30 Jan 2014 23:53:31
Im a huge supporter of Martinez. I can see exactly what he's trying to do and other than a few games, this season has been an absolute joy to watch. I think the players are still adapting and as time goes on they can only improve, which is exciting given we are currently 4 points off 4th going into Feb.

But. I've noticed one fundamental flaw in the Martinez 'style' that he must address. And its time for a rant. Alarm bells started ringing early on when he uttered the words that he doesn't like set pieces and that he would sooner lose playing well rather than win playing ugly. The latter I believe is just his media bravado. His way of saying he's a manager whose teams play attractive attacking football. Of course he would rather win the game and take the 3 points. The former. Set pieces. i'm not so sure.

For me, there is enough evidence to suggest that set pieces, especially attacking corners, are not something Martinez places much emphasis on in training. Yes we have seen some great strikes from Baines, Barkley and a Mirallas from free kicks within shooting distance. But the way we treat corners in matches is worrying. let's get something straight. Corners are vital in football. How many massive games have been won by a corner? Kompany v Utd to win the league, Drogba v Bayern to equalise in the Champions League, Solskjaer to win Utd the Champions League are just a few that spring to mind. My point is, teams at the highest level often cancel each other out. What determines these matches is often tireless efforts on the training ground on 3 or 4 routines. The taker must place the ball in exactly the right area. The team must be running in unison creating the space, and the attacker must win the header and get it on target or into the area where the runners are. All of this must be synchronised. It's not easy. Luck plays a big part. But practice plays a bigger part.

Right now, I don't think the players attacking our corners have a clue where the ball is going to go, let alone where they should run. This is where I give Mr Rogers huge credit. He clearly places great importance on set pieces. And they are clever set pieces. We know only too well. The sort that sees Coutinho unmarked to slot in from a few yards. They had a lot of of corners on Tuesday and each one looked carefully planned and very dangerous. Surprise surprise the capitulation started from conceding our 4th straight goal v Liverpool from a set piece. Ours on the other hand. I honestly don't think there is any routine. Its like they just wing it and see what happens.

Gerard Deulofeu has been quoted as saying that when Everton win a corner, it sounds like they have scored a goal. This kind of sums up the Spanish attitude to corners. It's just a corner. Nothing to get excited about. But there is a reason our crowd gets pumped up when we win a corner. Its a great chance to score a goal. We've unhooked the strap and its time to take a peek. They say the crowd sucks the ball into the net. Right now, when we win a corner or a set piece too far to shoot, I sigh. I have no faith we will score. Its cautious optimism at best. I've not liked what I've seen.

I really want to believe that Martinez is not this naive. I want to believe that we spend hours practicing attacking and defending set pieces and that we haven't quite got it right yet.

1.) 31 Jan 2014
I have read and I agree set piece moves have undone us a lot this year but surely the players are drilled on this you mention coutinho at goodison barkley was his man marker but got caught ball watching barry at anfield let himself get blocked off and ends up getting lukaku injured its no good on a training ground were you can stop the play and go back in a game its either perfect or not any amount of coaching cannot cancel out human error we all do it day in day out at our place of work but because we are not in the public eye we do not get panned for it oh and by the way a set piece goal from a certain roberto martinez team won the fa cup in may 2013 let's hope it repeats its in may2014 coyb

2.) 31 Jan 2014
Hey Oli, I know we don't always see eye to eye, but on this one we are agreed. I put a post on 2 days ago more or less saying the same thing. Unfortunately my name did not go with it for some reason? Anyway, I agree with most of what you say Oli Jennings. However, I would add that in my humble view, our delivery of corners is absolutely terrible. We either tend to drill corners directly to the keeper and he catches it or more commonly have a right footer taking the right sided corners and a left footer taking the left corners. Thus meaning our corners swing out away from goal. These are so easy to defend. I have been saying for weeks that I can't actually remember the last time we scored from a corner. We have 60% odd possession every game. We pass it round lovely. We win corners then it gets cleared.down the other end and we concede. Yet when a team gets a corner against us, it's a real panic to defend.
ALL the other top teams regularly score from corners. and I mean regularly. We do not. It is a problem and I trust RM knows about it and once rectified we will start scoring from them. Our free kicks are as good as anyones, so it is not about quality of player. It is a tactical thing. If we could convert our possession to goals, we would be top of the league or near abouts.
Degsypulford

3.) 31 Jan 2014
Was a bit of a pointless rant really. Should have just said why the hell can't we look even slightly threatening from a corner. Which I see we clearly agree on! I wasn't aware we hadn't seen eye to eye in the past Degsy!? Not from my end anyway!