Hurzeler can end Brighton barrenness from set pieces
A free-flowing, rapid counter attack by the Albion ends with a keeper or defender putting the ball behind for a corner.
Are you excited? Is the anticipation too much? Or do you take that as a signal to check your phone or nip to the loo?
Corners and free kicks have over recent seasons become a standing joke in my part of the Amex. We scored just 2.5 goals per 100 set pieces in the 2022-23 season.
Things did not get much better in 2023-24. Six goals from set pieces represented less than 12 percent of the Seagulls’ overall tally. Brighton were 16th overall for set piece goals, although comfortingly Crystal Palace were worse of the lot.
Contrast that with penalties and the 10 spot kicks converted by the ice-cold Joao Pedro from 11 opportunities. If only we could convert more dead ball scenarios from outside the penalty area.
Brighton’s defensive record on set pieces was better. The eighth best in the Premier League, conceding just 10 goals from corners and free kicks. That was still slightly worse than the preceding season and leaves room for improvement.
Roberto De Zerbi was asked about corners and free kicks at the end-of-season Fans’ Forum back in April. The response of the soon-to-be-departed Albion head coach was telling.
Whilst, grimacing De Zerbi said: “I don’t love the set pieces. It’s a different part of football, not the build up or the last 20 metres. I don’t love working in the set pieces.”
I am still bereft that De Zerbi is gone, but set pieces clearly were not as much his thing as smoking cigarettes and downing espressos.
Other clubs and managers take a different viewpoint of set pieces. Would West Ham for example have paid £30 million to Southampton for James Ward-Prowse without his set piece ability?
Ward-Prowse ranks amongst the best in the world for goals from free kicks. Whether for the Hammers or Saints, whenever he lined up a dead ball at the Amex anywhere near the Albion penalty area you would get that sinking feeling in your gut.
It is not as though Brighton have spent the last few seasons with nobody who can take a set piece. Alexis Mac Allister and Pascal Gross spring to mind.
Yet far too often it has seemed as though a corner was just a means of getting the ball back to Jason Steele. A free kick an opportunity to hit either Row Z in the North Stand or the cafe in Stanmer Park.
This poor record from set pieces becomes even more frustrating when you consider the number of fouls the Albion’s attacking wingers and midfielders like Kaoru Mitoma draw.
It has not always been like this, of course. Who can forget Sebastian Pocognoli – newly installed as head coach at Tony Bloom’s Union Saint-Gilloise – causing “absolute bedlam” with his free kick against QPR on our way to promotion in 2017?
Or David Lopez crashing an effort past Crystal Palace in the St Patrick’s Day Massacre of 2013? Or the almost telepathic link up between Paul Watson and Bobby Zamora in the early Withdean Years?
Enter Fabian Hürzeler. In sharp contrast to De Zerbi, Hurzeler absolutely adores set pieces. He is on record as saying: “I’m a big fan of set pieces because set pieces are a game changer. They are a match winner. This would be part of my identity.”
Hurzeler’s St Pauli team scored 14 times from set pieces on their way to winning the Bundesliga 2 title last season – almost a quarter of their goals total.
If Brighton under Hurzeler can start to convert more of the copious corners and free kicks earned, our chances of a top 10 finish or a return to Europe surely grow.
An increased emphasis on set pieces will make games more enjoyable and exciting for fans. Imagine when the linesman checks the placement of the ball at the corner flag or the referee holsters his can of white spray, there is the anticipation of an unstoppable shot or perfectly placed inswinger causing that net to bulge.
Rather than the inevitable sight of the ball failing to beat the first man or cannoning into the wall.
Fabian, over to you.
Warren Morgan @WarrenBHAFC
