Wojciech Szczesny admits that the team are disappointed over the concession of goals from set-pieces this season, but says they’re working hard to correct what’s proving to be a costly fault.
The Gunners have conceded in the league to Crystal Palace and Man City from corners, while Everton’s first goal at Goodison Park came from a well worked free kick. Pre-season also saw opposition score from set-pieces in New York and during the Emirates Cup.
Having seemingly cut that weakness out of their game, it’s now something that needs to be worked on, as the Polish stopper commented ahead of tonight’s game against Borussia Dortmund.
“We do realise that set pieces have been a weakness for us recently,” he said. “We’ve conceded goals already and it’s very early in the season.
“We did very well last season on set pieces and we’re a bit disappointed. We’ve been working on it in training so hopefully we’ll put that right on Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, Laurent Koscielny says the atmosphere in Dortmund later on is something the team will have to block out.
“The stadium is amazing, and the fans are crazy,” he told Arsenal Player. “They are behind their team during the whole game. So we know these stadiums and we know the atmosphere.
“We play without pressure, so the most important thing is to win the game. When you play you don’t hear the songs in the stand, so we just have to be focused on our game and winning.
“We will go to Dortmund with confidence and we want to win the game because it¹s important to start the group stage well.”
Why are the headers in the premier league always OP against us?
OP?
Over-powered
Screw The Zonal Marking
Somehow, it’s okay to concede from set pieces so long as you use man marking.
Since we were best at defending corners in the leauge last year WITH zonal marking, it’s quite clear that’s not the problem.
OUCH
Zonal will allways be better for us as long as we are one of the shortest teams in the League.
I think it might be down to losing giroud, he is our best player in aerial duals. In set pieces that is where he is dominant, someone else needs to step up.
and then mathieu. at least for shitty’s equalizer
Took me really long to realise you were talking about Debuchy. Kept thinking of Flamini.
2 minutes?
Nice
We did not buy Giroud to be an extra center back when were defending he is a striker , seems like some people forget that.
Our biggest blokes mark their biggest blokes ?
You never know it may work !
offtop: will there be by the numbers article about Man City game?
please play tomas !!! I beg you Arsene
Who else in the league is defending corners with zonal marking?
zonal marking is not the issue, don’t buy into Carragher’s incoherent saliva-drenched ramblings. Whether you’re in a zone or a man to man it’s about discipline and concentration, end of.
Kinda weird, considering the Liverpool defence under Benitez (the ‘pinnacle’ of Carragher’s career) used zonal marking.
PS top name, why oh why didn’t he get given the no 36 shirt?!
Dortmund’s injury list makes me smile. 2-0 please lads.
A lot of top European teams use it. When it is done right is is far better than man-to-man. It is just harder to get right.
Maybe he shouldn’t have given the ball away quite so easily in the lead-up to the Palace and Citeh goals. His kicking has been waaay below par so far.
this. people are forgetting the atrocious goal kick preceding the corner, if you’re not clearing the halfway line then we’re just restarting on the back foot
Oh is he now ? heh… maybe he should learn to anticipate and use quick side steps to re-adjust his position…….. maybe he shouldnt be coming out to meet crosses which are further out the 6 yard box? ….. maybe he should have stayed on line, not panic, not come forward and just make two steps to the left and catch it….it was only a header …. a free header dont mean it should register as goal….thats why we have the goalkeeper, the specialist. He is there to save everyone’s arse. He is there to think ahead of everyone. He… Read more »
will be interesting if ospina gets a game….
who is ospina?
navas was the one to get.
I don’t think its necessarily the ”Zonal Marking” is the issue, more the way we’ve applied it.
Last season we were fantastic from set pieces deploying this same method of defending.. We just seem to be really lethargic at the moment, being switched on from corners and other set plays is more important.. that’s what we need to address, or maybe, if we could tighten up defensively and stop giving away set pieces so cheaply.
I know this doesn’t concern the post but some players really need to start getting games. Rosicky, Campbell, Podolski, Chambo this guys need to start featuring at some point. That’s what squad depth is for, Arsene. Fucking rotate your squad! Everyone’s better for it in the end. Some get rest and the others don’t feel shut out.
yeah, Arsene!
