West Ham United manager David Moyes admits he has not been pleased with the quality of corners his side have produced in the opening months of the season.
So far this term, West Ham have taken 54 corners in their ten Premier League matches, but have found a teammate with just 16 of them (29.6%), with their total of 38 inaccurate corners being the highest number of any team in this season’s Premier League.
They are also one of only six teams in the division yet to score a headed goal this season (statistics correct before Tuesday night’s Premier League matches). Of their 54 this term, 14 were in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Southampton.
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West Ham have only scored once from a set-piece this season in the league, with that coming on the second phase of play in the build-up to Michail Antonio’s goal away at Chelsea in September. In the last two league games, West Ham have had mixed success in winning penalties from corners, too.
Craig Dawson was fouled by Andreas Pereira in the 3-1 win over Fulham, leading to Jarrod Bowen scoring from the penalty spot. However, Moyes felt that West Ham should have had another penalty against Southampton when Tomas Soucek was challenged by opening scorer Romain Perraud, with referee Peter Bankes not giving it despite Moyes calling it a “judo” move.
Barring Dawson scoring directly from a corner against Silkeborg in the Europa Conference League last month, West Ham have not scored directly from a corner this season, with Moyes suggesting that the quality of corners being taken and the runs onto them have been sub par.
“We have been looking for better deliveries," Moyes told football.london. "The one where Tomas gets pulled down, you can put that down as a goal. On [Sunday] the week before, Dawson had one too, so you can almost put those down as a tick.
“But we are getting blocked at the moment which is an issue. We don’t feel like the deliveries have been as good as they have been. The runs not quite as good, not attacked the ball.
“Nearly every Prem team now has a coach who takes set pieces, which means teams and players are getting a bit wiser and a bit better defensively and attacking.”
In the Premier League last season, West Ham ranked joint-fifth for most goals from set-pieces with 14. Only Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Brentford have netted more.
This season, Aaron Cresswell (47.4%) has been West Ham's most accurate corner taker by some way. The accuracy of Bowen (20.8%) and Pablo Fornals (20%) has been much lower.
However, being able to work on corners has been tricky, with West Ham playing 13 times in the space of six weeks between October 1 and November 12, when the season is paused for next month's World Cup in Qatar.
"We are trying to get more time to practice. We had a day like yesterday but you are only just back from a game on Sunday and you are asking them to go back to practice taking 35 corners from each side," added Moyes. "You are trying not to get them too tired.
"Lots come into your thinking and those coming to head it are not prepared or ready so it means your general practice time is down, but I would never use it as an excuse. It is our job to find a way to get better and we are trying to score more and hopefully we will do."
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