Leeds United set-piece stance made abundantly clear as expert pair contradict MOTD view
Leeds United's second goal at Wolves will be replayed all season but was it a worldie, a well set up set-piece move or bad goalkeeping?
Leeds did not find themselves in last place on the Match of the Day running order on Saturday night. They scored three goals away from home and all three were worth watching again. One in particular is going to join the Leeds United Goal of the Season contenders as the 2025/26 campaign unfolds. It will be re-watched time and time again and not just in the Stach household.
The goal came in the first half when Dominic Calvert-Lewin was fouled just outside the Wolves penalty area. When faced with the prospect of the Leeds number 9 getting into the area and getting a shot off, Ladislav Krejčí opted to put a shoulder in Calvert-Lewin's back in the hope that he might get away with it. He did not get away with it and there was double punishment. Leeds were awarded a free-kick and Anton Stach whipped it into the top right hand corner, beyond the despairing dive of keeper Jose Sa.
At first glance it screamed worldie. There was curl and a little swerve on the ball. Enough movement and more than enough power to give Sa seemingly no real chance of stopping it. Replays just made it look better.
Match of the Day analysis
On Match of the Day, however, came the first suggestion that Sa was at fault. Former Liverpool and Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy gave Stach his dues for the strike but was adamant it should not have hit the net.
"When the free-kick is there you're always going to give up big chances," he said. "The keeper, if he just steps a yard and sticks to his side - it's a super strike from Stach - but the goal shouldn't go in if it's the keeper's side, he's just got to position himself better. That shouldn't be going in there, although it's technically a really good strike."
Murphy's issue with the 141-Premier League game veteran stopper was that he was positioned too far to the right of his goal. A nifty bit of visual editing showed where the midfielder would have preferred the goalkeeper to stand, a good yard to his left and within touching distance of the post on that side. There were two problems with this suggestion, however. Firstly, because Stach might have had it in him to get the ball up and over the wall and into a huge expanse of net that Sa would not have been able to reach.
A goalkeeping coach employed by one of Leeds United's rival Premier League clubs told the YEP: "If [Sa] takes a step to his left then yeah he probably does save it but he’s in a good position and a step to his left would be a gamble - as he doesn’t know where the free kick is going. If he takes a step to his left he forfeits any chance he has of saving the free-kick if it goes to his right so it’s a nonsense point really. Quality free-kick, too good for the GK unless he gambles. Gambling in these situations is generally a no-no."
The second problem with a step to Sa's left was created by the presence and nuisance of Ethan Ampadu. Wolves constructed their six-man wall and Ampadu took a position adjacent to them, two yards or so to their left. That meant he had to be marked by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. There was plenty of jostling between the pair, which had to be sorted out by referee Anthony Taylor before the whistle could go. Ampadu, as per usual, looked like he was enjoying himself. When they settled, there was a large gap between them and the wall. Had Sa taken up Murphy's suggested position he could have been directly behind Ampadu and unsighted. Instead, he stood almost in line with the ball with a great view straight through the gap. A step to his left would have invited Stach to simply fire the ball into the gap and given the power he generated quite possibly into the net. As Stach approached the ball, Ampadu moved swiftly out of the way and allowed the ball to travel through the space he had previously occupied. Bellegarde stood transfixed as it whizzed past him. Sa dived to his left but couldn't get a hand to the shot.
In the eyes of another goalkeeping coach working for yet another rival Premier League club, Ampadu's position was no coincidence. And Wolves' response to the midfielder's presence was insufficient. "I'd say a very well-worked set-piece that Wolves fell for," he said. "Sa has to take his position off where his man is on the outside and defend that tunnel so to speak - he can’t take a step left as he’d be leaving the middle of the goal open. Wolves needed to have two men where the free-kick went. It was a hell of a strike too."
Regardless of whether Murphy was speaking from a position of relative ignorance given his lack of goalkeeping experience or whether the goalkeeping union are always simply going to stick up for one of their own, all are agreed that the strike itself was a very good one. That stands Leeds in good stead for future situations in and around the penalty area this season because they need each and every possible source of chances and goals. It also builds the confidence of a player who admitted after the game that he hadn't been consistently effective from that range in training.
Daniel Farke set-piece coach view
What is perhaps most interesting, though, is the idea that Leeds executed a set-piece plan combining positioning and precise technical execution and benefited to the tune of a goal. Daniel Farke was asked about set-pieces in his press conference ahead of the Bournemouth game. The YEP understands that the club's vacancy for a set-piece coach remains open and their search is still active but it was telling that the manager expressed his dislike for the increasing profile handed to those responsible for dead ball routines at other clubs. He called the trend of set-piece coaches appearing on camera or thrusting themselves forward in the technical area to be seen when free-kicks and corners are taken as 'modern hype' that he doesn't believe in.
"I don't like, you know, we have the tendency nowadays that at each and every corner, then the broadcasters have the name of the set-piece coach and then always his face is on the camera, and he's celebrated. I don't believe in this. It should still be, in general, my responsibility, and sometimes we have the tendency right now to produce some superstars that shouldn't be too much in the spotlight. Not criticising any club, but I don't believe in this so much. I don't believe in people who do the hard work behind the scenes and not like just to be in the spotlight each and every set piece, and jump forward so that everyone can see their face. So I don't believe in this modern hype. Anyhow, if some clubs want to do this and speak too much about this, yeah, then, well done."
Farke went on to insist that players who take set-pieces and team-mates who score from them should be given all the spotlight, rather than a coach that came up with the routine. And he is right in that it is a bit of a modern trend. The term set-piece coach tends to elicit more of a reaction or fascination than an analyst or a fitness coach or even an assistant manager. Nicolas Jover has made more headlines at Arsenal than Mikel Arteta's right-hand man Albert Stuivenberg. The fact that the Gunners already have five goals from set-pieces this season is a factor in that, but we in the media do tend to latch on to anything that seems new or alien and bring hyperfocus to it.
During Farke's discussion of set-pieces did explain that his assistant Edmund Riemer took charge of set-pieces, but it also revealed a pair of promotions for background staff who now work out on the grass. "But it's still a team effort," he said. All of this chimes with Farke always being complimentary and positive about his staff in public but standing squarely between them and the public, or the media. He's the manager, the main man. He takes the interviews, the plaudits if there are any given by the press and of course the criticism when it comes. When the heat is really on, and when is it not at Leeds United, then it would be a safe bet to suggest his staff appreciate him being front and centre. Another safe bet would be that if Leeds do finally bring someone in for that open vacancy in the set-piece department, there will be little or no fanfare. Farke’s stance on the singling out for profiling of one individual in his staff is now abundantly clear.
One very well hit, very well worked free-kick is a start but with Arsenal and others showing - albeit with the help of some of the most elite athletes in the division - the benefits of a set-piece coach and the imagination they can bring to that area, and with Leeds in need of every single goal they can get their hands on this season, it remains an idea worth exploring.