We’re 5 games into the season with a team that’s feeling the affect of the flux in their synergy, there’s a time for rotating and a time for keeping your squad players hungry and fresh.
Apparently when using man marking, no goals have been conceded from set pieces ever!!
apparently anyone who gets a free header from the penalty spot, gets on the score sheet.
teh header was nto fast and was not low and was not point blanc range…the ball was arching..plenty of time to react had he not moved forward and then thrown himself backwards in desperation.
good goalkeepers anticipate and block…average goalkeepers do acrobatics…why? cause they are in the wrong position and have to dive to make a desperate attempt to save…..
It’s a lot easier to make that decision after the fact though, it might not have been fizzing at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light but it was a strong header that was going away from him. Not saying he couldn’t have done better, but yeah, it IS the getting a free header in that position that’s the main issue, not Szczesny failing to be Buffon.
not really…
he just needs to be calm and read the situations instead of reacting on them in panic.
You should be a keeper… in fact we should all be keepers. Sounds like a piece of cake.
i disagree… a free header is not an automatic goal. the keeper should save that…comfortably.
if you pay me what he gets paid ? … gladly 🙂
funny how some get annoyed with people who actually have a clue on football and can comment with reason and explaining their position….
I don’t know about comfortable, it seems to me that it happens pretty fricking quickly and it’s a lot easier said than done with some of this analysis.
I reckon by the fact that you say it ‘isn’t an automatic goal’ means that you realise how difficult it can be to stop it when somoene gets a free header from that position, otherwise you woudln’t have qualified it. We essentially agree, if that’s the case.
Need more pointing and yelling!
All these illnesses is what we get from having so many young players! What are the chances that Bellerin gets sick before the game from getting Glandular Fever from snogging Racheal behind the bike shed, or getting conjunctivitis from borrowing one of his mate’s towels, or finally coming down with chicken pox.
Atleast Give man Marking a try We’ll atleast know who was at fault.
If sczny plays in goal tnite at least he should position his defence and shout to them when he goes for the ball unless a jammy deflection goes astray, pers is perfect example of defence, gibbs has pace but he needs to be amongst defence not over running or stretching back, that is midfield job coyg
Maybe he should stop speaking to the media for a while and use his vocal chords to organise his defense for corners n setpieces. A goalkeeper is expected to be the boss in organising when faced with dead ball situations. Szcz is a good goalie but has a long way to go. The man city goal was his responsibility n he failed. I hope he improves or else Ospina should get his chance to claim the no.1 spot
well said but i eagerly anticipate all the 15 yearolds and fifa14 fanboys to downvote you
You two as the same person aren’t you?
did you see us in the mirror ? both ?
He hasn’t played up to the same level as last year. He’ll need to pick it up
In other news and speaking of set pieces…Thomas Vermaelen Drives Car Like a Noob in the Pa…: http://youtu.be/_0cVANZen_U
LOL
Our players are not that tall and that’s one area where Giroud helps. We just need the right strategy. We’ve been here before and I think we will get over it.
Off topic, has anyone read Wenger’s quote about Klopp? I love the mutual respect and I wouldn’t mind if he succeeds wenger at arsenal. Combined with Klopp’s previous comment, we might be playing against our next manager’s team. Wenger is a great coach and I think Klopp is following his legacy. They both build teams and don’t buy teams. The closest to Wenger we could get in today’s football.
We need to use a hybrid of zonal marking and man-to-man marking on set pieces. DeMichelis was allowed to run in uncontested for his header. We should man-mark 2 to 3 players and use zonal to cover the rest of the area around the net.
COYG!!! Let’s put down a real marker today and scare the rest of the group. 3 points please.
