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James Brayne - Set Piece Coach


Bangkok Blackcat said:
That is nonsense. His set pieces were reasonable we just weren't able to make the most of them.
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His corners were poor mind. His free kicks were usually alright - mainly the ones where he had a shot at goal.

Xhaka is on another level entirely obviously.
Shack said:
Interesting that we didn't deploy the long throw against Forest (from what I recall). Good to mix that up and not become predictable, keeps the opposition guessing. Bet they spent all week practising defending long throws!
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Fair few absolute giants at Forest. Would have struggled with them without Ballard anyways.
 
Summer Bee said:
There was another one where Xhaka subtlely pointed up while moving his finger up past his eye. They seem to have pre-rehearsed movements and plays going into the games
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Aye. I don’t think the free kick taker and potential scorer have any contact at all. I think the potential scorer and middleman decide and middleman signals to the taker. It’s getting more n more NFL isn’t it? Specialist coaches, signals etc.
How long before the dead ball taker starts shouting play codes?
 
The Situation said:
Perhaps one of our best and most important signings in the summer window?

I remember when he was appointed that the Charlton fans online were absolutely gutted he was leaving which is always a good sign.

We've looked a constant threat on every set piece and comfortable on them defensively.

So much so that we have 2 centre backs (Ballard and Alderete) in the top 3 of our overall non-penalty xG created and 4 defenders in our top 9 overall!

Between the set piece delivery, clever routines (did anyone catch Le Fee's little nod to Xhaka before he put the ball on a player for Alderete?), the execution, and the addition of actually being a threat from throw-ins in comparison to constantly giving possession away on them, it's clear that there has been a marked improvement in this regard this season.

Set pieces are massive opportunities especially for a side like us who admittedly don't create many chances from open play and long may it continue.
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Yep noticed the wink and nod from Le Fee who had taken the previous free kick but this one favoured a left footer and what a great delivery from Xhaka
 
riffraff said:
Aye. I don’t think the free kick taker and potential scorer have any contact at all. I think the potential scorer and middleman decide and middleman signals to the taker. It’s getting more n more NFL isn’t it? Specialist coaches, signals etc.
How long before the dead ball taker starts shouting play codes?
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If it works i don't mind if they use gestures, play codes, smoke signals. Owt really
 
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The Situation said:
Perhaps one of our best and most important signings in the summer window?

I remember when he was appointed that the Charlton fans online were absolutely gutted he was leaving which is always a good sign.

We've looked a constant threat on every set piece and comfortable on them defensively.

So much so that we have 2 centre backs (Ballard and Alderete) in the top 3 of our overall non-penalty xG created and 4 defenders in our top 9 overall!

Between the set piece delivery, clever routines (did anyone catch Le Fee's little nod to Xhaka before he put the ball on a player for Alderete?), the execution, and the addition of actually being a threat from throw-ins in comparison to constantly giving possession away on them, it's clear that there has been a marked improvement in this regard this season.

Set pieces are massive opportunities especially for a side like us who admittedly don't create many chances from open play and long may it continue.
Click to expand...
Hes done a good job but i sometimes wonder why nobody has broken the mould of these set plays they all appear to be a variation on the theme !ideas like for a corner keep one player up next to the goalie but have 3-4 outside the box in motion before the ball is kicked running into the box with a pre determined plan for which one the kicker aims at ..its bloody hard to mark a running player and a a static defender has a disadvantage......or having the majority of your attacking players well past the far post running towards the ball as it comes into box ...there are so many permutations but there appears to be an inertia to trying something different!
 
He’s doing a brilliant job - by overloading the back post and having our big lads attack it, you have the keeper and defenders going backwards which is always hard. It’s far easier to defend a ball coming towards you than over your head.
 
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The Situation said:
Perhaps one of our best and most important signings in the summer window?

I remember when he was appointed that the Charlton fans online were absolutely gutted he was leaving which is always a good sign.

We've looked a constant threat on every set piece and comfortable on them defensively.

So much so that we have 2 centre backs (Ballard and Alderete) in the top 3 of our overall non-penalty xG created and 4 defenders in our top 9 overall!

Between the set piece delivery, clever routines (did anyone catch Le Fee's little nod to Xhaka before he put the ball on a player for Alderete?), the execution, and the addition of actually being a threat from throw-ins in comparison to constantly giving possession away on them, it's clear that there has been a marked improvement in this regard this season.

Set pieces are massive opportunities especially for a side like us who admittedly don't create many chances from open play and long may it continue.
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Tbh I hadn’t given it any thought beyond acknowledging that we have added two more enormous slabs of beef in Mukiele and Alderete to what we already had in Dan Ballard and so we are always going to be more of a threat with two of them on the pitch.

You make a good point though.
 
riffraff said:
Aye. I don’t think the free kick taker and potential scorer have any contact at all. I think the potential scorer and middleman decide and middleman signals to the taker. It’s getting more n more NFL isn’t it? Specialist coaches, signals etc.
How long before the dead ball taker starts shouting play codes?
Click to expand...

Tbf they have been shouting codes in roy of the rovers since the 80s. Just surprised it took real life so long to catch up
 
Shack said:
Interesting that we didn't deploy the long throw against Forest (from what I recall). Good to mix that up and not become predictable, keeps the opposition guessing. Bet they spent all week practising defending long throws!
Click to expand...
They have a strong spine to the team. If Mukiele is taking the throw, I don't think we have enough of a threat to make it worth doing. Maybe if Ballard was on
 
I do wonder how much of this is more just logic and us having a very good set piece taker and loads of big lads for the first time in years. Designing a good set piece play/setup is surely the easy part.

The set piece coach feels like a fad to me - that said, I can't complain with the results at the minute.
 
FulwellViaLeeds said:
I do wonder how much of this is more just logic and us having a very good set piece taker and loads of big lads for the first time in years. Designing a good set piece play/setup is surely the easy part.
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If it was easy, every team with a decent dead ball taker and a few big lads (every premier team) would be scoring goals for fun.
 
I’ve said for years that the reason we were poor at defending set pieces was that we were practicing against poor deliveries.
Now that we’ve got players who can put a good ball in, our defence is practicing against quality balls and will improve accordingly.
Add in innovative coaches and we’re seeing this pay off in games at both ends
 
woodlebert said:
If it was easy, every team with a decent dead ball taker and a few big lads (every premier team) would be scoring goals for fun.
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Okay - let's change 'big lads' to 'players who are good in the air'.

Just from watching us this season, we win a lot of aerials both in open play and set pieces. We have outmatched a number of teams physically. And not every team has a set piece taker as good as Xhaka.
 
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