Corner Watch, Set Piece Watch, Conor Hourihane, stats and ****

Back in August I said I'd record every goal we scored and every goal we conceded from a corner. I expected to see us concede loads and score few, just like every other season.(Actually, I expected to forget all about it and not bother, but nosey b'stards have kept reminding me.) It hasn't turned out like expected and as far as I'm concerned there's just one reason for that – a signing we made in the summer called Conor Hourihane. I've never before seen a Barnsley player who can put a dead ball in to the opposition penalty area with such accuracy so consistently. Come to think of it, I've never before seen any player do it for any club. David Beckham could deliver a hell of a set piece, but not with same consistency as Conor. Hourihane's detractors have argued it's not that great a skill. The results below should highlight how short-sighted that argument is. I've also listed the goals we've scored from free kicks, as so many people have asked for it.

We've scored 74 goals in all competitions this season.
We've conceded 67 goals in all competitions.


Goals scored from Corners
Crewe (Away) - Corner Hourihane - Scorer Cranie
Coventry (Away) Corner Hourihane - Scorer Lita
MK Dons (Home) - Corner Jennings - Scorer Cole
Rochdale (Away)- Corner Hourihane - Scorer Ramage
Sheff Utd (Away) - Corner Hourihane - Scorer Winnall
Colchester (Home) - Corner Hourihane - Scorer Ramage
Doncaster (Home) - Corner Hourihane - Scorer Nyatanga
Walsall (Away) Corner Hourihane - Scorer Nyatanga
Crewe (Home) Corner Smith - Own Goal
Walsall (Home) Corner Hourihane - Scorer Waring
Oldham (Away) Corner Waring – Scorer Hourihane
Peterborough (Home) Corner Hourihane - Scorer Berry
Rochdale (Home) Corner Hourihane - Scorer Scowen
Rochdale (Home) Corner Hourihane - Scorer Scowen
Rochdale (Home) Corber Hourihane – Scorer Holgate

Total goals scored from corners: 15
20% of all goals scored

Goals Scored From Free Kicks
Coventry (Away) Scorer - Hourihane Direct
Gillingham (Home) Free Kick Hourihane – Scorer Jennings
Bradford (Home) Free Kick Hourihane – Own Goal
Fleetwood (Home) Free Kick Hourihane – Scorer Ramage
Crewe (Home) Free Kick Scowen – Scorer Nyatanga
Coventry (Home) Free Kick Hourihane – Scorer Waring
Oldham (Away) – Free Kick Hourihane – Scorer Nyatanga
Oldham (Away) – Free Kick Hourihane – Scorer Nyatanga
Colchester (Away) – Free Kick Hourihane – Scorer Waring

Total goals scored from free kicks: 9
12% of all goals scored
Total goals scored from set pieces excluding penalties: 24
32% of all goals scored

Goals scored from Penalties
Port Vale (Away) Hourihane
Bristol City (Home) Hourihane
Colchester (Away) Hourihane
Yeovil (Home) Hourihane

Total goals scored from all set pieces: 27
36% of all goals scored

Goals Conceded from corners
Crawley (Home)
Walsall (Away)
Middlesbrough (Home)
Fleetwood (Home)

Total goals conceded from corners: 4
6% of all goals conceded

We scored 11 more goals from corners than we conceded.

Goals conceded from free kicks
Coventry (Away) Cross
Port Vale (Away) Direct
Peterborough (Away) Direct
Crawley (Away) Cross x2
Sheff Utd (Home) Cross

Total goals conceded from free kicks: 6
9% of all goals conceded.
Total goals conceded from set pieces excluding penalties: 10
15% of all goals conceded

We scored 3 more goals than we conceded from free kicks. We scored 14 more goals than we conceded from set pieces excluding penalties.

Goals conceded from penalties
Gillingham (Home)
Preston (Away)
Bristol City (Away)

Total goals conceded from all set pieces: 13
19% of all goals conceded

For every goal we conceded from a set piece, we scored two. Any manager in the world would be absolutely delighted with that.


