Set piece struggles

Pool have conceded five times already this season from set pieces, a fact that is causing much constenation among the fans and of course the management.

But the problem of leaking goals from set plays has been part of BFC for a number of years and each season the issue rears its ugly head without us ever really solving the problem.

Cast your mind back to the Steve McMahon years. The football was at times brilliant but the defening was at times awful. One of the reasons for this was a lack of communication between the goalkeeper and his defenders. Phil Barnes was a great servant to BFC and a fine shot stopper. But he rarely commanded his area when the ball was delivered into the danger zone.

Lee Jones was perhaps the best keeper we have had in many years to talk to his defenders and command his area. Along with Peter Clarke there was some good organisation in the backline.

Paul Rachubka is another very good goalkeeper. But the biggest criticism levelled at Rabs is his perceived lack of confidence in commanding his six yard box from set plays.

But the problem of leaking goals from set plays can’t be just the fault of our goalkeepers. We have had some excellent defenders at Blackpool over the past five years; Clarke, Evatt, Gorkss and now Edwards in particular. So why have we consistently conceded with good, solid defenders like these in the team? A lack of focus? Concentration? Organisation?

It seems to me that defending and attacking from set pieces should be an issue worked on and resolved on the training ground during the week. The topic of our supposedly poor training facilities has been all over the message board this week. The link between our struggles with set pieces and our training ground was, I believe, correctly made in numerous posts on the forum. Could this be the definite reason for our problems defending and scoring from set plays?

Stoke showed the Championship last season that if you work on your set pieces for and against you can be successful. It seems hours of hard work and organisation on the training ground should pay dividends when it comes to matchday situations.