Sunderland kept only their second clean sheet of 2024 in their goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers but the warning signs remained.
Anthony Patterson came up trumps in the final minutes to deny Chris Willock what seemed a certain goal – a goal which would have extended Sunderland’s losing streak to seven consecutive Championship matches for the first time ever had it gone in. As it was, Patterson did his job in a man of the match display and provided a flicker of respite at the Stadium of Light heading into the international break.
But aside from Patterson’s heroics, Sunderland were almost guilty of allowing their Achilles heel to cause them issues once more – that issue being set pieces.
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Take this corner in the first half, for example.
Sunderland have nine players inside their own box to defend Lucas Andersen’s delivery, the exception being Dan Neil who is positioned just outside the area to cut off a short option. As Andersen raises his arm to signal the specific routine Marti Cifuentes’ side are going to try and enact, around the penalty spot you can see four QPR players screened by three Sunderland players (Adil Aouchiche, Trai Hume and Jobe Bellingham) in a loose man-marking approach, while Abdoullah Ba is caught a little bit in between man and zonal marking. The rest of Sunderland’s defence are in line with the six-yard box in a zonal set-up.
If we look below, however, as Andersen makes initial contact with his delivery there are at least three blue and white shirts who find themselves almost unmarked in the penalty area as Sunderland’s defence have evaporated – again caught between man and zonal marking
It leaves striker Lyndon Dykes with a free header from around eight yards where he should do much better as Sunderland escaped another set piece setback.
That conflict between man-marking and zonal marking systems is something Sunderland appear to have struggled with at varying points this season having conceded above the league's average amount of goals from set plays.
The worrying thing is, this isn’t new.
Last season, upon their return to the Championship, Sunderland were the third ranked team in the league when it came to goals conceded from set pieces with 16, only Swansea City and QPR conceded more from deadball situations last year.
Although Sunderland have improved slightly this term – there are still eight games remaining – set pieces continue to be a problem, whether that be under Tony Mowbray during the first half of the season, Michael Beale during his 12 game stint or with Mike Dodds in interim charge, with the opening goal in the defeat at Southampton moving Sunderland onto 11 goals given up from set pieces this season.
Having struggled with the issue last season, Sunderland’s first real signs of torment this year came in the reverse fixture with QPR back in September when failing to clear their lines sufficiently from a long throw into the box, albeit Sunderland could not have legislated for what was an excellent strike from full-back Kenneth Paal as he drove into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
When it comes to conceding directly from a set play, it was following their return from September’s international break where they went through a period of turmoil in dealing with set pieces having conceded three in six games against Cardiff City and back-to-back at Stoke City and Leicester City before being able to stamp out some of those issues.
But they are issues which have resurfaced in 2024 under both Beale and Dodds, with Sunderland conceding by virtue of a set play in six of their 13 Championship games this calendar year, excluding Adam Armstrong’s penalty for Southampton and Alexander Isak’s spot kick for Newcastle United in the FA Cup third round.
“The thing we’ve spoken about with the group is not the actual dealing with the first phase, it’s the second phase where we need to be better,” Dodds tells We Are Sunderland.
“The initial set-up, when we’ve gone through all the set pieces and done a review, we’re really comfortable with because it’s very rarely a first contact set piece that we’re giving away – Leicester is one of the only ones we’ve given away, with James Justin that got the run at the King Power. Apart from that they’ve all been second phases.
“It’s something we’ve discussed with the group, not so much as a mentality thing but recognising that just because you’ve dealt with the first phase, the second phase is normally the one that causes a problem. So it’s something we’re aware of.”
Dodds is right to address the concerns regards dealing with the second phases, but when analysing Sunderland’s set piece struggles there are also question marks regarding their set-up and the hybrid nature of utilising both man-marking and zonal marking systems.
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Let’s look back at that opening goal against Southampton, for example.
A common theme, as we will establish, is how Sunderland tend to bring everybody back to defend set pieces. We saw it previously in their near miss against QPR and it’s a trend which continues throughout. In contrast, Southampton have seven players forward with their remaining three outfield players stood over the free kick.
“If you watch a lot of Southampton’s set pieces, the two main threats were that they take a lot of short corners and a lot of short free kicks and one of the things we spoke about was [David Brooks’] quick runs off the back of the wall for short set pieces,” said Dodds.
“So we did speak around guarding short, quick free kicks and corners – that might be a factor in why they dropped five yards. The second part to it, ironically, is that Southampton have a lot of second phases, now I know, unfortunately, it was Jobe who got the first contact and not them, but they were two things we spoke about with Southampton because if you look at a lot of their corners, a lot of them were never first contact success rates, they were always short corners.”