To highlight how important goals from set pieces are, we would have dropped the following points had we not scored those set piece goals:

Crewe (Away) -2
Coventry (Away) -1
Rochdale (Away) -2
Bristol City (Home) -1
Sheff Utd (Away) -2
Colchester (Home) -3
Doncaster (Home) -1
Crewe (Home) -2
Coventry (Home) -2
Oldham (Away) -3
Peterborough (Home) -1

Conor Hourihane

Goals from set pieces
Coventry (Away) Free Kick
Port Vale (Away) Penalty
Bristol City (Home) Penalty
Colchester (Home) Penalty
Yeovil (Home) Penalty


Other Goals
Gillingham (Home)
Yeovil (Away)
MK Dons (Home) x2
Notts County (Home)
Burton (Home)
Orient (Home)
Oldham (Away)
Rochdale (Home)

Total 14. 5 from penalties and free kicks, 9 from open play. 19% of all our goals.


Assists from set pieces
Crewe (Away) - Corner
Coventry (Away) Corner
Gillingham (Home) Free Kick
Rochdale (Away)- Corner
Bradford (Home) Free Kick
Sheff Utd (Away) Corner
Colchester (Home) Corner
Doncaster (Home) Corner
Walsall (Away) Corner
Fleetwood (Home) Free Kick
Coventry (Home) Free Kick
Walsall (Home) Corner
Oldham (Away) Free Kick x2
Colchester (Away) Free Kick
Bradford Home (Corner) x3

Total 18. 24% of all our goals

Assists in open play
York (Home)
Bradford (Home) x2
Notts County (Home)
Burton (Home)
Yeovil (Home)

Total 6.
Total Assists 24.

Conor Hourihane scored or assisted in 38 of our 74 goals. That's 51%. Does anyone care to speculate where we would have ended the season without him? Personally, I think it's obvious, and I doubt we've ever had a more deserving player of the year.

The above is probably full of mistakes, get over it.

 

Yesterday he made 5 successful tackles of 7 he attempted. Only Holgate came close with 4 from 5.

He's **** this Hourihane.

 

He's had a good season. But what I keep saying is - we wouldn't have played with 10 men if we didn't have CH. We'd have had another player in the team, who knows how they would have performed? So it's not possible to say where we would have finished without CH. It would be a totally different team dynamic, with different results. His replacement might have scored 20 goals.

He has contributed a lot though.

 

I think the criticism he's getting from some is that the goals have dried up and that he's stopped shooting from distance. its certainly not because of his assists

 

The problem with that argument though is that everyone else's (excluding strikers) goals never started in order to dry up - and neither did their assists.

 

Correct.

 

He's also gorgeous.

 

I agree I was just stating what some people have said. Apart from scowen no other midfielders have chipped in with the goal

 

Do you really think his replacement would have come anywhere near scoring 14 and assisting 24?

Assuming his replacement was a decent set piece taker (average for the league which I measure as the number goals/assists from set pieces as has been scored against us - not perfect I know but we've faced everyone twice) that would have been 5 goals (3 penalties and 1 direct free kick) and 8 assists (4 corners and 4 free kicks).

That means that CH scored 11 more goals and got 16 more assists than your average league 1 set piece taker would get as a result of being on penalties/set pieces.

Therefore I don't think its a valid argument to say that if we'd had someone else on penalties/set pieces, they would have got close to what CH got.

 

Berry scored last week didnt he ?

 

yes he did. But I mean with more than 1 goal

 

Is CH the top assister in the league then? Im positive no one else has 20+ assists in the league...

 

CH performance yesterday epitomised his whole season and was a demonstration of why he is player of the season. Multiple assists from set pieces and a goal scored where he raced the entire length of the pitch to support Oates. One player doesn't make a team, but I think clearly everyone in this side benefits from Conor's involvement.

 

CH surpassed the average so why is it unbelievable that his replacement could have? A replacement may have offered more to the team in other ways too resulting in better results over the season. Team dynamic being the key. I can't say that would have happened, you can't say it wouldn't. My point is we don't know how we would have fared this season if we didn't have CH because everything would have been different.

 

I'll take 11 goals and 16 assists over average than offering more to the team in 'other ways' any day.

 

People get wound up with Hourihane because he bottles 50/50's, nothing to do with his ability to score or set up goals

 

Agree with the above posts re CH. He's got his failings but overall a terrific player for this league.

I think though that comparing him to David Beckham might be a step too far.

 

I'm not comparing him to David Beckham. David Beckham was by far the better player. Conor Hourihane is more consistent with the accuracy of his set piece delivery in to the opposition area creating more chances from free kicks and corners.

 

Going by the original post, he should be called Corner Hourihane.

He might have gone off the boil a bit, but he's a young player still, successfully stepped up a division, with plenty more to come I feel. I hope he still wears the red of Barnsley for another couple of seasons.

 

Waheyyy!!