Crossed Balls

[18Craig75]

Discuss.

[Iain G]

Checked ones or polka dots look nicer?

[Greenbeard]

Aye, just looked in and surprised there are not about six threads on this topic.
They did their homework. Or SJM tipped them off. Hibs are pish at defending cross balls.

[Hibs90]

Crosses, Corners... do we practice them in training?

It's absolutely pathetic.

[BoomtownHibees]

Painful

[hibbytam]

If we were able to have a coach dedicated to just them, we might be better at them.....

[Stanton Spence]

I’m still too cross to discuss

[JamesS]

Miller obviously had the job to mark McGinn out of the game. He did well. Can’t recall McGinn doing much at all to be honest. Fine line though, balancing that and incoming crosses.

[SaulGoodman]

A medical emergency. I would call 999 personally.

[lyonhibs]

Crosses, Corners... do we practice them in training?

It's absolutely pathetic.

That's a rhetorical question I assume/hope?

[Since452]

Watch Livingston fire balls in at every opportunity. Really poor.

[jacomo]

Crosses, Corners... do we practice them in training?

It's absolutely pathetic.


We played so narrow though. When Villa got the ball wide (frequently) we basically had a full back sprinting out to try and cover, 1v1 and our defender is already second favourite against a technically superior player.

It might be ok in the SPL to allow opponents to have the ball wide and then try and attack the cross, but their delivery tonight was fast and accurate and made us look like mugs.

[wookie70]

They never had any pressure on our flanks. It looked like we wanted them to cross the ball in to our 6 yard box. Defending that area is teh worst part of our entire game so I can't quite understand why we seemed to want them to do it. It never required clever movement, speed or strength we simply never pressed the ball and they passed it to a wide man in acres of space time and time again. There isn't a team in our league that wouldn't have beaten us tonight and I'd wager that headed goals close in would be scored. We need a different plan and some different defenders

[Greenbeard]

They never had any pressure on our flanks. It looked like we wanted them to cross the ball in to our 6 yard box. Defending that area is teh worst part of our entire game so I can't quite understand why we seemed to want them to do it. It never required clever movement, speed or strength we simply never pressed the ball and they passed it to a wide man in acres of space time and time again. There isn't a team in our league that wouldn't have beaten us tonight and I'd wager that headed goals close in would be scored. We need a different plan and some different defenders
When the cross was hit for the first goal it was five against one if you include Marshall.

[Hibs90]

We played so narrow though. When Villa got the ball wide (frequently) we basically had a full back sprinting out to try and cover, 1v1 and our defender is already second favourite against a technically superior player.

It might be ok in the SPL to allow opponents to have the ball wide and then try and attack the cross, but their delivery tonight was fast and accurate and made us look like mugs.

That's a fair point and I never looked at it that way but makes sense.

Poor from a tactical POV.

[declan macmanus]

That's a fair point and I never looked at it that way but makes sense.

Poor from a tactical POV.

A blind man could see it and we never changed from start to finish. Yes we were up against a far superior team but the manager had us set up wrong all game.


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[Not In The Know]

Discuss.

Jambo twat McPhee is part of the coaching staff at Villa. It’s almost like his Jambo pall Houston called him up and said cross it into tho box Hanlon and co can’t handle it…

[McSwanky]

That's a fair point and I never looked at it that way but makes sense.

Poor from a tactical POV.

Thing is as well, I'm pretty sure we did the same against Rangers back in March(?) and got an absolute spanking.

Make the mistake once, fair enough. But failing to learn from it is all on the management team.

I maintain LJ has no idea how to set up a team based on the opposition he's playing. He needs to go.

[McSwanky]

Jambo twat McPhee is part of the coaching staff at Villa. It’s almost like his Jambo pall Houston called him up and said cross it into tho box Hanlon and co can’t handle it…

Or they just watched a video of any 10 minute period of any of our games this calendar year. Pretty sure Emery might have spotted that we're not too clever at crosses.

[Pete]

Or they just watched a video of any 10 minute period of any of our games this calendar year. Pretty sure Emery might have spotted that we're not too clever at crosses.

Exactly, It's no coincidence a lot of their goals came from headers. They did their homework alright.

