The Dark Art of the Set Piece

October 20, 2024
by Aaron Mateer

There are few things more frustrating as a Chelsea supporter than watching your team play well enough to deserve something from a match, and then lose because of one moment where everyone seems to switch off. That's exactly what happened at Anfield.

Chelsea lost 2-1 to Liverpool today, despite showing plenty of the courage and quality that has made this season under Enzo Maresca so encouraging. Nicolas Jackson's equalizer gave us a way back into the match, but five minutes later Curtis Jones restored Liverpool's lead. That goal has been bothering me ever since. Not because it was some unstoppable piece of attacking brilliance.

It was because it was sneaky.

Sneakers

Look at the setup before the ball comes in. Liverpool had three players in offside positions, creating distractions and occupying the attention of Chelsea's defensive line. Meanwhile, Curtis Jones found the space nobody seemed to notice. Mohamed Salah's cross came in, Jones attacked it, and suddenly Chelsea were behind again.

That isn't just bad luck.

It's the dark art of the set piece, and Chelsea supporters have seen this movie before.

Earlier today, Manchester City pulled off something remarkably similar against Wolves. John Stones scored the winner from a corner, but Bernardo Silva was standing in an offside position directly in front of goalkeeper José Sá. Silva backed into Sá, then peeled away just as the ball arrived. VAR ultimately decided he hadn't interfered with the goalkeeper enough to chalk it off.

Whether you think it was legal or not almost misses the point. Teams are getting smarter about finding the tiny gaps between what's technically permitted and what clearly makes life miserable for a defender or goalkeeper.

Copycats

All the big teams are doing this, and now everyone is copying it. That's football. If something works, eventually everyone does it.

As Chelsea fans, we can complain about Liverpool's second goal. We can complain about the little movements, the distractions, the failure to pick up Jones. We can even complain that others seem to have discovered the same bag of tricks. Eventually, though, the responsibility comes back to Chelsea.

This Chelsea team is young. They're still learning how to compete at the highest level, and matches like this are lessons in the details that separate a good team from a ruthless one. The frustrating part is that Chelsea didn't lose because Liverpool overwhelmed us. We lost because Liverpool understood one tiny moment better than we did.

The Premier League is increasingly decided in those moments.

So we learn the dark arts, or we get used to losing to them. I know which one I'm hoping for, but with this squad's track record on the details this season, I wouldn't bet against a few more of these lessons before it clicks.