Corner Watch

[percy_freeman]

Tim Dellor tweeted we had 142 corners and not scored from anyof them before yesterday. Well, 154 now! Must be some sort of record....

[Royal_jimmy]

The Pog scored the last one in the league at Fulham. Before that it was Cooper at Norwich.

[Sanguine]

Impressive stuff. Would help if some beat the first man.

The ball into Ola John was promising, he turned his man a couple of times. Our crossing is abysmal.

[Sutekh]

The Pog scored the last one in the league at Fulham. Before that it was Cooper at Norwich.

I would estimate we've probably had about 200 corners in the league since that Fulham game without scoring. Certainly this season we're up to 154 crap corners...

Does anyone know how many corners we had in the league last season between Fulham (a) and the end of 2014/2015?

[72 bus]

We won't score many from corners while our 6ft 2in leading scorer is taking them.
Just one of the many things that leave me shaking my head when watching Reading play, along with the inability to take a quick throw in and HRK being played as a central striker.

[Sutekh]

We won't score many from corners while our 6ft 2in leading scorer is taking them.
Just one of the many things that leave me shaking my head when watching Reading play, along with the inability to take a quick throw in and HRK being played as a central striker.

Thought, we might be up for a change on Saturday with Cooper able to partake.....

Don't worry I'm not holding my breath over it.

[72 bus]

Thought, we might be up for a change on Saturday with Cooper able to partake.....

Don't worry I'm not holding my breath over it.

This is Reading, Cooper will probably be taking the corners.

[SCIAG]

along with the inability to take a quick throw in

This was much better on Monday. Vydra made great runs that our throw in takers picked out a few times.

Tshibola is the other one who makes himself available. Whilst I don't think we should be picking teams just to help keep possession at throw ins, we'll look stronger when he's in.

wrt. corners, we should go back to hitting it to the far post for Pearce to head back across goal. It actually worked better than this.

In all seriousness, I think part of it is that our centre backs aren't as good at scoring goals as in past years (McShane gets one goal every 20 matches, Hector one every 19, Ferdinand one every 64!; Pearce gets one every 14, Morrison one in nine, Gorkss one in 12). Norwood and Quinn are both good at delivery, although Blackman and McCleary aren't really.

[Royal_jimmy]

along with the inability to take a quick throw in

This was much better on Monday. Vydra made great runs that our throw in takers picked out a few times.

In all seriousness, I think part of it is that our centre backs aren't as good at scoring goals as in past years (McShane gets one goal every 20 matches, Hector one every 19, Ferdinand one every 64!; Pearce gets one every 14, Morrison one in nine, Gorkss one in 12). Norwood and Quinn are both good at delivery, although Blackman and McCleary aren't really.

Fair point about having centre halves who score less goals. The fact that the majority of our corners are either over hit or don't beat the first man doesn't help.

[Moonfish]

Is this really such a weakness in the team, or is it just an anomaly that will work itself out over time?

Studies have shown that a football team can expect to score roughly one in 70 corners (far fewer than many of us might think!) and so whilst our current spell is certainly poor, is it really the end of the world that we are perhaps two goals shy of the norm?

[CountryRoyal]

Is this really such a weakness in the team, or is it just an anomaly that will work itself out over time?

Studies have shown that a football team can expect to score roughly one in 70 corners (far fewer than many of us might think!) and so whilst our current spell is certainly poor, is it really the end of the world that we are perhaps two goals shy of the norm?

The problem is more complicated than just "not scoring" our deliveries are terrible and assuming they aren't over hit and also beat the first man, they are normally defended easily and we fail to keep up the pressure...etc

[3points]

I was watching our "set up" for corners yesterday and it's a bit all over the place really. Watching other teams, they have a definite plan (sometimes you see everyone stood together, etc). Yesterday, we had three players inside the six yard box, and only McShane and Hector attacking the ball. Williams and Norwood / an other stood on the outside of the box to get the second ball. It's too easy to defend against when only two people are looking to win the headers. Other teams create a lot more confusion/distraction in the box, with players screening or blocking defenders. Not once did I see that happen in the second half yesterday when we attacked the North Stand.

[Royal_jimmy]

Since Pogs goal when we lost 2-1 away to Fulham we have had 278 corners without scoring a single one in a league match.

I hope the Reading team are reading this!

[CountryRoyal]

I just want to see someone come up with some stats on the percentage of our throw ins that go to the other team, or at least they win the ball back from within seconds.

[Moonfish]

I just want to see someone come up with some stats on the percentage of our throw ins that go to the other team, or at least they win the ball back from within seconds.

I'd love to see this stat too.

Not only do we lack movement from a throw in, but we seem to take an absolute age at getting the ball back into play anyway! Are we slowing it down to catch a breather, or are we just absolute pony at it?

I remember under Pardew how quickly we'd get the ball back into play, catching teams off-guard, using our superior fitness to play the high tempo game, those were the days lol!

Of course getting multi-ball back would also help speed up this aspect of the game in general.

[russyb]

throw ins lately are so annoying. we take an absolute age to take it, there is no movement from the players at all, and then 80 per cent of the time we give it straight back to the opposition.

As for corners.....ggggggrrrrrrh.

definitely Brian needs time to work on these type of things on the training ground.

[Sutekh]

Since Pogs goal when we lost 2-1 away to Fulham we have had 278 corners without scoring a single one in a league match.

I hope the Reading team are reading this!

As many as 278

Wonder if that's a record.....

Perhaps we should have a countdown/countup somewhere on the scoreboard just in case we manage to ever score one at home again.

Crossing my mind that the last one we scored in a league game at home was Simon Cox in the 3-2 win v Millwall last season?

[CountryRoyal]

I just want to see someone come up with some stats on the percentage of our throw ins that go to the other team, or at least they win the ball back from within seconds.

Are we slowing it down to catch a breather,

Actually that's a really good point and something I hadn't considered. A lot of the connotations of the Reading way and our style of play had as much to do with fitness as it did desire and willingness. Our habit of late goals and such were a combination of the aforementioned things but fitness being a huge factor, we could just go on for longer than the opposition.

There is also that sentiment that the fitter you are the less likely you are to suffer injuries, problem which has miraculously plagued us since relegation when before we had few.

There must be a tangible reason why we are so crap at them. It's so frustrating seeing on of our players free 2 metres in the wrong direction, but then Gunter decides to just launch it 5 metres up the field where we lose it.

[Rollerbob]

Not sure if its all that terrible or not. Here's some handy corner stats:

On average, 1 in 13 corners results in a shot on goal.

On average, when there is a shot on goal from a corner, only 1 in 13 actually goes in the net.

Now, I can't be arsed to actually do the math and work out whether that makes Reading terrible at corners, or just average.

[3points]

Corners were awful today. Not one gave Cooper a chance with a header