At 6’ 4” and built like the Free Derry Wall in the town he knows so well, Shane Duffy brings experience and assurance to the middle of the Celtic defence. What would have happened had he been at the club eight days earlier is imponderable.
I don’t know Shane well enough to comment on that question but I am assured by Irish friends he has been an impenetrable leader in their national team for years. He is at Celtic because his time as first choice at Brighton is over, but he is still only 28, which is the middle of the peak years for many central defenders. We have recruited a player who will be influential in the chase for 10.
The most pleasing aspect of his signature is the tactical shift another central defender gives us towards three at the back. Surely Shane, Kristoffer and Christopher will all play when fit? That being the case, I would like to see us add one more central def.: space for ‘a project’.
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Don’t they have to report for international duty and be asses by national coaches otherwise the French FA can prevent them playing next club game?
Or does that only apply to full international games.
PRESTONPANS BHOYS on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 9:42 PM
Seriously though, what exactly is so hard about taking corners?
The ball’s stationery. You’re getting a free kick at the ball without being challenged by an opponent. And you are aiming at pretty much the same target zone more or less every time.
Just feckin practice it, and keep practising it until it’s automatic.
The Shane Duffy Story just gets better….is this Covid thing going to deprive us from seeing him ‘in the flesh’ at Celtic Park this season?
God I hope not – a decade of the rosary now an essential requirement for every VST holder prior to all fixtures this season.
Duffy & Jullien will be a massive weapon at set pieces. We must work hard at deliveries which have been average at best. Ajer doesn’t win headers in either box. So the opposition can put their best header of the ball on Jullien. How do you deal with a problem like Duffy as well. This could be a Martin O’Neill type threat.
In fairness to Duffy, he said after match he was responsible for Bulgarian goal and it was sloppy defending but goes on to say he has not played much football and it was tough out there.
He definitely needs games, but when he gets them in he will be fine.
GARYGILLESPIESHAMSTRING on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 9:59 PM
Don’t they have to report for international duty and be asses by national coaches otherwise the French FA can prevent them playing next club game?
Or does that only apply to full international games.
______________________________________________________
Don’t let that get in the way of the mauling of the Celtic manager
ERNIE LYNCH on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 10:02 PM
Arsenal just hired a set-piece coach. We should do the same. I think WGS was quite into set-pieces either as manager of Celtic or Scotland.
Ernie, Prestonpans, ExPat
Seriously though, what exactly is so hard about taking corners?
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At Celtic Park (and many other stadia) the corner taker has to negotiate a run up from the ash track, then a change in surface height to attempt the kick.
If you look at our players, attempting an inswinging corner, they usually choose to avoid the change in surface by running toward the bye line , almost along the side line, attempting a kick angle close to 270 degrees.
It is amazing that they ever get a decent corner , and is not surprising that they so often fail.
What annoys me most , is that they continue to try the (almost) impossible…..failing over ,and over, and over.
The Onlooker
Forgot to add….
…we practise at Lennoxtown. The multiple pitches provide a huge expanse of flat grass, with as long a run up as we wish to take.
If we are not going to address the run up at Celtic Park….we should at least replicate the CP conditions at Lennoxtown.
The Onlooker
ernie
There are so many factors involved with corners and , especially, in scoring with them.
Charlie Gallagher used to send high floating balls for a beast like Big Billy to make his way unimpeded to meet the ball at a higher point than anyone else could manage. It worked a treat for us. Teams used to score regularly from corners.
It can’t have escaped your notice that they don’t anymore. Not just Celtic but all teams. Barca used to treat a corner as a means to restart the game and always took short ones because lumping it in was so unproductive and just an invitation for a counter attack.
Coaches got wise and, in turn , defenders were made wiser. First of all, nobody gets an easy free run any more. Defenders block and pull and grapple to prevent anyone reaching the area where the ball is heading, and they mostly get away with it.
The much maligned zonal marking (that gave rise to the frankly idiotic riposte – “Never seen a zone score a goal”) was successful in further turning the odds in favour of the defenders. The stats all showed this, at most levels of football- an organised and tuned in defence rarely lost a goal from corners, at least in first phase.
So the move was towards whipped corners- rather than a targeted area with a high float – the corner taker just tried to deliver flat and fast- so that defenders might misjudge and either miss the ball or mishead it in flight. Griff was the best at this, which is why he took so many even though some felt it was some kind of football sacrilege to leave a centre forward out of the penalty box..
This helped tip the balance a little bit in favour of the attack again but it was never going back to the easy days of the 60s and 70s when heading was King.
To swing back in favour of the defence, coaches started to move a man out from the nearest post to try to intercept the low flat ball before it entered the danger area. That’s why so many balls fail to clear the first man. It’s easy to clear the first man but not if you want the ball fast and flat- so you take your chances because high flighted balls rarely produce goals and this has been a phenomenon for over 20 years now.
Occasionally, in free play, a winger can put a stand up cross in that, if it beats the keeper, might find someone stealing in at the back post free, but, again, this rarely happens at set plays.
