Manchester City had plenty of mitigating factors to fall back on for their decline in set-pieces, but have taken action instead
Manchester City were outgunned on set-pieces by Crystal Palace
Manchester City were outgunned on set-pieces by Crystal Palace
Pep Guardiola was not surprised to see Manchester City fail to defend a Crystal Palace free-kick back in December. Maxence Lacroix had the freedom of Selhurst Park to put his team back in front against the Blues after another dismal defence.
"Of course in set-pieces right now, they are stronger than us," the manager said as he reflected on a 2-2 draw. He then added: "Every single team."
Picture a Guardiola team and it is hard to envisage them being good at set-pieces. The stereotype of 11 midfielders under six foot who can magic their way through a tight defence but don't practice heading and lose every aerial duel on account of being six inches shorter than their opponents.
City's manager used to joke that his most effective technique for defending set-pieces was praying, and he would often be seen on his knees or looking away whenever his team conceded a free-kick in a dangerous area. In the early years of his reign at the Etihad, it was a weak point.
But then things changed. Nicolas Jover started the revival before leaving for a more visible position at Arsenal and when Carlos Vicens took over in 2021 he turned City into the best team at set-pieces the Premier League has ever seen.
Those marginal gains were crucial to another narrow title win over Liverpool, with 21 goals scored from set-pieces and just one conceded for the most effective ever performance in the competition. Despite Arsenal's attempts in subsequent years, City still hold the record.
How did City fall from best to worst then? They weren't quite statistically, but only Ipswich and Fulham scored fewer than their seven goals from set-pieces and while only Brentford conceded fewer than their five, a paltry net score of two is almost 20 worse than just a few seasons ago; even last year, their net score was 13 (16-3).
And to say the numbers against don't look too bad considering Guardiola's damning claim at Palace, the underlying numbers were much worse. An Opta study in May found that City were the worst in the division for allowing opponents chances from corners, with 45 per cent of the corners they faced leading to at least one shot, and 25 per cent seeing a shot from a first touch.
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There were factors to explain this steep drop-off, and it is a boring one: injuries. So many defensive absences cannot have helped City at either end of the pitch; not only are centre-backs better than anybody else at keeping the ball out of the net but they also carry an aerial threat in the opposition boxes.
Consider how many more goals City might have scored had John Stones been fit for longer of the campaign, given he managed important finishes against Arsenal and Wolves from corners earlier in the campaign. With Rodri absent for the whole season as well, City missed most of their tallest, most physical players.
City have every reason to expect a better return next year then, given Rodri is back and they do not anticipate as many injuries. It would have been easy to write this off as a series of unfortunate events.
They haven't though, instead bringing Liverpool opposition analyst James French in to be their new set-piece coach to help Guardiola. Together with former Liverpool No.2 Pep Lijnders, they will give fresh ideas for the manager.
It remains to be seen what impact it will have, but City cannot be accused of relying on excuses as they look to make significant improvements next season.
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