Inability to convert corners?

[pea]

A couple of seasons ago we were devestating from corners, I seem to remember both our goals coming from Bikey headers in our first home game back in the Championship (Plymouth?) and we just went on from there scoring from a corner once every 2 or 3 games?!

[pedant]It was Sonko[/pedant]

Then we started letting Shunt aim all his corners and the defender on the front post and nothing ever happened, and we've been crap from corners since, although since the turn of the year we've generally been better, until yesterday

[Maguire]

tbf although we clearly do score from corners every now and again, from the moment John Mackie scored a header in a 3-2 win over Bristol City back in, I dunno, 2001, we went forever and a day until the next time. I was ridiculous - two years or something.

as mentioned by others - mostly corners don't result in goals so it's perhaps unsurprising that none of our 20 were converted. Poor delivery doesn't help, of course.

[Hoop Blah]

I think Harte was finding his range yesterday, having not taken corners for us so far. He scored with a free-kick, so I'm not overly bothered that his corners weren't great.

Finding his range? What exactly is so different taking them for us than his other clubs?

The problem yesterday was that we just kept trying the same near post corner for Kebe to flick on. It wasn't working and needed it to be mixed up a not more.

[Millsy]

I wonder if the unsettled nature of the squad is a contributory factor.

Set piece training requires a somewhat stable squad where you know the strengths of players and can work out a few good routines and practise them over and over.

Having different players each time (for whatever reason) makes it difficult.

Eg/ yesterday Pearce no longer playing but Kish instead. And Harte instead of Howard taking corners

Just an idea

[Terminal Boardom]

How many target men do we have in and around the box these days? Considering the number of goals we concede from corners may suggest that this could be one of the reasons behind the poor conversion rate.

[shaka's shorts]

Harte's delivery, not just corners, also crosses and free kicks was terrible. Maybe he should just go for goal every time as the one he scored was perfect!!! It is criminal to hit the first defender and I recxkon he did that more than 50% of the time...

[Sarah Star]

Not sure it made much difference when he got it right tbh.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

How many target men do we have in and around the box these days? Considering the number of goals we concede from corners may suggest that this could be one of the reasons behind the poor conversion rate.

I quoted stats from an offical study which found only 2.7% of corners result in a goal (14 goals from 513 corners studied), so is there anything to actually suggest we are bad at them, compared to that statistic, or have we just found something to add to the ever-growing list of things that Reading FC are the worst at?

[Snowball]

2.7% equals a goal scored once every 37 corners


If that is REALLY the standard conversion rate, I'm shocked.

It suggests that the bog-standard corner is almost a waste of time
and short corners etc would be a better option.



But surely the number of corners awarded indicates the amount of genuine pressure exerted?

[Hoop Blah]

Harte's delivery, not just corners, also crosses and free kicks was terrible. Maybe he should just go for goal every time as the one he scored was perfect!!! It is criminal to hit the first defender and I recxkon he did that more than 50% of the time...

It looked like he was getting it pretty much right but that we were aiming for a near post flick on too often.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

2.7% equals a goal scored once every 37 corners


If that is REALLY the standard conversion rate, I'm shocked.

It suggests that the bog-standard corner is almost a waste of time
and short corners etc would be a better option.

It doesn't, as they would surely still be counted as corners.

But surely the number of corners awarded indicates the amount of genuine pressure exerted?

Usually, yes, but we have a pretty big aversion to stats in the sport, probably because the ones we have aren't very meaningful, and no thought appears to be applied to thinking how meaningless stats could be calculated differently to actually make them indicative of a team applying pressure.

You do get people talking about shots on/off target as if a shot on target is a better chance than one off target, even if the ones on target could be tame easily saved efforts from distance.

[Snowball]

According to stats posted we should expect to score a goal every 37 corners

We have had 75 corners this season and scored 3 goals from them

Kebe at Portsmouth, Mills v Northampton, Mills at Leicester

So we are scoring 1 every 25 corners, much BETTER than average!!!!!!


22 corners 0 goals Won 3-0 Barnsley
14 corners 0 goals Won 1-0 Torquay
O8 corners 1 goals Drew 3-3 Northampton (Mills)
06 corners 0 goals Drew 0-0 Millwall
06 corners 0 goals Lost 1-3 Boro
05 corners 0 goals Won 3-0 Palace
05 corners 1 goals Won 2-1 Leicester (Mills)
05 corners 1 goals Drew 1-1 Portsmouth (Kebe)
04 corners 0 goals Lost 1-2 Scunthorpe

75 corners 3 goals

[Snowball]

Rev, I wasn't saying that short corners would change the corner-count but that they MIGHT create a higher percentage of goals..

We already know from stats that corners are not particularly productive.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Its the simple things that annoy me.

No-one is ever on the back post for when the ball goes over.

Rarely does anyone go to the near post.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Rev, I wasn't saying that short corners would change the corner-count but that they MIGHT create a higher percentage of goals..

A goal from a short corner would have been counted in the study, I'd have thought, so you'd really need stats to measure whether short corners are more productive than conventional ones.

So yes, they might be more productive, or they might not. That doesn't make a solid basis for suggesting we take more short corners.

[Snowball]

We have defended 64 corners and conceded 3 goals PLUS another goal when Hamer double-dropped the ball, so I guess that's four goals



So 139 corners in Reading games have produced 7 goals, 1 in 20 = 5%

Almost twice the rate found in that "official" stat.

If you exclude the Hamer-error goal then opps score a goal every 21 corners
and we score one ever 25.

[Snowball]

Rev, I wasn't saying that short corners would change the corner-count but that they MIGHT create a higher percentage of goals..

A goal from a short corner would have been counted in the study, I'd have thought, so you'd really need stats to measure whether short corners are more productive than conventional ones.

So yes, they might be more productive, or they might not. That doesn't make a solid basis for suggesting we take more short corners.

You did see the word "MIGHT" in my original post?

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Rev, I wasn't saying that short corners would change the corner-count but that they MIGHT create a higher percentage of goals..

A goal from a short corner would have been counted in the study, I'd have thought, so you'd really need stats to measure whether short corners are more productive than conventional ones.

So yes, they might be more productive, or they might not. That doesn't make a solid basis for suggesting we take more short corners.

You did see the word "MIGHT" in my original post?

I did. We might score more goals if we had more left-footed players, but I wouldn't put it forward as a suggestion unless I thought there's a decent reason for thinking it true.

[Avon Royal]

Rev, I wasn't saying that short corners would change the corner-count but that they MIGHT create a higher percentage of goals...

The first rule of football is that short corners NEVER work.

[Snowball]

Rev, I wasn't saying that short corners would change the corner-count but that they MIGHT create a higher percentage of goals...

The first rule of football is that short corners NEVER work.

Wasn't Pompey's goal against us from a short corner?