Leicester City have been so bad at defending set-pieces in recent seasons that their lack of threat in attacking the box has almost been forgotten.
The issue first came to prominence in 2021-22. City conceded 19 Premier League goals from set-pieces that season, the most in the division, while it was their downfall in other competitions, not least in the Europa Conference League, with Tammy Abraham’s header from a corner the killer blow in their semi-final against Roma.
That campaign ended with successfully cleared corners receiving ironic cheers from City’s own fans. Around that time, there was a podcast advert for a car dealership that said: “You can purchase your next quality car, one even Leicester can handle corners with…” They’d become a laughing stock.
But with all that focus on the defensive end, it was perhaps lost that only three teams scored fewer goals from set-pieces. There were big issues there too.
City and Brendan Rodgers finally worked on addressing the problem, bringing in Lars Knudsen for the following campaign. Mere days after his work permit finally came through, the Dane was pictured forlorn on the City bench after more set-piece goals were conceded in the 6-2 loss at Tottenham.
With Knudsen’s guidance, City did improve. They conceded six fewer goals from set-pieces and scored one more in the Premier League in 22-23, but they still ranked in the bottom six for each measure.
Even in the Championship, defending set-pieces was an issue. Despite City’s dominance of possession and territory affording fewer opportunities for opponents to attack their box, they still weren’t great. Thirteen set-piece goals were conceded, with only seven sides letting in more from dead balls. That’s in spite of City having to defend the second-fewest number of corners in the division.
Again, it meant City’s inability to successfully attack set-pieces was overlooked. It didn’t matter that they weren’t scoring from corners and free-kicks because, for the majority of the season, they scored plenty from open play.
That was until the defeat to Plymouth in late April. City had 13 corners, the most of any game last season, but only one directly led to an attempt. A closer look at the total picture showed, by the expected goals measure, only Birmingham and Plymouth created less from dead balls than City did last term.
Enzo Maresca was defensive over that stat. He had tasked assistant manager Willy Caballero with leading the club’s set-piece preparation and was insistent that the Argentinian’s ideas were right, and that it was the delivery that was lacking.
He said: “If we don’t create any chances, probably it’s because the taker can be better or the players inside the box, they can be better. Are you saying the team is not doing what Willy says? You are wrong.
“If we arrive there and don’t score, we cannot throw the ball into the net. If we have a corner and the taker does not put in a great ball, it’s not about Willy. It’s just about the taker or the quality. It’s not that the team is not doing what Willy says, that is absolutely not correct.”
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