So, it is not always the fault of the corner-taking team. Coaches and defenders have benefited from analyses of lost goals and have coached their teams to make it harder to concede these soft goals- yes- even Celtic.
I have heard the question _ “Do we ever practise corners?” and, when I do, I assume the questioner is having a laugh becasue the alternative is that they are stupid or , at least, uninformed about how football clubs train. The answer is ” Of course they do- lots and lots of times” but while they practise to make the most of corners, other coaches are practising their squads to make them wise to any new techniques or tactics.
The general outcome, in some ways a sad one, is that goals resulting from corners are scarce these days and , when they happen, it is usually because a ref has failed to spot an infringement by a bulldozing attacker.
GARYGILLESPIESHAMSTRING on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 9:59 PM
Don’t they have to report for international duty and be asses by national coaches otherwise the French FA can prevent them playing next club game? Or does that only apply to full international games.
*helps when the national team and club doctor are one and the same with the body that runs the game being the scottish freemason association.
THE ONLOOKER
You make a valid point about the change in levels, but that there hasn’t been an ash track at Celtic Park for more than 20 years.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 11:03 PM
THE ONLOOKER
You make a valid point about the change in levels, but that there hasn’t been an ash track at Celtic Park for more than 20 years.
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Bournesouprecipe,
I was watching Jinky documentary on BBC Alba….must have influenced my terminology.
Correction….. synethic (ash coloured ) track.
Hope I don’t start a reminiscence discussion on ash parks. 😀
I was pretty good at putting a corner in the box as a left fitted corner taker.
back then, put it high, fast, the biggest fella in our team met it. or didnt.
modern day,
is it poor corners or are real sports scientist telling the team, if ryan st stivs is taking the corner stand here here and here
Yo time Tim @ 11.03
Very true
MCPHAIL BHOY on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 12:04 PM
AN TEARMANN on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 12:18 AM
MAGWAI on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 11:46 PM
I remember hearing a while back that Shane/aun’s grandmother was from Letterkenny so a fine continuation of the historical Celtic / Donegal connection.
Hail Hail.
hi mate
just glad he ìs here and is going to wear a Celtic jersey.
I don’t know of his letterkenny connection I would not be surprised if there are.:-)
strong links with the Donegal Glasgow trip as it was often made on the “Derry boat” which left shantallow. in Derry right into the Broomielaw in Glasgow.ach goin off at a tangent,our new signing represents Celtic that covers it :-)
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Yes he does have a granny in Letterkenny she lives in the ‘Burma’ an old part of Letterkenny near the Cathedral. She hung out a massive tricolour out of her window during the European Championships a few years ago, very proud of her grandson!
That great to know McPhailbhoy:-) am sure she will be well chuffed.it must be great being a fan and pulling on them hoops.(would still like to think I could still do it at 58 lol)
Thanks too for the burma area info.i was doing a bit of research a few years back found out a fee generations back relative had young wife die,he emigrated to U.S came back in later life and bought some cottages from the cathedral down to the square.
Are you.in Letterkenny?It’s kinda imprinted on my mind is 2 views as a kid go in over and back,that is the from the ‘mountain top’
and when the road from Derry meets Lough Swilly and you could look along and see the spire of the town.happy days:-)
The growth of the town has altered the view now as it’s grown from those days :-)
hail hail mate:-)
SFTB
Great post on corners there, enjoyed reading that.
AN TEARMANN on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 11:18 PM
MCPHAIL BHOY on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 12:04 PM
AN TEARMANN on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 12:18 AM
mAGWAI on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 11:46 PM
quite beautiful post.
keep it lit
SFTB
Good post with many valid points. However, it doesn’t explain the frequency with which our players place the ball directly into the goalkeeper’s arms, or simply blooter it so hard it goes out of the park untouched on the opposite side of the field. We obviously don’t have a Charlie Tully, Charlie Gallagher or Lubo Moravcik ( with the exception of Griff ) with the finesse to regularly place the ball far enough out that the keeper will not go for it, and inviting enough for a player to attack it.
Ever since the glorious days of Larsson, Sutton, Hartson, even Petrov, I have grown tired of the TV commentator’s refrain, “And the corner goes to the far post………………and there’s no one there.”
That is something that should be addressed in training. I watched Ramos today, always available beyond the goal to head the ball back to his own player while the defence is turning. Instead of Ajer virtually marking Julien, he should be the last man, ready to head an overhit corner back into the danger area. Instead, we form a human chain, easy to obstruct, where any corner hit short or long, takes out all of our players.
I was a winger, and after taking abuse from my own teammates for wasting their time advancing from defence only for me to miss them entirely, I spent a solid hour after every training session taking corners with first my right, then my left, from both sides. The incidence of poor corners fell dramatically.
While we are on the topic, I have often wondered why Forrest never takes one. Odd that.
I coach minor soccer on here, a couple of years back I had this wee blonde heided boy, Roman, he wisnae local so none of the other boys knew him. He was standing outside the box on his right side one night and the ball came out tae him, never saw a shot as hard and direct fae such a wee loddie as it nestled in the left corner.
