If Brady is on the pitch there's no need for Hourihane to be there too. That's my general assessment. And generally speaking I'd prefer to have Brady on, probably in midfield. In a wide forward role, he's a bit too one-paced for my liking.
If Brady is on the pitch there's no need for Hourihane to be there too. That's my general assessment. And generally speaking I'd prefer to have Brady on, probably in midfield. In a wide forward role, he's a bit too one-paced for my liking.
I agree totallyQuote:
Originally Posted by irishfan86
Yes i was glad Duffy looked a total different player, he tries to accurate his passing in an attacking sense, overhit a few at grass level, but an improvement.
I think Hourihane is getting going as well as a Glenn Whelan replacement, his link between defence and attack has been very good, he still plays a few luxury passes that can be intercepted, should play it simpler, but he is doing v good
You're making this point repeatedly, but what are you actually basing it on? Kenny has spoken specifically about wanting us to keep the attributes we're good at. After Duffy's goal in Bulgaria he made the point that we hadn't scored from a corner (presumably in competitive matches) since Daryl Murphy in 2017, so it's clearly something he's conscious of.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
He had James McCarthy on some of the set pieces against Slovakia, not saying this was a good idea, but obviously a bit of thought had gone into it at the very least. They seemed to be generally lofted towards their inexperienced keeper, obviously trying to expose any potential weakness there. He was very well protected from the referee though it has to be said. We almost forced an own goal from Hamsik with another from Hourihane.
I think it was well documented that MON didn't pay any special attention to working on set pieces. Under Mick we scored, I make it, three goals from set pieces in his ten games in charge, two which came in friendlies against pretty weak opposition. I don't think the strategy was ever anything more creative than whipping towards Duffy anyway, so what are we abandoning exactly?
How can you abandon set pieces anyway? "No thanks ref, we don't want this corner. We'd prefer to score from sexy football so can you please award the goal kick instead."
Teams should not accepts goals unless the have outstanding merit of at least 8.9 or more !Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I haven’t noticed a difference really. Hourihane and Brady are delivering good balls, especially from free kicks, the one Hamsik almost put in his own net springs to mind. Also the free that Duffy slid at.
In the last two games, we’ve given up loads of free kicks from corners, like the one where Duffy got punched in the head and got a free against him. I don’t really think that’s our fault though. Like the free for Randolph yesterday, it’s a case of bad refereeing. Don’t think Randolph actually fouled Ampadu but it definitely wasn’t a free out... Duffy, Long, Hourihane, Hendrick have all been penalised challenging for headers...
Literally the only goal we've scored under Kenny has come from a corner.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Well, maybe not abandon, but I’m sure a coach can get his players to play the ball quickly/short to feet to catch teams out rather than take more traditional set pieces.
That said I haven’t seen us do much of that. We are taking our time to set up free kicks and corners and getting the ball into dangerous areas.
Kenny's Dundalk team were meticulous from attacking and defending set pieces. It was one of the main ways they scored. There's absolutely no evidence he hasn't been coaching them either.
I didn't actually say that any evidence was provided to say he hasnt spent time on set pieces, i was more stating that he has limited time with the players and it appears that most of the time has been spent on the press, organisation without the ball and passing. My suggestion was that the set pieces could have become less important and less emphasis spent on them. The suggestion then came from PassingInterest that after MON(Michael not Martin) left rovers when kenny came in they noticed he spent much less time on things that he spent on and (rovers)had been better at. I have no idea if thats true, but i found it interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Going back the last year or so under Mick i remember 3 goals coming from direct crosses(2 from mcclean i think? 1 from lee O'connor) and 4 from set pieces, i cant really remember the others if i'm honest bar the ones byrne had a hand in and the collins finish. So if my memory is correct we had 4 from set pieces:
Duffy v Denmark
Long v Bulgaria
Hourihane freekick
williams v new zealand
To me thats a considerable amount considering we scored so little. Now there is another question to be asked, is it just purely that hourihane and brady are not consistent enough, or have we not practiced particular deliveries because more often than not over the last couple of games theyve been very poor. And in hourihanes case i thought the whole point of playing him was for his left foot and set piece delivery.
The Hourihane free kick is irrelevant I think. 25 yards from goal we'd do the same again. I doubt Hourihane's goal vs Georgia at home was due to any specific 25 yard free kick practice, more down to Hourihane being a 25 yard free kick specialist.
We have two decent set piece takers but Brady is very erratic.
Two of the above crosses were supplied by Byrne and the equaliser in Denmark was Judge - players yet to play under Kenny. Judge probably never will. Just good balls attacked by good headers of the ball. Brady and Hourihane's corners are notoriously frustrating regardless of manager.
We're already 1 set piece goal from 4 games.
So no real evidence of anything yet imho. I think if Hourihane wasn't a good set piece taker he'd struggle to make the team tbh.
You could argue that Byrne's omission supports your case because Byrne has been very accurate with his corners for club and country. If we had a last minute corner with Duffy & co up from the back I know who of Byrne, Brady & Hourihane I'd want taking it.
Less important and less emphasis than when though? Did you think the set pieces looked better rehearsed under MON/Mick than they do now? Other than scoring a couple more over a much longer time frame I really don't see your point.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Well I said three in ten, I didn't count Hourihane's as it's a direct shot on goal, hardly the kind of set piece we're discussing here? We scored 13 in total under Mick, three from set piece crosses, not that high a percentage really, 23%. SK is on 100% currently. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Goals from crosses is another discussion surely but we really should have had at least one on Sunday, Long's definitely and even Horgan's was a reasonable chance.
It feels like being up on a cross waiting for a goal !
Sean pass me that before the next game, thanks.
Thread bumped, locked, and archived