Over the years, Manchester United have had quite a few set piece specialists, and very effective ones in them. Just to name a few of the obvious, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, and even Owen Hargreaves (whenever fit!).
Ever since the departure of these greats, Manchester United have become alarmingly ineffective in terms of scoring from set pieces.
Back in the days of Beckham, every time we got a foul near the edge of the box, there was a sense of excitement and expectation of something brilliant, something spectacular that would result in a goal. Beckham was precise with his deliveries from set pieces. Be it a direct free kick, an assist, or a corner, he always gave the likes of Soskjaer, cole, Yorke, Van Nistelrooy and others a chance at goal. The greatest example of this was the Champions League final in 1999 against Bayern Munich. A corner in injury time, enter David Beckham, result, a pin point precise delivery that led to Solskjaer scoring from a flick on from Sheringham and the rest as they say, is history.
Even after Beckham left, we had Cristiano Ronaldo, maybe not as effective as Beckham when it came to corners, but the lad had one hell of a right foot, and a very unique technique that made his free kicks electrifying. With him, a free kick always built up excitement because he had the ability to put the ball in the back of the net froma dead ball situation.
Things have changed now, the only player on the team with any sort of past success with free kicks is probably Ryan Giggs, though Rooney isn’t too bad himself. However, Giggs is an ageing warrior and Rooney, well, lets face it, not as threatening as the likes of Beckham and Ronaldo. Then there is Nani. To be honest, Nani, personally, i feel is pathetic when it comes to free kicks, and his deliveries from corners always seem to dip in at the near post leaving hardly any chance for a scoring opportunity.
We still won the league last season (2010/11), but the frailties from the set pieces is definitely something that needs to be addressed.
The flip side to this argument is well of course, we don’t really have any genuinely good headers of the ball right now either. Rooney is definitely improving and Chicharito has just burst onto the scene. Berbatov, well.. the guy believes in the more spectacular stuff. The likes of Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Van Nistelrooy are definitely a miss in terms of scoring those headers. Cristiano Ronaldo too was exceptionally good in the air.
It’s not just enough to get a good delivery in, a good delivery results in a goal only with a finisher who’s strong in the air. It’s a two fold scenario. But one that Manchester United can definitely be better at from both perspectives.
The arrival of Ashley Young could definitely change the current situation, he is definitely good. But how good? I guess only time will tell.
For the time being United definitely fall short of the mark when it comes to being a goal threat from dead ball situations. Something to ponder over for Sir Alex and the coaching staff.
I share the same opinion
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