn to de bare bons" and GV calling Smith "Smudger" which sounded as odd in his accent as the first statement!
I well remember that 4-3 League Cup game. We were seconds away from an outrageous victory, despite the two sendings off (I think Millwall had one), at 3-2 up. Just as the stadium clock ticked down to zero, Millwall equalised to send it to extra time. The scorer? Jamie Moralee.
I think this is a very important point. Some of our players, especially at the back, are just not comfortable on the ball. They get flustered easily. I think we have done better against "footballing teams" because we have a little bit more time on the ball when in possession. Hardworking teams like Millwall and the scum are a totally different proposition. The transition from defence to attack is going to be crucial. If we can move the ball quickly and accurately then we have a great chance. For that we need a lot of movement and hard work from the defence and midfield so that options are always available to the player with the ball. We definitely have the quality to win games like this but we have to match their work rate to do it.
Personally (not really sure how other specialists got into it) I saw it as a shortcut - I started 5.5 years ago, there were barely any set-piece specialists then. I knew I wanted to work in the game but with few contacts I knew it would be very very hard. I knew analysis/coaching departments in football teams were growing so I looked at what would likely be in demand in a few years time. Set-pieces made the most sense so I started writing blogs on set-pieces to teach myself. Within 6 months I was working (as a volunteer) at a professional football team and basically went from there. Maybe I could've been a "proper" coach, but even if I was superb at it I'd be nowhere near the level I am now!
