Liverpool set-piece problems a ‘killer’ – Van Dijk: Liverpool’s recurring fragility from dead-ball situations continues to gnaw at the squad, with captain Virgil van Dijk admitting the issue cuts deep, while the aftermath of the initial clearance has become a recurring executioner.
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Under Arne Slot, the Reds have now surrendered 12 goals from set-pieces this campaign a bleak statistic that places them level with Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest as the league’s most vulnerable in such moments.
Even recent victories have not masked the concern. In Saturday’s 2–1 win over Wolves at Anfield, Santiago Bueno rose unchallenged to convert from a corner. A week earlier, Richarlison punished Liverpool after a scrappy failure to extinguish danger following another corner against Tottenham Hotspur.
Van Dijk was candid in his assessment. Liverpool, he insists, are not inept by nature. They have, on numerous occasions, repelled set-pieces with authority. Yet the numbers are damning. Too many concessions. Too little reward at the other end.
According to the Dutch defender, the true menace rarely lies in the first aerial duel. It is what follows the loose ball, the delayed reaction, the fractured shape that delivers the fatal blow. The second phase, he suggests, is where order dissolves into chaos.
Questions of psychology have inevitably surfaced. Van Dijk is reluctant to believe the problem is rooted in the mind. To him, allowing doubt to fester would be more dangerous than any corner kick. He maintains that, on a personal level, the issue does not occupy his thoughts though he concedes that if it ever does, the consequences would be severe.
The attacking numbers only intensify the frustration. Excluding penalties, Liverpool have mustered just three league goals from set-pieces, leaving them with a stark deficit of minus nine their poorest differential in a Premier League season.
For Van Dijk, the solution is neither mysterious nor glamorous. Repetition. Drills. Relentless rehearsal. Training, he says, is the sole antidote. The group is acutely aware that standards have slipped, discussions have been held, and corrective work now dominates almost every session.
Arne Slot shares the sentiment, albeit with a touch of irony. Liverpool, he notes, appear almost allergic to scoring from set-pieces, while simultaneously inviting danger at the other end. Still, the manager draws cautious optimism from recent results. In the past fortnight, the Reds have conceded from dead-ball scenarios yet emerged victorious a rarity earlier in the season.
For Slot, that resilience represents incremental progress. Football, he argues, will always throw obstacles in a team’s path corners, free-kicks, deflections. The true test lies in finding a route to victory regardless. That said, he does not disguise the urgency. Improvement is non-negotiable, and misfortune can no longer serve as an alibi.
Eighteen league matches in, the evidence is overwhelming. Liverpool must recalibrate their approach.
Their third consecutive league win has lifted them to fourth place, but beneath the ascent lingers an unresolved flaw one that continues to sting, bruise, and threaten to resurface when least expected.
