Keane is just probably trying to be innovative and revolutionary. Unfortunately, he needs to get the basics right before trying such things. And not leaving ANYONE upfield is a basic error with any cleared balls being virtually guaranteed to come straight back at you.
Yet another mark on the tally count of reasons to get rid - the page is full now.

Unfortunately I can believe Keane does this ! It's ridiculous as others have said due to the fact once the ball has been cleared by head or foot ,it will come straight back again putting the team under pressure. The man is a law unto himself ! Naive tactics ! What other team does this RK ? Any decent defence know what players they have to mark and how to do so.

It's easy to assume that players who have played top flight football have a good command of tactics. But those of us who have the most basic of coaching qualifications can see that this is not always the case. We see far too many schoolboy errors creeping into our game, which is why Keane is right - even a fool can get a team to midpoint in the Championship....

At least they are looking at statistics though, even if they are not drawing the right inferences!

All about opinions I guess. We were discussing it at half-time on Saturday. Whilst I agree that the priority is to defend the corner, my main concern is the fact that by not leaving at least one up front, it immediately allows the opposition to commit more men to the attack which obviously increases their threat. No right and wrong though; there's simply a requirement to defend properly.

I love how Keane has to come out and say things like this, almost to try and prove he knows some tactics. Unfortunately he always ends up looking like a tit.

All adds to some strange decisions this season, recently:

0-0 and on top against Bristol, 25 minutes to go and need 3 points: "I know i'll take off two experienced strikers and chuck a 16 year old on who couldn't hit a donkeys ar$e bless him"

"I know lets play our most goal threatening midfielder at left back, he'll get forward eventually, oh $hite he's hit the post, get back in position, McAuley you go upfront"

Naa, please don't be offended but I've decided not to follow your very generous editorial advice and shut up.

I actually agree that leaving a player or two (at most - especially if you want your posts covered) upfront.

This is primarily to ensure that the attacking team (to clarify: this is not the one with the strikers on the half way line but the team who are going to be sticking a ball in the six yard box) cannot dictate further pressure by covering any balls that aren't cleared properly. As such those left forward are still carrying out a defensive role.

If the ball is cleared their job is to either a) hold the ball up and wait for support, b) harrass the opposition to allow the defense to squeeze up, condensing the playing space or c) if the attacking sides defenders are stupid enough, run away with the ball one on one and score (or not as the case this season has proved time and again).

However, we find ourselves in a predicament where getting the ball out of the box has been a problem and defending hasn't been the best and we have been conceding sloppy goals from not clearing our lines properly.

As such if Keane feels that 10 players in the box have a better chance of clearing the ball (at which point they will be expected to break quicker, due to the lack of players left upfront) or of blocking a shot from those attackers in and around the the box, thats up to him - the key is not to concede.

The comparison of wenger and ferguson using this tactic is not really comparing like with like, is it? I think you'll find that when a team like Hull play Chelsea and Chelsea have a corner the whole Hull side may be in the box as the aim is not to conceded.

At present our league position is more Hull than Chelsea and as such we need to adopt tactics which are relevant to our league position.

Doctor: I'm glad you didn't shut up and glad that you wrote a reasoned response rather than the pointless baiting of before.

I agree largely with what you are saying but I'm not convinced about what you say about putting everyone in the box. I doubt many teams do do it. There are a number of reasons why this is a bad idea, the most obvious being that a heavily crowded area does not make it more likely that you'll get a head, or keeper's hand, on it, due to sheer numbers. It makes it harder to follow your markee, it makes it harder for the keeper to control the box and it creates confusion.

It's usually a sign of a panicing team under pressure, not one thinking things through properly.

And if someone could find the stat for goals conceded from corners and free-kicks this year that would help a lot, as I'm fairly sure it's quite a high number, suggesting that this doesn't work at all.

so everyone agrees that i should manage next year... excellant