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Crooks: The Organization Of Set-Piece Defending Is Critical

By Glenn Crooks
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Set piece, set play, dead ball, restart, free kick. No matter what you call it, these often dangerous opportunities can decide the outcome of soccer matches – at every level.

New York City has a short road trip to meet the winless Philadelphia Union on Saturday afternoon.  Philadelphia appeared to secure three road points last week until it permitted two scores off corner kicks -- both in stoppage time -- and Sporting KC snatched a 3-2 victory.  All five goals in that match were scored from restarts.

The Union total, now, is seven set-piece goals conceded out of the nine they have allowed overall.

NYCFC suffered its first defeat as a franchise in their last match, on March 28, also to KC -- and again by virtue of a set piece.  New York City supporters will remember Ike Opara soaring above Kwame Watson-Siriboe to head home the lone goal of the match off a throw-in from Matt Besler.

The only other goal permitted by New York City this year was Kaka's free-kick equalizer for Orlando City in the waning moments of the historic expansion opener in Florida.

"I think we all know how vital dead balls can be," said NYCFC head coach Jason Kreis after training on Wednesday. "Sometimes you scratch your head and say, 'Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing. Maybe we should come out here every day of the week and work on all dead balls.' I hope that's not the case."

Of the 95 goals scored in Major League Soccer thus far, 37 have been the result of set pieces.  Consequently, 38 percent of finishes are the product of corner kicks, free kicks and throw-ins.

In 2014, three of the leading clubs in world soccer had issues on the defensive side of dead balls.  Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all conceded more set-piece goals than they scored.  The deficiencies in defending these set plays was a factor in preventing the Reds from winning the BPL title and United from qualifying for the Champions League.  Arsenal stood out with 43 percent of goals-against scored via the set piece.

"Some coaches see the game in a different way and prefer to play the game in a different way," said Kreis, referring to his training regimen. "Others would say I'm going to play for the percentages."

Kreis is similar to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger -- they NEED to see the game played a certain way with possession, ball movement, combination play and the ability to control the game.  I have not attended every session conducted by Kreis, but of the many I have observed, not once did I see the mechanics or mentality of set pieces being catered to.

"It's a difficult balance, for sure," said Kreis.

The organization of set-piece defending is critical, often established after scouting the upcoming opponent. Perhaps even more significant is the mentality of each player, according to Union assistant BJ Callaghan.

"You can't teach mentality," remarked Callaghan, who joined head coach Jim Curtin on the sidelines last season. "You can do things in training – it doesn't have to be set pieces, it could just be a crossing drill.  You have to learn to attack the ball."

"It's looking at yourself in the mirror and trying to stay strong mentally and physically,"  Curtin said after the set-piece debacle in Kansas City. "We can sit here and talk about it, or train it all we want, but we have to just go and do it in the game."

As the league leaders in goals surrendered, Curtin had to take a close inspection of personnel.  He did not need thorough analysis to detect that his lead goalkeeper, Rais Mbolhi, had been suffering from severe confidence issues and poor body language.  He will be replaced by John McCarthy, a 21-year-old rookie out of LaSalle University.

"It is a decision I made and it was based on performance," said Curtin.

Mbolhi, an Algerian, was in goal when Landon Donovan's stoppage-time strike secured passage to the knockout stage of the 2010 World Cup for Team USA.  That Mbolhi is a Designated Player for Philadelphia with a reported $500,000 salary adds to the misery for the Union hierarchy.  He will not be in the squad for the NYCFC match and reportedly has left the country to be with his daughter.

Instead, it will be McCarthy in his MLS debut, attempting to command the box and put a halt to the set-piece leaks. The Union needs better decisions from the keeper, plus a more alert group around him.

"It's not just the first chance that comes in," said Curtin, a defender for nine seasons in MLS, seven with the Chicago Fire. "It's the second and third chances that we have to deal with."

"You try to put the ball in a dangerous position." said Kreis, who won the MLS Cup with Real Salt Lake in 2009. "It's not that there is a lot of attacking prowess there; it's mostly just preying off defensive mistakes."

Can those defensive mistakes be curtailed through more extensive work on the training ground? The answer may be yes, but that leads to the coaching conundrum. When do we review in a tight training schedule?  The statistics bear out the need to prioritize.

Throw-Ins

- Entering week six of the MLS season, only five of 20 MLS teams have yet to yield a goal off a set play (DC United, Montreal, RSL, Seattle and Vancouver).

- D.C. United, at the top of the Eastern Conference table, will host the second-place Red Bulls on Saturday to renew one of the bitter rivalries in MLS.  The enmity developed through the high number of regular-season and Cup matches played between the charter members of MLS. It became more intense in a match at Giants Stadium in 2006. Alecko Eskandarian scored the first goal in a D.C. victory, then took a sip of Red Bull (the energy drink) and spit it on the ground, an intentional slight on the recently renamed New York Red Bulls.  Eskandarian, now coaching with the NASL Cosmos, was fined $250 by the league.

- The Red Bulls have only been scored on twice in four matches – both the product of set pieces.

- With "Soccer Golf" now a sport, I feel that a comment on the Masters is appropriate.  How pompous that the broadcasters from Augusta National are required to call the spectators "patrons."  I challenge you, Jim Nantz, to call them fans. Just once.

- I watched my second episode of "Garbage Time with Katie Nolan." I still have not been entertained.  Next, I will have my son (22) and daughter (nearly 17) watch with me to see if it's a demographics issue.

Glenn Crooks is the color commentator for New York City FC on WFAN and the former head soccer coach at Rutgers University. You can follow him on Twitter at@GlennCrooks and glenncrooks.sportsblog.com.

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