Liverpool set-piece problems a killer – Van Dijk

According to Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, the second phase is a “killer” for them because the first set-pieces “hurts” from set pieces.

This season, Arne Slot’s side conceded 12 goals from set pieces, which is the highest total in the Premier League, along with Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth.

Santiago Bueno scored from a corner in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Anfield in the league match on Saturday, and Richarlison scored for Tottenham Hotspur last week after the Reds couldn’t clear a corner.

We need to improve it, he said. It’s not even about the first contact, in my opinion, which is at least 75% of the time or even more. The killer is in the second half.

Is it a mental process? I’m hoping not. If that’s in your head, then something is wrong. It’s not in my head, personally.

Liverpool has only allowed three goals from setpieces in the league, excluding penalties. Their Premier League season’s worst difference is minus nine.

We have effectively defended so many set pieces. However, it hurts because we’ve given up too many goals in this manner. That needs to be improved. Van Dijk remarked that the only way to improve is through training.

It hasn’t been good enough, it says. That is all that is known. We’ve discussed it. It needs to be turned around. We almost always work on it because of this.

Unfortunately, Liverpool manager Slot said, “We’re probably the only team that rarely scores from a set-piece and, worse, we consistently concede.”

“But then, I believe I said it two, three, or four weeks ago, we must make sure that when things go wrong with us, whether it be a set-piece or something else, we must still find a way to win.

We conceded from a set-piece in the previous two games, but we won, which hasn’t happened often this season. That is progress, in my opinion, but it’s obvious there are more things we can do, and this is undoubtedly one of them.

“I believe our set pieces have had bad luck in a number of ways,” he said. We need to get better because there are currently 18 games.