France Must Be Wary of Switzerland's Set-Piece Prowess

Having secured their first win of the 2016 UEFA European Championship at the first time of asking, beating Romania 2-1 at Stade de France in the opening match of the tournament, France’s attention will now turn towards remaining Group A opponents Albania and Switzerland.

After watching the Swiss beat the Albanians 1-0 in Lens on Saturday, Didier Deschamps and his players no doubt fear La Nati more than Kuq e Zinj Te, and the hosts will be grateful they will not face the former until their final group fixture.

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Gianni De Biasi’s Albania showed enough against Switzerland to suggest they will once again be tricky opponents for Les Bleus but now that the French are back in competitive action after a lengthy absence during qualifying, they will be confident of beating Group A’s minnows.

However, France run the risk of coming undone against Albania and Switzerland—particularly Vladimir Petkovic’s men—because of their inability to effectively defend set pieces.

Coming into Euro 2016, 19 out of 41 goals conceded under Deschamps had originated from dead-ball situations.

Genclerbirligi SK’s Bogdan Stancu’s penalty for Romania’s consolation strike against the hosts on Friday originated from a throw in, so that bumps the figures up to 20 out of 42 goals shipped under the 47-year-old tactician coming from set pieces.

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Corners, free-kicks and throw-ins are the moments when this French side are most vulnerable and Switzerland—in particular—could capitalise on this when they meet France in Lille.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s Fabian Schar scored La Nati’s winning goal against Albania at Stade Bollaert-Delelis on Saturday with a towering header, and Deschamps should need no further warning.

Speaking after the final whistle in Lens, as reported by PA Sport (h/t ESPN FC), Swiss coach Petkovic was satisfied with his team’s performance and the result, but he also suggested that his players are capable of putting in better performances.

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We handled the emotion of the occasion better. We used the nervous energy very positively.I think we played a lot better in the first 20 minutes than we did thereafter.

At first we were dictating the tempo; after that we allowed them to come on to us a bit, we slowed down too much. That happened even when Albania went down to 10 men, though we did miss a lot of opportunities.

We needed to kill the game off but this isn't all down to our forwards.Our defenders and midfielders can contribute in the attacking third, as Schar did with the goal.Our aim from the start has been to get through inside two group games. It remains so.

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Goalscorer Schar is not the only goal threat Switzerland possess from set pieces; Petkovic can also call upon other target men like FC Basel’s Breel Embolo and Kasimpasa SK’s Eren Derdiyok.

Also, accurate service provided by Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri and VfL Wolfsburg’s Ricardo Rodriguez means any Swiss player of reasonable height could be a problem for France.

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The lack of familiarity between Sevilla’s Adil Rami and Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny is part of France’s current weakness from set pieces. However, the pair are improving with each passing match, and they fared reasonably well against Romania.

Even with first-choice defenders like Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane, Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho and Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma available, this would still be Les Bleus’ Achilles' heel—as it has been since Deschamps’ arrival.

Knowing that Switzerland pose such a threat from dead-ball situations, the best way to combat against it—apart from working on how to defend them—is to simply not concede them at all.

The Swiss will pose France problems because of their organisation and the quality of players they boast all over the pitch.

However, if Deschamps and his players overlook their weakness from set pieces, that is when Switzerland are most likely to punish them.