As Dodds suggests, Southampton play a short free kick from Will Smallbone into David Brooks to create a different angle and to try and move Sunderland around instinctively rather than tactically.
This works as it drags Ba out from the zonal screening area on the edge of the box alongside Chris Rigg and Romaine Mundle.
With attention turning towards Brooks, it leaves a two-on-two at the back of the penalty area between Hume and Jobe against Jack Stephens and Che Adams.
As the cross heads towards that area of the box, Adams and Stephens have been able to split Hume and Jobe in a scenario which then leaves Jenson Seelt with danger from both Stephens and Armstrong in behind him.
Despite this now potentially being a threat to Sunderland, it should come to nothing as Jobe has read the flight of the ball and is able to meet it unchallenged, where he should divert behind for a corner.
Inexplicably, however, Jobe heads back into his own six-yard area which leaves Sunderland outnumbered.
Having recognised Seelt has both Stephens and Armstrong to deal with, Dan Ballard has reacted to cover which, in turn, leaves Jan Bednarek free and Sunderland outnumbered three-against-two just outside of their own six-yard box. Notice also how Stuart Armstrong is ahead of Neil towards the back post.
As the play moves on, Ballard and Neil try to cut out the flight of the ball towards Bednarek, but the Polish defender has too much of a free run and jump at it to make any impact as he is able to power a header at goal.
Although Patterson has received criticisms for parrying attempts at his goal back out into play, the sheer power generated on the header, and short distance to the goal, means Patterson did well just to prevent this initial effort from finding the back of the net.
As Bednarek is heading towards goal, the momentum of both Hume and Jobe has carried them towards the touchline which, inadvertently, plays Armstrong onside.
When the ball is kept out by Patterson, Sunderland actually outnumber Southampton by six players to three inside their own six-yard box, and yet it is Armstrong who is able to react the quickest to stab into an empty net and give Southampton the lead.
As well as bringing everybody back to deal with a set play, the inability to react quicker than opposition players in key moments is also something which becomes a damaging trend when you analyse Sunderland’s set piece misfortunes.
Four days prior to their trip to St. Mary’s and Sunderland were, again, culpable from a set piece against Leicester.
Enzo Maresca’s side had started the game at a frightening pace at the Stadium of Light and applied heavy pressure to Dodds’ team as things threatened to get away from Sunderland in the early stages of the game. That said, it was a set piece which would end up being their undoing and what would cost them a point against a side firmly in the mix for the Championship title.
In the example below, as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall stands over the free kick on the left, Sunderland appear slightly more zonal than against Southampton apart from Leo Hjelde and Luis Hemir who are picking up Stephy Mavididi and Jamie Vardy.
Seelt, Luke O’Nien and Pierre Ekwah are linking to prevent any runners from deep while the rest of Sunderland’s defenders are picking up space rather than shirts.
The key in this set play is Leicester defender Wout Faes. At 187cm, as per StatsBomb, Faes represented Leicester’s tallest player on the night in Jannick Vestergaard’s (199cm) absence. By contrast, Seelt is Sunderland’s tallest player at 192cm. At set-up, the Dutchman is on the wrong side of the three linking players to attempt to deal with Leicester’s biggest aerial threat.
At the point of contact, as shown above, Faes has already broken clear of Sunderland’s initial three-man zonal screening and tagged himself onto Hume – whom he has a 7cm height advantage on. The three screeners remain too static which allows Faes a clear run when the ball reaches the area.
Faes climbs above Hume with ease as O’Nien can’t compete having been too late to react to the movement and it’s contradiction with Sunderland’s zonal approach.
Much like at Southampton with Bednarek, Patterson does well to get a hand on Faes’ header at goal given the power generated. The save loops the ball up into the air where, again, as you can see below, Sunderland are second to react.
Vardy is already on his toes in comparison to the four Sunderland players surrounding him. That gives him the leverage to get above all four players, as a crowd of bodies compete for the ball, and the veteran striker nods into an empty net.
Where the goal at Southampton came via a mistake from Jobe, the second phases Dodds referred to were evident in both of these goals conceded in consecutive games which opens up a debate around the system Sunderland are using in these situations.
Another example of Sunderland failing to respond to the second phase of a set piece came in the defeat at Huddersfield Town.
As Jack Rudoni spins to take a shot, having disguised crossing the ball into the box, Sunderland are just that split-second behind. Jack Clarke and Ba both try and close down the angle from the wall but it is the battle in the area between Neil and Matty Pearson which is worth paying particular attention to.
Pearson has been able to wrestle free of Neil and finds himself between Sunderland’s defence meaning any loose ball in and around the six-yard box makes him favourite to recover.
