Set pieces are worth more than anyone admits out loud

The cheapest available goal is the one nobody wants to be seen prioritising.

There is a status problem in set-piece coaching. It is treated as a specialism rather than a core competence, and at many clubs it is handled by an assistant with three other responsibilities. Meanwhile roughly a third of goals in the top divisions come from dead balls, a proportion that has drifted upward for eight consecutive seasons.

A status problem

The reason is not that teams have become better at crossing. It is that the defensive side of set pieces has been optimised much faster than the attacking side, so the marginal gain now sits with creative routine design that defensive schemes do not anticipate. A well-drilled side wins two or three additional matches a season on this alone.

Cheap gains, slowly priced

The clubs that have invested have done so cheaply. A dedicated analyst and a coach with the time to rehearse variations is a fraction of the cost of a squad player. That the market has been slow to price this is one of the more persistent inefficiencies in the game.