Nigel Pearson has defended Bristol City's recent set-piece record but admits he still doesn't have enough reliable markers in his squad.
Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Birmingham had shades of last season's problems with the Robins undone by three deliveries from wide areas. It was an Achilles heel which forced the manager to find a new solution towards the end of last season.
The catalyst came in a game against Barnsley in March when City conceded their 12th and 13th set-piece goals from corners which encouraged Pearson to switch from a man-marking approach to put more emphasis on zonal marking.
It immediately brought down the average of set-piece goals conceded and up until Saturday, City's defence had been breached just five times (two last season, three this campaign) from dead ball situations in the Championship. Therefore it was the manner in which the goals were conceded against Birmingham that proved hugely frustrating.
Centre-back Auston Trusty claimed two while Dion Sanderson put the final nail in the coffin in the second half. The first, which came in the opening three minutes saw an unmarked Trusty beat Alex Scott, Andy King and Rob Atkinson in the air to give City the worst possible start.
The second came just before half-time when a deep free-kick from the right saw Trusty beat King at the back post to win the initial header before knocking in his rebound when it bounced back off the woodwork.
The third arrived from a corner on the right where Scott Hogan beat Cam Pring at the near post before Sanderson was left with the simplest of finishes at the back post with no City player picking him up.
An overall look at the defending from the first corner showed Hogan unmarked on Dan Bentley with Han-Noah Massengo the only midfielder picking up an opposition. Mark Sykes, Andi Weimann, Zak Vyner, Atkinson, Scott and King all zonal-marked on the edge of the six-yard box with Birmingham having four runners from deep.
The third goal was a similar scenario although City were caught out with the in-swinger to the near post with Sanderson one of the runners from deep as he hovered behind Atkinson. The visitors were perhaps fortunate to escape conceding another set-piece from the same side when Tahith Chong's delivery to the edge of the box saw an unmarked Krystian Bielik fire narrowly wide on the volley.
It became the focus in the post-match press conference in which Pearson said: "What I'm not going to do is dismantle an individual in public. This (defending set-pieces) is a problem today, it's not been a problem this season.
"It's something that over the last seven or eight months we've eradicated to a certain extent but we're not in a position where we can go out there and spend a lot of money to bring players in. We're just going to have to work through with what we have.
"You've mentioned set-plays. We've had a player who has had a bad day. More than one player had a bad day but it's not just about throwing everything out just because of that. Mistakes happen in games.
"Yes it's been an Achilles Heel of ours but we've changed our system because we didn't have enough reliable markers and that still remains the same. That's not abundant in our squad.
"I don't look at problems like that with a stubborn mind and think 'we will just keep doing what we're doing because people are critical' it's not about that. It's just trying to find the right solution for us."
Pearson added that they will work on finding solutions ahead of Wednesday's game against Preston but was keen to highlight the positive performances shown prior to the international break including the narrow losses away at Norwich and Burnley.
"We have a group of players who have shown some real courage at times this season, especially with how we have taken on some of the better sides and I won't forget (that)," he added.
"I don't think there's any great benefit to continue being negative but what I also can't do is disrespect the fact that we had a big away following and we let them down. So I can't just talk about sweeping it under the carpet.
"We all have to be accountable on our part. I'm the manager so ultimately it falls with me but I don't believe in kicking the cat. We have to work our way through it and find solutions.
"There will be players who had a really bad day today who will be playing again next week so it's not about making them feel worthless. It's about trying to give them the tools that can make them play themselves back into form."
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