Defensive Troubles

OK, enough of this. When will my torment end I wonder...

With Sporting Gijon, in my third season in 2nd League with two consecutive failures of promotion (both finished 8th), I'm fed up with defensive idiocy I can't get a hold of no matter what. So I got a couple of questions:

1- Are set pieces, specifically corners, handicapped against human players ? I'm serious as hell. Both me and my friend have smashed our heads to our monitors endless times because the following scene repeated for so many times: Rival team earns a corner kick. Corner is taken. Somebody rises above the defence and puts it into the back of the net. Multiply this scene for many times. Being a deepthinker CM/FM player since CM2, I've started to think like a beginner and "Hey, this ************* thing is a bug dammit ! It can't be happening so many times !". No, no. I tried tall players with good heading abilities. But no. If a cross flies in, it is %80 picked up by a rival player and the danger awaits everytime. What the heck for God's sake? How do you tackle this corner kicks curse? Tell me that it can't be avoided at all, and I'll be happy to keep on conceding goals like that forever. But please elaborate.

2- How important is agility of a centre back ? I somehow think that it should be vital since opponent forwards are generally very agile. What do you think?

3- Is Rushing Out an all-positive ability for a keeper ? Or may high Rushing Out put you into trouble?

4- Am I wrong with thinking that primarily Agility, Reflexes, Handling and Aerial Ability are the most important aspects of a good keeper ? Or are any other attributes more important than (any of) these ?

1. no they are not rigged against the player

2. It can be good to have (added bonus) but it is not essential imo go for a bit of pace, strenght, heading, marking, position, tacckling, concentration etc.

3. its good to have. it helps when the opponent plays a ball over your defense and the gk needs to get to the ball before the attacker. im not sure whether this stat means that he is good at rushing out or that he likes to rush out which could make a difference since he will misjudge the ball sometimes and stuff up. I just look for a hhigh stat normally and i dont usually go wrong

4. Most mental stats are important (generally) and also pretty much all the gk attributes cept eccentricity and kicking (its good to have though) . Out of the physical stats, jumping, agility, pace and acceleration (more important for sweeper keepers) are important (maybe there is more i forgot)