Next corner on the left I sent him over tae in-swing it, hardly reached the box, he did though continue tae score some crackin goals, I used tae call him Roman in the gloamin, didnae really get that, nor did his Ukrainian family. Some players struggle tae hit a dead ball.
Approximately 2% of corners lead to a goal. So I reckon we might be on target (at least 2% of the time) 👍🏼
I remember watching an English team making the opposition concede a throw in rather than a corner and I was cursing them.
Then it read the book ‘The Numbers Game’ and all was revealed.
It obviously doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work on them though x
This will lead you to similar findings…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2014/06/17/what-is-a-corner-kick-worth-in-soccer/
Oh!
This may add to the discussion but I’m off to bed
https://talksport.com/football/230431/revealed-each-premier-league-clubs-success-rate-corner-kicks-season-170510238614/
St.Stivs
Thanks mate.its easy talking of Celtic
:-)
Hail Hail
Emerald Bee
was it yourself who posted a while back bout shy’s? I think it’s an area we could improve in.
hh
AT
Shy’s indeed. They also mocked Liverpool for having a shy coach. Maybe it was Arsenal but either way, yes.
Just saw a headline from that bastion of the Empire and Tory rule there,The Daily Express,English version.They state that S,Hampton still interested in signing Ntcham.They go on,”Its thought that the Scottish team are looking for around,5 million for the player”
The world does end at the Watford Gap.
My Da used to say there were a lot of “Corner boys”about in the 50s
Not seen much of Shane TBH, so I asked my mate who is a lifelong Brighton fan. Here is what he said:
Great defender
Heart on his sleeve
Would die for the cause etc
But he couldn’t pass from my bedroom to the bathroom
HH
turkeybhoy
Up late watching the Celtics lose 103-104 and Andy Murray getting off to a bad start on Eurosport but just heard some news on the World Service that might just put a dent in the EPLs confidence. They have just ended their contract with Chinese Broadcaster PPTV, I think, after they (PPTV) failed to make the latest payment to the greatest league in the world. Thing is, this deal was over three years, 2019-2022, and worth £250 mil pa, the biggest offshore deal they had. There are hints that the breakdown is in part political fallout from UK-China relations. Big blow no matter which way you look at it.
Memo from the desk of Willie Young
To: grade 1 Referees
In light of the Duffy goal this past evening, I am reminding all referees that infringements real or perceived at corners awarded to Celtic must be strictly enforced.
WY
‘GG on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2020 4:53 AM
Very good, and not beyond the the realms of possibilities.
HH
Good morning cqn from a still dark but dry Garngad
Ah Friday at last. Personally I only want Shane Duffy to win aerial battles, win 1 on 1’s (thou shalt not pass) and not be thrown about like a rag doll.
Also to be a threat at corners and dominant defending corners.
That’s it, Simples.
HH
D :)
Hello again all you young rebels.
I’m with David 66, just win your one to one’s Shane and scare the
shit out of the Lyndons of this world.
After all our greatest captain ever wasn’t exactly Usain Bolt and
as for passing a ball ? never a Iniesta, but he had that quality of
leadership and command that made more refined players look up
to him.
As regards shy’s, lol, spent an hour one night with our local team’s
young boys here in Oz explaining how to make space to collect the ball,
a cosmopolitan lot of Sudanese, Thai, Indian, African, and a couple Scots.
Then they went into a huddle to discuss with the weemhan.
” Papa they want to know what a shy is?
Oh you mean a throw in 8-))
Coconutsareas. com.
H.H. Mick
I’ve seen a twenty five second clip of Ireland’s goal this morning. Bulgarian bookies must be seeking a steward’s inquiry about the effort defending the corner. I think the goalie could have headed it away.
The clip doesn’t show how the corner came about. Not Shane Duffy’s concern. Well done, skipper.
Good morning, friends and a Big Happy Friday from a dry but grey, heavy cloud covered East Kilbride.
Looking forward to tonight’s football fest and cheering on the bhoys in blue as they aim to get our 2020 Europas League campaign off to a winning start. Expecting both Christie and McGregor to start and possibly Forrest too. Hopefully Ryan isn’t asked to lead the line ;-)
Work calling (but only from the next door room…)
Evening troops. Desperate to see big Shane in the hoops. Hopefully a big physical presence that has been missing for a long time.
Seen a few comments about practising defending and corners
I will say it again before I am shot, the Celtic coaching management team is sadly lacking European tactics experience
Not sure about this three at the back
This was found out in early 2000’s and is as simple ( if against an ok team) as knocking the ball over wings backs
We only have frimpong who can do this on right
Roll on next sat
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2020 10:59 PM
Thank you for that detailed exposition on the arcane art of the corner kick.
But I wonder if you’ve maybe over analysed and over complicated what is a simple facet of a simple game.
Just take corners like the one that Duffy scored from last night. Simple and straightforward. What’s the worst that can happen?