How Leeds United can end set-piece hoodoo with outside-the-box tactic, Elland Road patience and Arsenal inspiration — YEP 17/9/24

By Joe Donnohue

Leeds United's failure to convert opportunities from set-pieces is currently holding the team back as they look to avoid losing ground on the Championship's early pace-setters.

Leeds are ninth in the Championship table after five matchdays this season having accrued eight points, earned largely from two recent wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City.

After four unbeaten and three consecutive clean sheets, United were brought back down to earth over the weekend as Burnley arrived at Elland Road, only to take all three points following a 1-0 win.

The discourse surrounding Leeds' first league defeat of the season has focused upon manager Daniel Farke's future, his preferred style of play and secondarily, the team's apparent difficulty in scoring from set-pieces.

Leeds had nine corners against the Clarets but rarely looked like converting from any of their dead-ball situations. In fact, according to Opta, it is 147 corners since United last scored from such a scenario, away at Swansea City back in February. In that time, Leeds have had 52 shots from corner kicks, but converted none.

This season, only five Championship teams have taken more shots from set-pieces than Leeds. Each of those have scored at least once from dead-ball situations, while the Whites await their first conversion.

Leeds have taken 23 shots at set-plays this term, generating an Expected Goals (xG) total of 1.69 from those 23 attempts. Not only is that the most shots attempted by a Championship club without scoring from a set-piece, but also the most xG produced without finding the net, too.

Pascal Struijk's return to the side has yielded more set-pieces finding a Leeds head, when compared with the second half of last season, but so far accuracy has been lacking. The Dutchman has had six shots from set-plays during Leeds' opening five matches but none have been on target.

The fact Leeds are generating an ample number of shots from set-pieces suggests that delivery is not too much of an issue, so calls for Joe Rothwell - who historically has a penchant for set-plays - to come into the side for Ilia Gruev may be premature for now. Data points towards Leeds' training ground routines and finishing ability from such situations to be the area in which they are lacking instead.

Other teams in the division have applied particular focus on generating goalscoring opportunities from set-plays, such as Millwall and Queens Park Rangers, who between them have scored six goals from 78 shots so far this season. Derby County, meanwhile, have scored five at set-plays, from just 29 shots, although the xG generated by the Rams is far greater than Leeds, and within the same ball park as Millwall and QPR's.

Teams who dominate possession less often or lack creativity from open play tend to prioritise set-pieces as a means of scoring goals. Newly-promoted Derby, in addition to lower-half of the table duo Millwall and QPR epitomise this strategy, even at this early stage of the campaign.

Set-piece supremacy may be looked down upon by so-called 'better' sides, but the example Arsenal have set in the Premier League, scoring a staggering 51 times from set-plays since August 2021, indicates Leeds could learn a thing or two from the Gunners and divisional rivals to the south, by perhaps spending a little additional focus on making the most of the marginal gains on offer at dead-ball situations.

Set-pieces have been an issue throughout Farke's Leeds tenure and on more than one occasion the German has been known to reference the team's struggles in this particular area, so it's not as though the topic is being neglected. Instead, greater focus or alternative thinking could be applied.

United are among the shortest sides in the division, Struijk and Joe Rodon aside, therefore maybe it's not such a surprise they are struggling to convert from set-plays. It could call for some outside-the-box thinking; short-corner routines that catch opponents off-guard or ask questions that aren't as straightforward as rising above the likes of Willy Gnonto, Brenden Aaronson and Manor Solomon to head clear.

Short corners are, however, not a terrace favourite but highly-coachable and managers would not employ them as a tactic if they didn't yield results. When the team hasn't scored from a corner in seven months, calling for patience isn't a popular message to send but if Leeds are to end their set-piece hoodoo, trying something different - and an acceptance they mightn't get it right immediately - could be a necessity.