There’s a frustrating pattern creeping in: we can look fairly comfortable in open play, then one set piece lands and everything turns jittery. It’s not always about being outplayed. Sometimes it’s just conceding in the softest possible way, and suddenly the whole mood shifts from control to panic.
Take the Wolves game mentioned here. The point isn’t that they carved us apart for 90 minutes. The point is that, outside of a couple of moments where we let the ball travel through the lines far too easily, it felt like we had a handle on it. Then a silly goal goes in and you can almost feel the anxiety spread. You see it in the second balls, the body language, the rushed clearances. One setback becomes a wobble.
Open-play control is one thing, dead balls are another
In open play, if your pressing is decent and your distances are right, you can limit teams to half-chances and moments. Set pieces are different. They’re repeatable situations. They’re rehearsed. And if you’re not switched on, you’re basically inviting the same problem to happen again and again.
That’s why it feels so avoidable when we concede from them. It’s not a worldie. It’s not a bit of brilliance you just accept. It’s usually a free header, a second phase that isn’t dealt with, or a failure to attack the ball properly. And once it happens once, the confidence goes.
The other side of it: we need to hurt teams from corners
The most annoying part is the swing. If you’re giving away goals from set pieces, you at least want to be a nuisance at the other end. Corners should be moments where the opposition are under stress, not us. Put simply: we need to score a few more from them and concede fewer, and games become calmer.
Because the fan point stands even without leaning on exact numbers. If you turn a handful of those corners into goals across a season, and you stop gifting the cheap ones, you’re talking about points. Not vibes. Actual points. That’s what keeps you in the pack or pushes you closer to the top sides.
It’s not glamorous, but it’s a proper fixable problem
Truth is, sorting set pieces isn’t about magic. It’s about organisation, aggression, and accountability. Who attacks the first ball? Who blocks the runs? Who deals with the second phase? And when it goes wrong, do we reset, or do we spiral?
If Liverpool can stop caving in at dead balls, and add just a bit more threat from our own, you’d expect a lot more “comfortable” wins to actually stay comfortable. And that’s the difference between chasing and leading.
One small thing that often gets missed with set pieces is the knock-on effect on how a team plays afterwards. Conceding from a dead ball can make the back line drop five yards and the midfield stop trusting the press, which opens up those exact “through the lines unchallenged” moments fans complain about.
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