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Tottenham Hotspurs set piece problem (A THREAD)
It's no secret that our main weakness this season defensively has been our poor set piece defending. In this thread I have analised why that is happening and given some cheap and easy solutions to this problem.
First of all I'd like to mention that all stats are going to be just from the Premier league as its our first XI and that's the only way it feels fair to judge the team and all stats are from before the Leicester game.
This season we have conceded a whopping 9 goals from set pieces (including pens) putting our percentage of set piece goals conceded at a staggering 75%. Even just counting goals conceded from free kicks and corners(5) our percentatge is at rufly 40%.
When comparing that to last seasons 22% (up to the arsenal game) it's clear that there has been a vast decline. Obviously part of the reason why our percentatge is so high this season is because we have barely conceded any open play goals (3)
But if we continue to concede set pieces at the same rate as we are right now by the end of the season we will have conceded 28 set piece goals (16 if you don't count penalties) which is quite simply unacceptable in a team that has title aspirations.
And our attacking numbers aren't much better either. We've only scored two goals from set pieces this season and we haven't scored a direct free kick since Eriksen left. It's very clear then that we massively need to improve in order to finally end our trophy drought this season
Why is this happening? Part of the reason is because of our style of play that we use. We can easily see that since Dier and Toby have become our starting CB pairing we've started sitting deep and absorbing pressure as that is the only way we can truly defend with no pace.
This style of play is based on conceding an insane amount of fouls and corners which, because Dier and Toby aren't the best in the air (especially the latter), leads to us conceding from a lot of them. We are statistically the team in the league that concedes the most fouls x90
Most of them coming from the right which attacks our weak left side in defence (as Dier isn't natural in that side). This leaves Dier and Toby completely exposed as neither our fullbacks nor our DMs are particularly good in the air and Hugo barely comes off his line
So how can we fix this? For this part of the thread I want to take a look at what our London rivals Chelsea have done. Last season Chelsea weren't all that good at defending set pieces, with over 30% of their goals conceded coming from them mounting to 15 goals.
But with the addition of an experienced leader that is good in the air and can organise the back line in Thiago and most importantly the addition of set piece coach Anthony Barry, they've completely turned it around. In fact this season they've only conceded 3 set piece goals.
Not only have they been transformed defensively but they also have offensively having gone from scoring 11 goals from direct set pieces to already having scored 8. So it's clear that this can be fixed and for reletively little money so this is what I would do:
STEP 1: SIGN A CB
As highlighted in the thread Toby x Dier doesn't work as a combination as they aren't fast enough to play a high defensive line and aren't good enough in the air to play a low block meaning a clear solution is to sign a CB, one who is fast and strong in the air.
As highlighted in the thread Toby x Dier doesn't work as a combination as they aren't fast enough to play a high defensive line and aren't good enough in the air to play a low block meaning a clear solution is to sign a CB, one who is fast and strong in the air.
OPTION 1: MILENKOVIC
The 23 year old Serbian has had a superb couple of seasons for Fiorentina and is already accustomed to playing a high defensive line. With an 88% aerial success rate this season (compared to Diers 56% and Tobys 54%) and a tackle success rate of more than 80%
The 23 year old Serbian has had a superb couple of seasons for Fiorentina and is already accustomed to playing a high defensive line. With an 88% aerial success rate this season (compared to Diers 56% and Tobys 54%) and a tackle success rate of more than 80%
he would be a clear upgrade to our current CBs. His one weakness is his distribution with a passing accuracy below 80%. Despite that I think he would be the perfect long term partner to Rodon.
OPTION 2: SVEN BOTMAN
With Lilles current financial situation we should take a serious look at Botman. Despite only joining Lille in summer and having a contract that runs untill 2025 it's being reported he could well be available for a reletively cheap price tag.
With Lilles current financial situation we should take a serious look at Botman. Despite only joining Lille in summer and having a contract that runs untill 2025 it's being reported he could well be available for a reletively cheap price tag.
Young, left footed CBs are extremely rare nowadays. The 6ft 4 defender has a healthy 74% aerial win success rate whilst winning 6,4 headers a game. His main strength thought is his work on the ball as he often creates chances for team mates from deep.
Its worth mentioning that Kimbepe would be the absolute dream and Torres, Upamecano, Konate and Mukiele would be incredible signings I've just not included them as I don't think they are realistic.
STEP 2: SIGN A SET PIECE COACH
Tottenham don't currently have a set piece coach and even though there isn't much information available on set piece coaches, whilst doing research for this thread I've found someone who I think could do an excellent job at spurs, MARTYN MARGETSON.
Tottenham don't currently have a set piece coach and even though there isn't much information available on set piece coaches, whilst doing research for this thread I've found someone who I think could do an excellent job at spurs, MARTYN MARGETSON.
The 57 year old is currently at Swansea and was part of the coaching staff that got England to the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup where England impressed in set pieces and most crucially in attacking and defending corners implementing the famous train method.
He has also completely turned around Swansea's defence, in Potters final season they conceded the most goals from set pieces in the championship with 24 mounting to 39% set piece conceded by February in the next season they'd only conceded 6 which was join top in the championship
He also massively improved the attack and could be the key in our success this season.
In conclusion it shouldn't be all that hard or expensive to solve our set piece issues but it is key we fix it or we will defenetly regret it come the end of the season.
This took me a long time so any likes and rts are massively appreciated 