And that is exactly what happened as, on this occasion, Patterson makes an error in his save as he parries into a dangerous area rather than away from goal, with Pearson ahead of everyone – only Ballard is within a yard of the Huddersfield defender as he converts into an almost empty net for what ended up, again, being the only goal of the game and a crushing defeat for Beale.
Much like in the previous two examples, however, as we revert back to the initial staging of the free kick, Sunderland have all ten players behind the ball defending with a crowd of six players marking three Huddersfield attackers, leaving three unmarked on the fringes, with Sunderland’s four remaining outfield players making up the wall.
In these examples already, it’s clear there is a conflict in zonal and man-marking with Sunderland giving up space for free runners all too frequently, despite outnumbering their opponents defensively.
Another example of Sunderland’s struggles with set pieces came in the Tees-Wear derby at the Riverside as Marcus Forss opened the scoring in the second half.
Similar to the position against Huddersfield, Sunderland have a free kick to deal with but on this occasion only Dan Barlaser is stood over the ball. Once more, Sunderland bring all ten outfield players back to the edge of their own area to deal with the situation yet Hayden Hackney, who plays a role in the goal, remains unmarked throughout, with Finn Azaz and Luke Ayling just ahead of him in that zone outside the 18-yard box.
Azaz and Ayling also play key roles in this goal as they cause disruption in that first screening line of zonal defence from Sunderland with their decoy runs, without ever having any intention of receiving the ball.
As the image below shows, Azaz tags Clarke and moves him further away from centre while Ayling blocks Ekwah’s path to confronting Hackney – which is where the ball goes from Barlaser.
By the time Ekwah is free of Ayling, with Mason Burstow not quick enough to react, the ball has found Hackney in plenty of space. Meanwhile, Sam Greenwood has pulled away from Ba in the wall unnoticed and spins into the area for Hackney to pass to.
The pass from Hackney is actually quite poor as it provides Greenwood with a bouncing ball to deal with, but by the time Greenwood makes contact you can see how disjointed Sunderland have become.
Clarke now finds himself isolated with Ayling, Azaz and Forss, who just remained in that same pocket of space throughout, as Burstow, Ekwah and Ba try to close down the shot. Beyond that, you have Hjelde, Jobe and Hume marking open space, with Ballard, O’Nien and Neil marking two Middlesbrough players on the left of the area.
Although there is an element of fortune with how the ball reaches Forss, given the intention of Middlesbrough’s set play was for Greenwood to test Patterson, the fact the Finland international has so much space given there are a number of spare Sunderland shirts is the main cause for concern here after they broke out to deal with a set piece they were initially slow to react to.
Forss controls Greenwood’s effort at goal immaculately before spinning and firing in a stunning goal – something which Sunderland, again, may not legislate for in terms of how frequently a similar strike would breach them, but the issues regarding initial set-up and reaction to the first phase remain present.
And it’s not just free kick scenarios which have troubled Sunderland as was evident in their home defeat to Hull City.
In what was a turbulent night at the Stadium of Light for Beale, things were made worse when falling behind to Fabio Carvalho’s deflected effort which came courtesy of a recycled attack from a corner kick.
Carvalho, as we have seen in a number of previous scenarios, was left with too much space inside the penalty area to get his shot at goal, with the deflection beating Patterson and condemning Sunderland to a home defeat which escalated the pressure on Beale.
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The corner began with Liam Rosenior’s side taking a leaf from the England World Cup 2018 playbook as several Hull players lined up in a train just inside the penalty area – Sunderland, again, with everybody back in defence.
Equally, Sunderland have that initial screening line of defence in a relative man-marking system in front of a zonal approach across the six-yard line, with Alex Pritchard, in this example, cutting out the short option and Clarke secondary on the edge of the area.
It’s a hybrid set-up Sunderland appear to have used throughout the second half of the season in particular under Beale and Dodds.
As Tyler Morton delivers the cross, the four Hull attackers have split to cause confusion as they create an overload at the front post through Jacob Greaves, with Seelt having lost his runner and being left spare.
As you can see, the zonal section of the set-up remains pretty much unmoved across the six-yard line, with Hull winger Jason Lokilo on the toes of Patterson.
The ball meets Greaves in that near post area as he attempts to flick possession on in an action which does engage Sunderland’s zonal line of defence.
But it causes an element of panic as the ball bounces around for a period of time. An interesting point to note here is, just out of shot off of Pritchard’s shoulder, Carvalho has started making a move into the penalty area – a move which goes unnoticed.
The ball is half cleared by Sunderland before Hull are able to spread play back out wide to the corner taker, Morton. At which point, Sunderland are unable to reset and find themselves vulnerable and caught between man and zonal marking with both Pritchard and O’Nien drawn out to the ball and Morton in an attempt to block the cross.
