Liverpool certainly didn’t have their best weekend after a surreal 7-2 loss against Aston Villa. One of these seven goals conceded by Liverpool was from a set-piece, which is not something that happens very often. Interestingly, Aston Villa were also able to score from a free-kick against Liverpool last season, and this example from last week’s game shows the same ideas behind it.

We can see the initial structure of the set-piece below, with Villa initially having three takers on the free-kick. This is used to confuse the offside line of Liverpool, as the timing of the dropping movement is affected if Liverpool believe a dummy is going to occur.

Villa also create an overload on the far post area, with Joe Gomez engaged in a 2v1 and a large space between himself and the nearest player opening up.

The first player to step up to take the free-kick (Ross Barkley) actually does deliver the ball, and just before he does, one of the back post players makes a run inwards towards the centre. The back post occupier (Joe Gomez) therefore follows this run inwards, and so space is conceded further at the back post.

Villa’s target player at the back post makes a well-timed movement, but the actual idea behind having this player at the back post is a considered one. Playing to the back post means the ball travels the furthest distance. As a result, if you start deeper and get a run up, you are effectively allowed more time to reach a position to receive the ball, as it takes longer to get there. As a result, against a Liverpool line which focuses on catching players offside, deep runs are useful. The timing of this deep run by Trezeguet is excellent, as we see his in motion just as Barkley kicks the ball.

As a result, Trezeguet is able to just stay onside, and Liverpool find it difficult to keep a line against someone who is not directly close to any other players, meaning they can’t let him run offside. Liverpool’s line isn’t bad at all here, but the timing of the run is something Villa have clearly practiced and is something Trezeguet is clearly good at, as he did the same for their goal last year against Liverpool.

Villa’s players have a dynamic advantage over Liverpool’s as they are running towards the goal initially while Liverpool are side on. The strange thing from Liverpool was that once the ball had been played, they barely even sprinted to try and get back into position, and some of the players running back could have certainly helped them to try and defend. Liverpool seemed to solely rely on the offside being called, and like most of their defensive play in the game, they lacked any kind of urgency or concentration to switch from playing offside to getting back.

This is by no means panic stations for Liverpool in terms of their high line from set-pieces, as most teams use tactics like this often but are caught offside. Liverpool’s line wasn’t poor, but the initial structure affects how well they can play that offside line, and having another player join the chain so that a 2v2 could be created at the back post would have helped, as the line could be set at Trezeguet’s height and he could be allowed to run offside by his marker.