After Saturday’s fine win at Vicarage road, the Rams moved level with their hosts to become the current top goal-scorers in the division.

All well and good, with new boss Macca, receiving deserved plaudits for his bold approach and attacking substitutions as we went toe to toe with probably the best footballing side in the league.

However this article has been in the pipeline for months, well before the recent upheaval, and focuses on an issue that is arguably proving to be our Achilles heel more than ever before, during this current campaign.

Indeed, even Messer’s Hawkings, Newton and Pythagoras (insert famous philosopher here) would be hard pressed to answer this question.

Why are we so poor at defending set-pieces?

Every time we concede a set-piece, in a threatening area or not, I do genuinely fear the worst and with good reason looking at the stats.

Of our twenty goals conceded, by my reckoning, half have been through shocking defending of a static ball. Infuriatingly, the only goal of the games against Leicester and F*orest were from corners.

Similarly, two of Ipswich’s four and one of Burnley’s three were also from a corner kick. Add to this another Ipswich and Reading goal from an innocuous looking free-kick and the numbers mount up. Especially when you could make a case that Leeds’ consolation and the second Reading goal also came indirectly from us not clearing our lines.

Even writing this, I can feel myself getting wound up at the ease of some of the goals that have ended up in our onion-bag this campaign.

Goals aside, a good percentage of deliveries end up being headed first by a member of the opposition, leading to ironic cheers echoing around my head whenever we get the basics right.

Back to the question then, just why are we so poor at this basic skill?

A number of factors perhaps.

Firstly, poor tactics. Throughout my (glittering) career, my gaffer always told me to:

a) - Pick a man and stick to him like a fat kid sticks to cake.

b) - Allocate a man to guard the front AND back posts.

Imagine my horror and hand gesturing then when, as seems to be the norm, only the front post is guarded and lo and behold, ala Ipswich’s second, the ball goes into the far corner where no white shirt is present.

Secondly, simple sloppiness, i.e. Forsyth vs the old enemy. It seems as if any kind of movement does us in inside the penalty area, so much so I’m tempted to sneak my gran on sometimes and see if she is afforded the same space after a post-hip replacement shimmy.

Could it be though, that we simply don’t practice enough?

Watching our own set plays suggests that this may be the case. I am becoming sick and tired of the ‘two hands in the air, floated corner to the back post’ which seems to be our one of our two stock corners, the other being a chip to the near post which is either header away and claimed by the opposition keeper. Signs of change were at least evident vs. Leeds, with Russell whipping in corners from the right, before he got injured.

Another train of thought is that our goalkeeper could and should be doing more. Certainly, the goals conceded vs. Leeds and Reading in particular can be put down to Grant. I for one would like to see him become more commanding and take charge of more situations.

The final suggestion could be that we lack any genuine leaders in the air, without the injured colossus that is Shaun Barker. For all of our height, no-one seems as determined as Shaun to go and win a ball that they have no right to win.

I remember Barks pushing numerous white-shirted team-mates out of the way in order to win the ball, HIS ball!

Keogh often finds himself caught under a decent delivery, but the height of Forsyth and Eustace amongst others should be counting for a lot more than it does at present.

For all of their attractive attacking play, the Rams need to get the basics in check if they are to become a realistic bet for the top-six.

Maybe I should get my old gaffer to give Steve a call?

Photo: Action Images

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