dongonzalos
Well-Known Member
ONE of football’s most enduring adages is that attack is the best form of defence – but Mark Robins insists that’s not necessarily the case when you’re coping with set-piece pressure.
The Coventry City boss habitually packs his penalty area for free-kicks and corners and he’s certainly not alone in that policy. Although you could hardly find more disparate personalties than his three immediate predecessors at the Ricoh Arena – Chris Coleman, Aidy Boothroyd and Andy Thorn – they, too, favoured the ‘one back all back’ philosophy in such situations.
Some supporters (and journalists) prefer the old-school ploy of having one or two players poised upfield, (A) as a conduit for potential counter-attacks and (B) to ensure that any half-cleared balls aren’t hoovered up by the opposition and pumped straight back into the danger zone.
And the debate was brought to a semi-official head this week when Juanbambo (not, one suspects, his real name) was selected for our weekly Fans Ask feature and posed the question: “What benefit do you see in having no outlet at corners? We seem to have all 11 in the box every time. Does this not restrict us?”
Robins, as usual, gave the issue his full attention at Thursday’s press conference but was having none of it. With the air of a man who’s heard the argument before he said: “I totally understand that view, but no.
“It’s not about policy, it’s about players – who can do what, knowing what the opposition like to do and probably will do, and having players in position to try to nullify a threat.
“Some managers will employ zonal marking and some will do man marking and some a mixture of both. Some may leave three up on the halfway line later on in games if they are losing but the likelihood is you end up outnumbered and they send someone in so you’re a little bit light. You just have to be on your toes because it’s a bit of a cat and mouse thing.
“I’m not going to go through it all but, in short, no, it doesn’t restrict us. We’ve probably got enough players to cope with set plays but I wouldn’t say we’ve got an ultra defensive line-up from corners. If we get the ball away then we’ve got players in the side who can break.”
But, we asked, pressing Juanbambo’s point, if you’ve got one of your players in a forward position, doesn’t that at least oblige the other lot to withdraw one or two of their players from your penalty area?
“They don’t have to,” insisted Robins; “it depends on your players. I’m not closed-minded but I’m happy with the way we do things and at this moment in time I’d much prefer to continue with that.
“There’s no right and wrong and if we kept conceding goals from set plays then there might be a change in there – but generally speaking that would be a change of personnel, not tactics.”
Read More http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/coventry-city-fc/coventry-city-fc-news/2013/01/26/safety-first-at-set-pieces-for-coventry-city-insists-mark-robins-92746-32684789/#ixzz2JDgCXNUY
The Coventry City boss habitually packs his penalty area for free-kicks and corners and he’s certainly not alone in that policy. Although you could hardly find more disparate personalties than his three immediate predecessors at the Ricoh Arena – Chris Coleman, Aidy Boothroyd and Andy Thorn – they, too, favoured the ‘one back all back’ philosophy in such situations.
Some supporters (and journalists) prefer the old-school ploy of having one or two players poised upfield, (A) as a conduit for potential counter-attacks and (B) to ensure that any half-cleared balls aren’t hoovered up by the opposition and pumped straight back into the danger zone.
And the debate was brought to a semi-official head this week when Juanbambo (not, one suspects, his real name) was selected for our weekly Fans Ask feature and posed the question: “What benefit do you see in having no outlet at corners? We seem to have all 11 in the box every time. Does this not restrict us?”
Robins, as usual, gave the issue his full attention at Thursday’s press conference but was having none of it. With the air of a man who’s heard the argument before he said: “I totally understand that view, but no.
“It’s not about policy, it’s about players – who can do what, knowing what the opposition like to do and probably will do, and having players in position to try to nullify a threat.
“Some managers will employ zonal marking and some will do man marking and some a mixture of both. Some may leave three up on the halfway line later on in games if they are losing but the likelihood is you end up outnumbered and they send someone in so you’re a little bit light. You just have to be on your toes because it’s a bit of a cat and mouse thing.
“I’m not going to go through it all but, in short, no, it doesn’t restrict us. We’ve probably got enough players to cope with set plays but I wouldn’t say we’ve got an ultra defensive line-up from corners. If we get the ball away then we’ve got players in the side who can break.”
But, we asked, pressing Juanbambo’s point, if you’ve got one of your players in a forward position, doesn’t that at least oblige the other lot to withdraw one or two of their players from your penalty area?
“They don’t have to,” insisted Robins; “it depends on your players. I’m not closed-minded but I’m happy with the way we do things and at this moment in time I’d much prefer to continue with that.
“There’s no right and wrong and if we kept conceding goals from set plays then there might be a change in there – but generally speaking that would be a change of personnel, not tactics.”
Read More http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/coventry-city-fc/coventry-city-fc-news/2013/01/26/safety-first-at-set-pieces-for-coventry-city-insists-mark-robins-92746-32684789/#ixzz2JDgCXNUY
