Virgil van Dijk has helped Liverpool rediscover title-winning trait, and Mohamed Salah is benefiting

Virgil van Dijk has helped Liverpool rediscover title-winning trait, and Mohamed Salah is benefiting

Liverpool Echo Sports·2021-09-21 06:00

Liverpool's 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon at Anfield saw the Reds score all three goals from set-pieces, which have become vital to how the Reds win games over the last few seasons.For Mohamed Salah, it was his second set-piece league goal of the season (excluding penalties), as he pounced upon Virgil Van Dijk's knock-on header, but his goal was just one of several set-pieces the Reds have already scored this campaign. In 2018, StatsPerform produced a paper called Mythbusting Set-Pieces in Soccer , which was written by Paul Power, Jennifer Hobbs, Hector Ruiz, Xinyu Wei and Patrick Lucey. One of the myths it challenged was the premise that teams are more likely to score from open-play than from set-pieces. Through a quantitative analysis the research found that teams were almost twice as likely to score from set-pieces compared to open play, consequently highlighting them are under-utilised goalscoring opportunities. Liverpool famously a data-driven club with leading analysts and experts such as Michael Edwards and Will Spearman in the analysis department have also been utilising set-pieces to their advantage too, and they have underpinned European and domestic success in 2018/19 and 2019/20. The 2021/22 season looks no different, with the Reds already scoring from five set-pieces in the league.The Reds' rediscovered potency on attacking set-pieces unsurprisingly has coincided with the return of Virgil van Dijk to the starting XI, and other tall physical presences in the box offering regular attacking threat, such as Joël Matip, Joe Gomez, and most recently Ibrahima Konaté.Read MoreRelated ArticlesRead MoreRelated ArticlesWith the physical prowess of the four centre backs Liverpool have, alongside the aerial strength of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, the Reds pose a serious threat on set-pieces, and are able to score from corners and free-kicks not just from the first phase, but the second and third too.It's in these phases where Liverpool's forwards and attacking midfielders can really contribute to set-pieces. Sadio Mané is excellent at winning knock-downs, and players like him, Salah and Diogo Jota thrive at taking advantage of those knock-downs. Mané won a penalty against Chelsea with his play after the first phase, while Salah scored against Norwich with a beautiful curled shot from the edge of the box after a corner, and also against Crystal Palace after the first phase too. Likewise, Naby Keïta's left footed stunner against the same opposition followed a set-piece. According to a report by James Pearce, writing in The Athletic last month, Liverpool manger Jürgen Klopp has been focusing on set-pieces in preseason too, bringing in Dr Niklas Hausler and Patrick Hantschke from German company Neuro11 in order to help the team find an edge in their delivery of set-pieces, with Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold noted in the report as players looking to maximise their set-piece threat. Read MoreRelated ArticlesRead MoreRelated ArticlesBeing able to use set-pieces is an enormous advantage as it lightens the burden placed on open play tactics and the creativity of individual players or the need for them to create moments of brilliance for the team to score.In 2019/20, Liverpool scored 10 league goals directly from set-pieces, and these often opened the scoring too, this included games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Brighton, Manchester United and Wolves.Set-pieces to take the gamestate advantage are especially important because they dictate the flow and nature of the game from that point onwards. With early or opening goals from set-pieces, Liverpool can mitigate and reduce the risks they take in open play, instead choosing to sit back and counter when it suits them.Without Van Dijk and his defensive partners last season, the team really struggled to score from set-pieces. Until Liverpool's 4-2 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in May, the Reds had scored three set-pieces in the league. Of those, only two were "big goals" in the sense they either equalised or allowed Liverpool to take the lead, (Leicester's Jonny Evans' own goal, and Roberto Firmino's winner against Spurs at Anfield).Read MoreRelated ArticlesRead MoreRelated ArticlesAgain, it's no coincidence that once Liverpool found set-piece form their results began to pick up. Towards the end of the season, the Reds finally found some attacking threat with their set-pieces, scoring two against Manchester United (Jota's shot following Nat Phillip's knock-down, and Roberto Firmino's near-post header), and crucially, Alisson Becker scoring his header against West Bromwich Albion. With a renewed threat on set-pieces, Liverpool strung together eight wins in 10 games, showing title winning form for the first time in a year.This year, Liverpool's set-piece threat looks strong unlike open play situations which can be affected by statistical variation and randomness, set-pieces are more of a closed system, meaning they can be drilled and practiced in a way that open play cannot. With elite players who are capable of regularly hitting the target, reacting to second balls and landing a pass, shot or cross accurately, the propensity for Liverpool to score from set-pieces is even greater than the average Premier League side.Set-pieces are just another weapon in the armoury for Liverpool, who can already beat teams through pressing, intelligent and considered buildup, play down the middle or out wide and so on. If the Reds can continue to exploit this advantage they have, wins will be far easier and frequent than last season, and there will be very few tactical systems that can resist Jürgen Klopp's formidable side.Read MoreRelated ArticlesRead MoreRelated Articles

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