[eastmainsmsh]

Happening every game esp on right

[wookie70]

Or they just watched a video of any 10 minute period of any of our games this calendar year. Pretty sure Emery might have spotted that we're not too clever at crosses. You would think our manager would spot it too given he sees it every week. It might not be an easy fix but trying to prevent the crosses in some shape or form might be a start. I think he tried to with putting Obita in front of Stevenson tonight on one side but we never pressured the ball in the slightest so it made it easy for them to get an extra man wide and find the pass. We were lucky their passing wasn't great in the first half but the tempo was so, so slow they probably lost concentration thinking it was a training match

[Lang Toun hibby]

All teams play against us using two wide players. We play with 4 at the back who are narrow and shift from one side to the other depending on where the ball is. If we had played 5 at the back that would potentially have stopped crosses which we cannot defend. Bushiri as the 3rd central defender. Midfield should have had Jeggo, Newell, Campbell, with Harbottle as the DCM. Up front Vente. Youan or Boyle to come on later. The reason for this was to keep the score respectable.

[Lee]

They never had any pressure on our flanks. It looked like we wanted them to cross the ball in to our 6 yard box. Defending that area is teh worst part of our entire game so I can't quite understand why we seemed to want them to do it. It never required clever movement, speed or strength we simply never pressed the ball and they passed it to a wide man in acres of space time and time again. There isn't a team in our league that wouldn't have beaten us tonight and I'd wager that headed goals close in would be scored. We need a different plan and some different defenders

Thing is, we play like that every week. Doesn't matter the opposition, their shape or their strength/weaknesses. No homework on opposition or a tailored approach, nowt....

To do it again tonight was criminal given the opposition - Johnson needs to look at a plan B or change the defence (as we don't have the quality to deal with it when the ball does come into the box!)

[NAE NOOKIE]

That was the worst thing about tonight's game, all it did was highlight how utterly poor we are at defending crosses and corners. That's one part of tonight's defeat you can't put down to just superior players in the opposition's team, we've been at it since the season started, the number of goals we are losing to headers is shocking.

[CentreLine]

Every one from our right (their left). But long, to take advantage of our weak left too. Really bad in defence.

[JohnM1875]

Said as much at the game. I have absolutely zero problem if they score tonight by cutting us apart, as they did, time and time again. That makes sense. They're so far beyond our levels it's basically a different sport. But to lose goals from basic crosses?! they won two headers in our own box for one! Is inexcusable.

[Ronniekirk]

They never had any pressure on our flanks. It looked like we wanted them to cross the ball in to our 6 yard box. Defending that area is teh worst part of our entire game so I can't quite understand why we seemed to want them to do it. It never required clever movement, speed or strength we simply never pressed the ball and they passed it to a wide man in acres of space time and time again. There isn't a team in our league that wouldn't have beaten us tonight and I'd wager that headed goals close in would be scored. We need a different plan and some different defenders
Totally agree Miller wasn’t coming out leaving the guy all the time in the world to put in a cross thst we just didn’t attack Three soft Goals to concede
At times Miller was leaving Boyle to track back so wonder if L J was worried Miller would just get skinned for pace
No one pressed L J for an answer on thst
It left miller stranded in no man’s land leaving Lewis exposed at back post
They clearly had done thier homework
But they rarely needed to get onto top gear
When Youan burst clear wide and Boyle matched his pace z Youan couldn’t find him once

[Not In The Know]

I like Miller he’s got something about him. BUT he is horrendous at blocking crosses. Not ideal for a full back.

[Forza Fred]

Discuss.

Crossed Balls?

Don’t know much about that medical condition but presumably our central defenders are suffering from it and that’s what rendered them unable to jump and clear standard crosses.

[neil7908]

I'm not at all surprised at the result and it hasn't much altered my view of LJ.

But the manner of the goals we lost has really irked me.

We've had the same issues against much worse teams than Villa, and when you see them scoring 3 goals from exactly the same location (Digne cross) then it's hard not to be critical of our defending. After the first one went in we should have learned a lesson.

Livi will be a big one - we simply can't excuse another poor defensive display and keep losing sloppy goals.

[MWHIBBIES]

Thats what a team with a plan on exactly how to score goals looks like.

[greenlex]

I thought we did well until they scored. We were very narrow to stop them just passing through us. I get that. The problem is our consistent shipping goals from crosses.
You could see it coming. Perhaps starting with both Boyle and youhan was risky. One of them up front with Vente and have that extra centre back. Rocky or Harbottle in there might have made a difference. Who knows I certainly don’t claim to but you’d think a manager with 500 games under his belt might be a bit more aware of our shortcomings and set up with what we’ve got to still be in the tie this time next week.

[Bobby's Cinema]

We need to sort something out. I love PH but that's meant to be in captain in the heart of things commanding. I don't see it.

I think it comes from the keeper too. Refuses to come for too many for me again doesn't take control of things too often and inspire confidence in the defence.