I think Ozil had his best game for us at Dortmund last year and it was one of the best Arsenal games I watched in terms of nerves and excitement. Ozil has to be starting for me in a game where I think he’ll rediscover his form.
zonal marking needs to be rectified – they are working on it great. however – I want to turn my attention to Kos’s comments…we have one of the top three largest stadiums in the EPL that holds over 60K ppl – why can’t the emirates be a place that teams come to and have to “block-out” the fans? why can’t we as fans not use what WE ARE ABLE TO CONTROL and help the team? I know this is a long-shot, but just some food for thought for us gooners. we can do better and need to do better with… Read more »
because quite simply…when you have to repay a 450m investment trough your own means …your product is available at a high price …a price that takes away the hardcore element of support which lives breathes eats drinks arsenal and goes to the stadium to sing and support the players and give them confidence and not sit and be entertained, eat hotdogs and take selfies……. gazidis and co are more interested for the fan who can pay their prices …not the fan who sings for the team… the solution is easy…6,000 seats behind the goal devoted to nutters or firms who… Read more »
I’ve never seen a Premier League match in a stadium. So I only have second hand reports. The electric atmosphere almost always seem to refer to non-English stadiums. Turkey – Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas, Germany – Signal Iduna Park, Spain – Camp Nou, Bernabeu, France – Stade Velodrome, etc. Is it possible that it has a lot more to do with the culture of the city? Like Barca, Madrid and Marseille have hardcore football nutters while you may not find that in a place like London or Manchester. But the closest thing to an ‘electric’ atmosphere is probably in Anfield. They… Read more »
Wasn’t it before Bouldy came in to the first team that the majority of our comment section fanbase was screaming for ..errr zonal marking? We were so shite when doing man-to-man for whatever reason. Probably our average height of players… we have BFG, Kos, Giroud, now Welbeck and Debuchy as players who are comfortable headers of the ball. Giroud and Welbeck will not be on the pitch at the same time too often I feel so basically we have 4 roughly good heads in our first 11. Scratch Debuchy off that for now and we have 3. Lets take City… Read more »
Bfg should be winning all aerial balls. Fuck zonal marking shit ATTACK THE BALL. COME ON YOU RIP ROARING REDDDDSSSS!!!!
6 thousand nutters or firms….. aaaah the good old days!!
Seems as though Bellerin starts. Looks a real talent, let’s hope he has a good game.
No Sagna or Giroud. Two players great in the air who we don’t have.
The media talking out of their flatulent arse again regards zonal marking.
Practically every team in the PL use Zonal marking.
What is important is to be alert as to where the opposing team is pushing an overload. In the case of the second goal for City, Chambers was marking no one and should have been closer toward the middle to help deal with the over load there. It’s a question of communication and organization. No point marking a zone that is devoid of any threat.
“BFG should be winning all the aerial balls” What nonsense. Have you ever played the game and defended a corner? Unless you’re psychic you can not know if the ball is going to be whipped in near post or slung out to the far post. You can’t just click you’re fingers and move from your starting position to get into a position to head the ball clear in a crowded area during the couple of seconds flight of the ball. On a more general note, a mix of zonal + man-to-man is always the best. You don’t have to pigeon-hole… Read more »
Rules of commentary/punditry:
If you concede a goal when zonal marking the system gets blamed.
If you concede a goal man-to-man then the player gets blamed. The man-to-man system gets away with no blame.
Rules of commentary/punditry 2: If you concede a goal with no men on the post then you must criticise the team for not having men on the post (even though in some cases men on the post may not have stopped it). If you concede with men on the post at no point mention the possibility that an extra couple of bodies in the mixer may have headed the ball away so the goal was not under threat. (Personally I am a fan of men on the post as I played that system but you do get more headers coming… Read more »
It’s just one of those freak statistics, like at the start of last season koscielny was conceding pens in every game… He didn’t concede many after that and as the season goes on we won’t concede many more from set pieces (I hope haha)
I better take tounge out of cheek. Goonerdan calm down man.
P.s. 5yrs as centreback in fairly good pub team in 80s now knees n ankles fucked so fuck you.
Knees, ankles and brain
Hi all, Overall performance against Borussia Dortmund sucks – my worries is passing, why passing always stuck, end up Dortmund can easily counter attacks – If passing always stuck is NOT Arsenal. * What really happened to Ramsey this session? It’s seem lost, last session he play very well. * Ozil please wake-up, if he still think have World Cup fever? * Wilshire – don’t have consistence in playing, up & down. * Arteta – passing sucks and failed as defensive midfield we need a new replacement. * Welbeck – please adjust your marks. Arsenal cannot afford to lost goal… Read more »
Oh , you ARE funny. The balls were alot heavier then though.
You ARE funny. The balls were harder and heavier back then.