Tactics, analysis and recruitment are among the factors being assessed as Everton look to make progress with the handling of set pieces.
The club's vulnerability to corners and free kicks was repeatedly exposed throughout last season. That largely improved following the arrival of Frank Lampard and his coaching team - at least until the final game of the season, by which time the Blues had guaranteed Premier League safety. But concerns remain, with the Blues conceding from corners in two of their three pre-season friendlies.
Staff hope the signing of James Tarkowski will be a key factor while the increased presence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Yerry Mina, both of whom missed large portions of last season to injury, could also help as Lampard seeks a boost in both boxes.
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Set pieces were a cause for concern during the 2021/22 campaign. Before Lampard took over in late January, Everton had conceded seven goals from corners and one from a free kick. In his 18 league games five goals were conceded from corners - though three of those were in the final game of the season at Arsenal just days after survival was secured against Crystal Palace. Three further goals were conceded from free-kicks in that period. Going forward, the Blues improved from just two goals from set plays before Lampard's arrival to seven under his reign - including Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin's crucial goals in the dramatic Palace victory.
First team coach Paul Clement took over set pieces after he was appointed to Lampard's backroom team. Speaking to the ECHO during Everton's pre-season tour of the US, he explained the coaching staff's approach when they arrived on Merseyside. He said: "I think, first of all, you have got to put your hat on something, whether that is that you are going to go man-for-man, whether you are going to go zonal, whether it is going to be a combination of the two - you have got to go with something.
"So we made a change on the last management team. That is not to say that what they decided to do was the wrong thing, it is just that sometimes you have got to make a change. I think with any system or style you are going to use there are going to be some positives about it and there are going to be some negatives about it.
"It is the same with the shape. Some systems are strong at certain things and there are weaknesses at other things. It is the same with set plays. We had some inconsistency with team selection. With Yerry in the team he is going to make a difference, I think Tarkowski in the team is going to make a difference, with Dom fit he makes a difference... We had games from an offensive point of view - I remember at Watford, we had a really high amount of corners, especially in the second half, and didn't look like scoring all night. Leicester away and we get one corner and we score from it. So set pieces are strange. Of course we are going to have a big focus on them this year."
Concerns have re-emerged during pre-season, with Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus and Blackpool's Callum Connolly both scoring from corners. Against Minnesota United, Nabilai Kibunguchy hit the bar from a corner. Before those games, Clement revealed fellow first team coach Ashley Cole was set to take responsibility for set pieces - a move he welcomed.
Discussing the plans for this season, he explained: "We are going to do everything we can to improve them - through tactics, through analysis, through team selection, through recruitment, good organisation defensively and also to be a threat offensively."
Clement accepted that set pieces can, at times, simply be a case of confidence regardless of how much work is done on the training ground, adding: "I also find on set plays that out of nowhere they can improve and you are not quite sure of the reason why. Is it a confidence thing? Possibly. I have worked on teams where we have not conceded from a set play in a whole season and then the same personnel, with the same organisation, all of a sudden goal, goal, vulnerability and just the psyche of the team changes."
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