[Trinity Hibee]

Our full backs have never been great as stopping crosses, the amount of times over the years that Stevenson backs off into the penalty area is just terrible. One last night he backed off into the 6 yard box the guy got a shot off and Marshall somehow managed to tip it over.

Miller had a torrid time and again didn’t stop and crosses. Think 3 or 4 of the goals came from his side.

[LaMotta]

I thought we did well until they scored. We were very narrow to stop them just passing through us. I get that. The problem is our consistent shipping goals from crosses.
You could see it coming. Perhaps starting with both Boyle and youhan was risky. One of them up front with Vente and have that extra centre back. Rocky or Harbottle in there might have made a difference. Who knows I certainly don’t claim to but you’d think a manager with 500 games under his belt might be a bit more aware of our shortcomings and set up with what we’ve got to still be in the tie this time next week.

Good post, agree. As you say if the full backs aren't narrow then they would just carve us up through the middle.

I think LJ thought we could cause them problems with that team. But realistically he should have set up the team to be far more difficult to break down with extra bodies at the back. Im not Rocky's biggest fan but with his strength and pace it would have been worth playing him IMO.

[Not In The Know]

We need to sort something out. I love PH but that's meant to be in captain in the heart of things commanding. I don't see it.

I think it comes from the keeper too. Refuses to come for too many for me again doesn't take control of things too often and inspire confidence in the defence.

Hanlon has played in every ***** defence we have had over the last 10 years. He’s also played in the occasional good one. That proves he’s not got what it takes to lead the back line and had to rely on others to hold it together.

[BILLYHIBS]

Our crossed balls into the box were like a training exercise for them each time showing us a different way how to deal with them and the different types of crosses tightly retaining possession snd intricately passing their way out of the box coolly out of trouble taking the piss really like taking candy off a baby

Our defence on the other hand nonexistent they looked like they could score at will

A real learning curve

Never seen a game with so many offsides they had the art down to a tee probably used to playing at a higher level a safety net for their defence

Watching them was worth the admission alone

[BILLYHIBS]

Thats what a team with a plan on exactly how to score goals looks like.

LJ has no plan

He sends his teams out on a wing and a prayer hoping for the best and has no plan B

[number9dream]

Lucas Digne has almost 50 caps for France and Lewis Miller has played just a little over 50 games of senior football - most of them in Oz.
Miller was often left with Digne and McGinn to deal with.
One look at the Villa team sheet, with a centre-back on the right, was like a big neon sign saying ‘Digne will have the freedom to bomb forward’.
There was a massive gulf in quality last night but if the manager can’t spot something as obvious as that and at least try to combat it then it’s a worry.
Martindale will have a plan for Saturday. Will LJ?

[ancient hibee]

Villa are streets ahead of anyone up here but defending crosses is basic to football.

Full backs must put pressure on opponent not hang about 5 yards away.
Centre halves must be close to strikers so that there is a physical presence making their jump difficult.
Goalkeeper must come off the line to narrow the goal and be in the strikers eyeline.
Midfield must track late runners.

None of this has changed since I started playing/watching football. Why don't we do it.

[Keith_M]

We played so narrow though. When Villa got the ball wide (frequently) we basically had a full back sprinting out to try and cover, 1v1 and our defender is already second favourite against a technically superior player.

It might be ok in the SPL to allow opponents to have the ball wide and then try and attack the cross, but their delivery tonight was fast and accurate and made us look like mugs.


That was so obvious last night and has been on so many occasions already that you'd think it would be obvious to the manager as well.

This is not a criticism of Fish, as I expect he was playing in the position he was instructed to, but they had so much time out wide on the left because he was so far from the bye-line that it was quite shocking.

Plus high balls into the box? We just can't seem to cope.


Yes, I get that Villa are on a whole different level, but there's no good reason to have basically gifted them the result in the first 30 minutes.

[wookie70]

I thought we did well until they scored. We were very narrow to stop them just passing through us. I get that. The problem is our consistent shipping goals from crosses.
You could see it coming. Perhaps starting with both Boyle and youhan was risky. One of them up front with Vente and have that extra centre back. Rocky or Harbottle in there might have made a difference. Who knows I certainly don’t claim to but you’d think a manager with 500 games under his belt might be a bit more aware of our shortcomings and set up with what we’ve got to still be in the tie this time next week. I thought we were too narrow too and never then changed shape when they got into dangerous areas. No-one knows if that stopped them tearing us a new one through the middle but I sense most of us knew that we were getting beat fairly heavily if we persisted in backing off, staying narrow and allowing unchallenged crosses into the box. It was a plan destined to fail from the first few minutes of the game