MILLWALL are working hard to eradicate an area of vulnerability that has cost them in recent games – defending the second phase of set-pieces.
The Lions have conceded two goals in their last two games after initially half-clearing the first delivery of a set-play.
In both instances it was attacking players at the back post as the ball came back in. In the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth, Dominic Solanke got the better of Mason Bennett to score the opener at the second attempt.
And against Hull last Saturday, Tom Bradshaw and Benik Afobe were the two defending players closest to the back post as the ball was cleared to the edge of the penalty box. But they both moved forward just as a shot was coming back in, vacating an area just in front of Bartosz Bialkowski to leave Ryan Longman, who had anticipated a loose ball might drop to him, to score the winner.
Earlier in the season, West Brom’s Kyle Bartley scored from a second phase in the 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns.
Millwall have also conceded league goals from first-phase contacts this season. Aden Flint and Sean Morrison scored after getting to deliveries first in the Lions’ 3-1 defeat at Cardiff. Blackburn’s Ben Brereton Diaz and Huddersfield’s Jonathan Hogg also headed in from the first dead-ball delivery in a 1-1 draw and 1-0 defeat for Millwall.
Meanwhile, Millwall’s last goal directly from a set-piece was 10 games ago, when Murray Wallace headed in the winner from Jed Wallace’s corner in the 89th minute at Barnsley.
Lions boss Gary Rowett knows how important set-pieces are, particularly to a side like Millwall who rely on their strengths at defensive and attacking routines to win games.
“Set-pieces in general, you look at how important they are in the modern game, if you look at the Championship and the percentage of goals scored and conceded very often it’s between 30 and 40 per cent,” Rowett said.
“Large parts of games are dictated by set-pieces. Sometimes the challenge is, and certainly the challenge we had on Saturday was it ended up being a lot of attacking players in the area the goal was scored from.
“Sometimes the responsibility after that first ball has been dealt with is making sure that players defend the set-piece until it’s cleared, until it’s finished. Often players just switch off on that second moment.
“It’s something we’ve worked hard on, it’s something we’re disappointed with when, like on Saturday, we end up losing a game with a set-piece. That’s the challenge. We shouldn’t lose games like that.
“It’s happened a few times. It happened against Bournemouth. We conceded from the first phase against Blackburn at home. Against Cardiff away from home.
“For the work that we do I would expect the players to deal with those situations and it’s always disappointing when we don’t.”
Image: Millwall FC