Charlie Adam is leaving set-piece coaching post at Everton

A Goodison great!

I don't remember him being a set piece specialist as a player, so it was a surprise appointment to me.

Maybe now we can vary our set pieces and stop doing that far post corner all of the time. It works sometimes, but is predictable. Mix it up a bit. Be unpredictable.

Should have given the job to Sheedy.

You'll start me off.

Sheedy would probably still take the free kicks!

Baines is the obvious choice for this role, but only as an advisor. He shouldn't be moved permanently from his current role.

Our set pieces didn't improve anyway.

I remember when our dads, and older brothers, would teach us the basics on our street or back garden. Set piece coach, my arse.

All I got was denials and excuses. I was first told repeatedly that the season was not finished, that the stats weren't available, and would Season 2023-24 do instead?

When I insisted, it said specialist subscriptions were required to access sites like Opta, and it was too difficult to generate the requested analysis.

Pfft!

Not some friend of a friend who once scored a couple of free kicks for Stoke and resembles a pumpkin thats been left on the step for a month after Halloween.

Colin 14, 💯

I was always concerned that some other teams showed real ingenuity on dead ball plays while we just constantly threw aimless inconsistent crosses into the box for Tarks or the GK to get on the end of.

We may just start scoring from set-pieces now, and the Hall of Shame may have another candidate ! :-)

Daft idea, I know.

Some invention and craft please. Rotate through a shortlist and replace one at a time.

Also, why can't we have players swapping positions more during play, some wingers used to have two feet.

Even Martinez had a better set piece record than Adams and he never even practiced set pieces and corners with the players.

Stole a living at Everton, Charlie Adam… good riddance.

There are bound to be some good ones in France or Netherlands.

"I have mentioned that I want to bring someone in to take care of set pieces and Charlie is one of a few people getting mentioned to me. I have a lot of people enquiring about it. A lot of very good people. I have not made a decision yet, but hopefully we might get close to somebody shortly."

I'm saying nothing......

Also, get rid of the wool that was pulled over the club's eyes!

Just how many coaches does a team need?
A set piece coach sounds like a pretty soft number to me.

We are in danger of having more coaches than players.

Look at Rugby or American Football to understand what can be gained from a free kick. The lack of specialists in this area continues to amaze me.

Sort it out, gain an extra 6 or 7 goals a season and see what that does for the points tally!

These specialists know what they are doing and analyse everything

https://totalfootballanalysis.com/article/aston-villa-how-austin-macphee-has-engineered-their-set-piece-success-tactics

Instead of this we employed a man with a head like a Jack O'Lantern

That would be about right for us, wouldn't it?

We need to start employing the best we can for every role at the club. This chap definitely failed!

And that seemed to be the end of that - back to Tarks on the far post lads.

The best one I ever saw...apologies - it was back in the pre rs days when we used to go to both grounds, because your mates were going and it looked like it might be a good game - and it was...was the Callaghan give and go freekick Vs Inter in the 60s...similar to Gemmills goal Vs Holland.

I also saw the agent in question was banned from being a company director for 5 years, for taking cash out of a company that ran football tours (pre-season etc). £300k allegedly as a tax dodge. Clubs including Aberdeen, Celtic, Hibs, Everton and Liverpool.

Football has always been incestuous, but the amounts involved these days are astronomical.

If no-one had got on the end of that inch perfect free kick for the second one, which Derek Mountfield did, he'd have been fuming.

He didn't need pace or rely on it. He didn't have that much pace. He just played the game at his own pace. Speed of decision in his football brain was more important to his style of play.

I still maintain that Peter Reid was fouled in the build up that led to the ball falling to Ricky Hill for his goal, but maybe I'm biased.

Michael, don't use AI for personal stuff. It's unreliable and makes shit up as your example explains. Like football, unpredictable. Stick to writing the good stuff you do from your own written word.

I'm all for specialist coaches. Set pieces don't just have to be about the 25 yard belters. Sometimes, you see very clever and less obvious ones that pull a defence out of shape, to make space. That goes for corners too.

The obvious one for Everton would be Leighton Baines. He's already on the coaching staff.

On the continent? I'm not sure. Outside bet and little chance, but maybe tempt Andrea Pirlo!!

A simple, straightforward conflict of interest whichever way you look at it.

Sack the HR director is my advice.

It's why, and not wanting to go over old ground, Moyes should not be in charge of recruitment. Just have a voice at the table.

But not make the decisions on individuals.

He's got a better offer?

Moyes has seen hes made a mistake and made a decision decisively. Non dithering Davy?

He tried something different, but it didnt work. Well done Noyes

It was a job for the boys. Naughty davy.

He dithered and made the wrong call.

Don't let him get involved in anything on the recruitment side, he can't be trusted on anything.

Who the hell knows.

But in his defence, for most of his time here he had Harrison and Garner taking most corners and free kicks, maybe if he had McNeil he may have got better results.

He should stick to drinking and haggis.

“Why’s that Charlie?”

“Cos I’m redshite son”

It depends.

Sometimes corners are hit near post to get the flick on for runners coming in. The near post is usually covered by a defender.

Other times they are hit central, but that can end up too close to a well positioned and an anticipating keeper.

Then there is the far post option, which will often see the target overcrowded by defenders.

Sometimes any of them can come off. Sometimes the keeper and defenders will deal with it. We expect ours to do the same.

Some good posts, but the most logical came from Danny@4. Mix it up, be a little bit unpredictable, surely that makes a lot of sense.

Glen Hoddle discovered that when he realised he still took the best free kick in the England set up 10 years after retiring. I still remember seeing footage of him tearing his hair out wondering why they just didnt do it like he told them. I also remember chuckling away for a good hour watching the vastly underated Brian Little putting himself through the same torture over the water.

Adam is a disagreeable little twat, but he could take a reek kick. His entire game depended upon it. and he could do it consistently. But even in the calm of a studio the man is incoherent at the best of times. What the fuck was DD thinking ?

To steal a line from a 10cc song - "Communication is the problem to the answer"

Can't remember a huge amount of set piece goals conceded under Moyes, whilst the attacking edge was blunted by Mcneil not being available id say. Adam might have been fine, but if the tools arent up to it, its hard to put it all at his door.

I am not a huge Mcneil fan, but his set pieces can be very dangerous with aerial ability we have. Garner, Harrison and Lindstrom are way down on that.

"I was expecting something special. Something different. But it wasnt. It was just what Id been doing with the kids, but with older players."

And when asked about the skills of the older players he replied

"They were shit".

I do believe that certain situations, set plays particularly, require rehearsing. Over and over. But you need a player who can provide that punchy delivery. Garner cant. Harrison couldnt. McNeil is the best we have. its staggering to believe at that level we have no other players capable. So I understand why a coach is needed. Perhaps Adams said to Moyes, these are seriously shit. Theres nothing I can do. Or Moyes decided he was taking the piss, either way we need a player or two who can cross a ball with audacity and fear !!!

I liked Adam as a player. I was surprised he was a coaching specialist.

The back post corner was sussed after Dyche beat Arsenal at Goodison.

There were a few further succeses but for me take some shorter corners and maximise the shots on goal. Mix it up and keep the opposition on their toes.

I'd like to see the stats for headers scored direct from corners the last few seasons.

Let's hope for some good news in the transfer window this next week.

UTFTs!