After a disappointing season, Liverpool Football Club has come under fire this season for their abysmal defense on set-pieces. Liverpool have now conceded 12 set-piece goals this Premier League season, a staggering statistic that has sounded the alarm. In response, the club is taking dramatic steps to turn things around. The departure of set-piece coach Aaron Briggs underscores the urgency of addressing these ongoing issues.
Currently, Liverpool has faced 85 corners this season—enough to rank them somewhere in the mid-table for corners faced. One terrifying statistic for the team is that they give up a goal roughly every 12 corners against. This concerning trend points to an alarming weakness in their defensive playbook. The team is typically the best at being first to hit the net on these types of plays. They come up against the biggest test in the second stage of set-pieces.
European football metrics do not bode well for Liverpool. No other team in Europe’s top five leagues has conceded more set-play goals than Liverpool this season. The club has the 3rd-worst attacking set-piece record in the league. Only West Ham have conceded more from corners than the seven Liverpool have. Opponents such as Newcastle, Crystal Palace, and Manchester United have all exploited this defensive weakness. Incredibly, Brentford, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Tottenham and Wolves have capitalized on this vulnerability multiple times over the course of the campaign.
That came to a head in a recent game. Despite going a goal down to a set piece, Liverpool turned around a 2-1 home defeat to Wolves at Anfield. Even with the victory in the bag, the repeating story of defensive mistakes on set-pieces were once again obvious and widespread. Jürgen Klopp’s successor, Slot, has openly criticized the team’s performance in this area, labeling it as an “add-on” while describing the rate of conceding from corners as “close to ridiculous.”
Despite the overall importance that Liverpool must place on improving their set-piece work, the decision to part ways with Aaron Briggs reflects a wider impatience from the club. The club’s management is likely seeking a fresh perspective and new strategies to bolster their defensive organization during these critical moments in matches.
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