As you can see though, Pritchard’s engagement has allowed Carvalho to advance unmarked into the box, with Clarke unsure whether to stick to his zonal area on the edge of the 18-yard line or commit to following the untracked run of Carvalho – Reagan Slater is another Hull player who has remained unmarked on the edge of the area throughout this phase of play.
Neither Pritchard nor O’Nien are able to block the cross, as Clarke stays locked to his zonal position, which allows Morton to pick out Carvalho and the Portuguese gets his technique right to strike at goal and benefit from a deflection.
The final example from 2024 takes us back to Portman Road and is, arguably, the worst example in terms of Sunderland’s set piece issues and the conflict between man-marking and zonal marking as Conor Chaplin headed in a winner for Kieran McKenna’s side back in January.
Having given away a cheap free kick on the left touchline, similar to the goal against Leicester, this situation almost represents a corner-like scenario for Sunderland to deal with from Leif Davis’ in-swinging cross.
Keeping with the trend, we have highlighted the ten outfield players all back to deal with the danger, with Sunderland showing their zonal approach as Ballard, Jobe and Aji Alese are essentially covering one Ipswich player on the six-yard line, with Hume just off those three towards the far post area.
Given Ipswich’s set-up, this leaves O’Nien up against both Chaplin and centre-back George Edmundson, who goes on to play a key role in this goal with a decoy run.
Sunderland had to be conscious of Davis’ delivery against Ipswich, given the full-back is second in the Championship when it comes to assists with 14 – four of which have come from set piece situations. Only Norwich City’s Gabriel Sara and Cardiff’s Joe Ralls have assisted more from set plays, while Leeds United’s Georginio Rutter is the only player accredited with more outright assists this season (16).
It means, more often than not, Davis’ delivery is on the money and he can put it into an area which will test defenders, as was the case here. By the time his cross has cleared Aouchiche, Edmundson has bustled his way towards the six-yard line zonal marking zone of Sunderland’s defence which leaves Chaplin completely unmarked just off the penalty spot.
A view from behind the goal provides greater context to this particular set-up and how Ipswich were able to convert. As you can see with the initial set-up, the six Sunderland players highlighted are marking more in zonal as opposed to man marking, albeit Jobe and Ekwah have players occupying their space, as O’Nien refrains from being touch-tight with Edmundson.
Once Davis begins his motion to cross, Edmundson makes a dart across O’Nien and into the pack of defenders on the six-yard line, similar to what we saw from Ayling and Azaz for Middlesbrough in causing a disruption.
Jack Taylor is also clever in this instance as he retreats from standing on Patterson’s toes into that line of defence as another body to cause disruption. It leaves Jobe and Alese marking the same man while Taylor and Nathan Broadhead have outnumbered Ekwah at the front post. Edmundson’s run, followed by O’Nien, also blocks Hume’s path to Chaplin, which is key.
When the ball appears in shot, Edmundson has dragged O’Nien into a congested area while Chaplin has barely moved from his starting position – and he doesn’t have to. The ball from Davis is perfect for him to meet, with the pace already on the cross to generate even more power in the header.
Both Hume and Ballard acknowledge the threat now posed by Chaplin but due to Edmundson’s distraction they are too late to respond as Chaplin, the smallest player on the pitch at 168cm, powered Ipswich in front for all three points.
Sunderland may not be leaking goals weekly via set pieces, but with around a quarter of their goals conceded this season coming from that particular source they remain an issue since their return to the Championship, with only six teams conceding more this season. Although Dodds admits he and his staff are satisfied with the defensive set-up of players in the initial phase of set piece situations, there are clearly issues with how that set-up translates to the next phase of play.
Sunderland’s desire to bring every outfield player back is contentious as it leaves no out-ball should they clear their lines from the initial phase meaning the pressure is easily retained by the opposition. Equally, the cross over between both man-marking and zonal marking appears to cause confusion at times, with some players unsure whether to track runners or mark space which has led to opposition players gaining a free run at goal as shown with Dykes, Bednarek, Faes and Chaplin in the examples above.
What’s more, which Dodds has highlighted, is the reaction of his players as a set piece plays out. In the examples against Southampton, Leicester, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough and Hull, Sunderland could potentially have averted danger had they been quicker to react in their own penalty area.
Unfortunately for Sunderland, it’s not just an issue defending set pieces as you could argue they remain a little short when it comes to converting their own as they are currently underperforming their set piece xG of 13 with only 10 conversions.
Set pieces remain an integral part of the game at any level and while Sunderland, so far, have improved on the 16 they conceded last season, they remain a key area for improvement, at both ends of the field.
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