Liverpool's woeful set-piece record continues to be a big problem - what is going so wrong?

No team in Europe’s big five leagues has conceded more set-play goals (12) than Liverpool this season. It has become Arne Slot's kryptonite.

Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Brentford, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Tottenham and most recently Wolves have all found a way to exploit such weakness this season. Some more than once.

Before hosting Wolves at the weekend, and conceding to a corner, Slot described set-pieces as an "add-on". He's probably in a limited pool of head coaches that still views them that way given how the Premier League has evolved in recent years. Plenty would argue they have become fundamental.

No doubt Liverpool's set-piece balance at both ends of the pitch is way off where it needs to be to compete inside the top four. If net goals via set plays were a measure of league position, Slot's side would be rock bottom.

• Liverpool fixtures & scores | FREE Liverpool PL highlights▶️
• Got Sky? Watch Liverpool games LIVE on your phone?
• Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW?

So, where are they going wrong?

Problems with corners

Only West Ham (10) have conceded more times from corners than Liverpool's seven this term, the rate of which Slot has called "close to ridiculous".

Starting at source, Liverpool have faced 85 corners so far this season, which places them around mid-table, and equates to a goal roughly every 12 corner kicks. The Hammers have faced 114, and are conceding on average every 11. For context, league leaders Arsenal have only had to defend 55.

But, oddly, Liverpool are not necessarily conceding via conventional methods. They rarely get beat to the first contact, which explains their low xG in the graphic below, and points to a problem with the second phase - as identified by captain Virgil van Dijk on Saturday.

He called Liverpool's failure to deal with the second defensive phase a 'killer', meaning they are not responsive or reactive enough when the ball becomes loose inside the penalty area - or is recycled by the opposition team.

Harry Maguire's late winner for Man Utd at Anfield in October is actually the only instance where Liverpool have conceded directly from a header - ie beaten to the first contact - but the cross from Bruno Fernandes is in the second phase of a corner after Bryan Mbeumo's initial delivery had been blocked.

White shirts are queuing up at the back post, none with a marker.

It suggests the initial structure, where some players are marking touch tight and others zonally, is stopping free headers at goal, but failing to deal with what happens in the next phase. Many factors contribute to this but a simple reading will tell you Liverpool are too quick to switch off. A lack of aggression is not helping either.

If Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are being asked to dominate aerially by attacking deliveries, the rest should be primed to win the following duel. More often than not they aren't positioned to do so, either leaving opposition players with too much space or unmarked completely.

Something similar happened against Wolves, where Santi Bueno was left free to poke beyond Alisson, with as many as five Liverpool defenders on the wrong side of the action.

Bueno had free reign of the six-yard box to score.

On that occasion Konate and Van Dijk missed first contact altogether, not the only time that has cost this season. Earlier this month against Leeds Ao Tanaka hung out at the back post and when all those in red got sucked towards the ball from a lofted corner, he simply tapped home a stoppage-time equaliser. Liverpool host Leeds for the return leg on New Year's Day, live on Sky Sports.

Slot must know that defensive reinforcements in January are a must alongside a more robust plan to prevent such failings permeating the rest of their season. There is no hiding from the necessity of either.

• Liverpool news & transfers?

Are set-pieces merely an accessory?

Most Premier League managers would answer this question with a simple no. And yet Slot's rhetoric seems to suggest he undervalues their importance.

Given over 50 per cent of Liverpool's goals conceded have been from set plays (including penalties) this season, that appears to be a mistake.

But equally worrying is a lack of productivity from set-piece situations at the top end. The league has seen a steep rise in set-piece goals this season and the teams that are effective in this area tend to be those competing at the right end of the table.

Man Utd boast the best record in the Premier League (13 scored), with Arsenal (12) close behind. Leeds (12) are perhaps the only anomaly among the top five most successful, which also includes Chelsea (11) and Aston Villa (nine).

And it would be wrong to think the set-piece phenomenon is specific to England. If you take the French league as a case study, first-place Lens have scored 10 via set-pieces, a Ligue 1 high, while PSG's second-best total of nine also tallies with their league position.

Slot has spoken of being "so annoyed" by the underperformance, but there has been little upturn since. It's worth noting that Liverpool's appointed set-piece expert, Aaron Briggs, has spent most of his career as an analyst and has never previously held a role as a set-piece specialist despite being an experienced coach.

Eighteen games into the season, such a poor record goes well beyond bad luck. Perhaps it's time to fully embrace the set-play revolution - or risk being left further and further behind the curve.

Watch Liverpool vs Leeds live on Sky Sports Main Event on January 1; kick-off 5.30pm

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Liverpool's woeful set-piece record continues to be a big problem - what is going so wrong?