Forget Suarez and Sturridge, Liverpool Have Been Missing Set-Piece Prowess

As the final whistle rung out against Arsenal at Anfield, it was once again a sobering reminder that Liverpool are not the team they were last year. Yes, they miss Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez. No, their defending has not improved and they are still shipping too many soft goals. However, it is in their set pieces where Liverpool have really come unstuck. And no, I don't mean the defensive ones.

Last season, Liverpool scored a lot of goals. Their exciting attacking play set the league alight and almost carried them to a first league title of the Premier League era. However, there was something more to their play than the fast-paced brilliance of Suarez, Sturridge et al. The fact was Liverpool scored goals from set pieces. A lot of them.

Taking a look at the stats from last season (as per Squawka), it becomes clear that Liverpool were dominant in this field. They scored 36 goals from dead-ball situations (10 more than closest rivals Man City) and averaged nearly a goal a game across the campaign.

That means a third of Liverpool's record tally last season came from dead-ball situations.

And these were not just goals that put away beaten teams, these were goals that set Liverpool on their way to winning vastly important games. To prove that point let's take a few examples.

Remember this versus Man Utd at Anfield?

Or the opening two in February's infamous Arsenal victory?

Or even the three that rescued a point for them at Goodison Park? 

I rest my case.

The fact is, Liverpool could rely on goals to come from set pieces on a very regular basis. Martin Skrtel led the league for defenders with eight goals, which saw him level with Lukas Podolski ahead of the likes of Juan Mata, Fabio Borini and Peter Crouch in the scoring stakes (as shown here on Sportsmole). 

This regular goal threat gave Liverpool a plan B. It opened teams up and forced them to come out of their shell and try to play football against Liverpool, something most teams have been reluctant to do this term.

The relative figures for this season make unimpressive reading (from Squawka again). Liverpool languish in 12th in terms of goals scored from set plays, averaging one less than every four games. Liverpool scored more goals from set pieces in two away games against Man Utd and Everton last season than they have the whole of this season so far. Skrtel's header against Arsenal was their first goal from a corner all season.

Just let that sink in for a second.

The removal of this threat has left Liverpool with very few options for scoring goals, particularly with the continued absence of Sturridge and the now departed Suarez, and there is no clear reason why this might be the case. Yes, it is possible that some of it is down to losing the movement of Suarez dragging defenders all over the place in the box, but not enough to account for so big a drop off. Last season was a bumper one for sure, but a drought has very much followed the flood.

Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho have largely been woeful in their delivery this season, and Adam Lallana has been sporadic at best. It is unclear why exactly this is the case, but a combination of this and centre-backs that aren't natural attackers of the ball in the opposition box (in Kolo Toure and Dejan Lovren) has meant that the Reds have struggled to replicate last season's form, and they are suffering for it greatly.

There are other issues that need to be worked on, of course. The defence needs immediate attention, probably via further investment in January, and Sturridge can't come back soon enough to finish the plethora of chances that Liverpool have begun to create recently.

If, however, Liverpool can take some of the pressure off themselves by knocking a few cheap goals from set plays, and forcing teams to come a them more, the confidence may start coming back and we may see more of the Liverpool we saw last season; picking teams apart on the counter as they push for an equaliser.