Kieran Gil’s Chelsea Confidential for this week is out, and it has some interesting stuff in it.
He has a focus on one feature that’s been clear from the first 3 games of the season at Stamford Bridge – the importance of set pieces.
Incredible stats show Chelsea’s changed focus
“Enzo Maresca’s side have scored from four out of the 22 corners they have taken this season – equating to 18.18 per cent – after managing only seven out of 234 last season – 2.99 per cent,” he wrote.
“Chelsea want every corner ‘smelling’ like a goal, we are told, and their new success is partly down to them changing tack for this campaign. Last season, 28.63 per cent of their corners were taken short. This season, they have slashed that percentage to 13.64 per cent.”
Of course it’s a classic example of a small sample size, and we can’t possibly maintain that rate all year, but it’s still a vast jump which shows the hard work in training is starting to pay off.
There’s more to it than just that though. Chelsea brought in Bernardo Cueva from Brentford, with initially disappointing results. However a specialist coach like that can only work with what he’s given, and it seems that adding big, physical players who are good in the air and players who are good at taking set pieces has finally made the jump up we were looking for possible.
Chelsea will need more than just corners in the long run
The set pieces we’ve been scored have been especially important this window because our attacking play has yet to really click. Both our wins so far have been sparked by set pieces, and while it’s not something you want to rely on all season, it’s certainly a useful tool to have.
As recently as the CWC we were still taking out-swingers. No idea why considering the data had been unequivocal for more than two decades that delivering the ball to the mouth of the goal dramatically increases the chance of scoring. Finally, finally we’ve started putting the ball where it needs to be and…voila!…goals! It’s not rocket science, just basic probability. What’s amazing is how long it took Chelsea to figure it out, particularly with Arsenal having such ridiculous success.