Pascal Struijk’s goal from a corner against Sheffield United unfortunately looks as though it was a one-off for Leeds United.
Struijk ended Leeds’ eight-month wait for a goal from such situations in the 2-0 win over the Blades last month, but it has been much of the same old since.
Leeds were beaten 1-0 by Millwall on Wednesday night and perhaps unsurprisingly given over 50 per cent of the Lions’ goals have come from set-pieces this season, their winner came from a free-kick delivered into the area.
Daniel Farke‘s side dominated 75 per cent of the possession at the Den, managing to fashion 12 corners in the process.
Aside from one where Joe Rodon got the first contact at the near post, Leeds never even got close to threatening Millwall’s goal, despite their attempts to try different routines.
Bamford on why Leeds struggle from corners
In total this season, Leeds have had 97 corners across their 14 Championship matches, 37 of which have come since that win over Sheffield United.
On the latest episode of the ‘My Mate’s A Footballer Podcast‘, Leeds striker Patrick Bamford was told by host Joe Wilkinson that a corner is scored one in every 49 attempts.
With Leeds having done so just one in 97 situations, with well over a hundred more including last season, it is clearly an area of vast underperformance.
Farke has insisted it is something Leeds work on and Bamford has tried offering an explanation as to why the Whites struggle so much.
He said: “Well, at Leeds, I think it took us a lot longer than 49 corners to get a goal. Honestly, we only just scored one the other day, and it was against Sheffield [United] when Pascal scored. But before that, I don’t know exactly, but it was a long, like a lot longer than 49. I’d say double that, I think, maybe more.”
Wilkinson then asked: “What do you think that is? Are you not as big as other teams?
Bamford responded: “No, we’re big. We’ve got Pascal and Joe, who are tall, the two centre backs. Generally, we’re not like, you wouldn’t say we’re a small side, but it was just like a mixture of things.
“So we always managed to get the first contact in the box, but it was just not going in. So we had, we’d had the chances, we just weren’t converting them at that point.”
What Daniel Farke has previously said about Leeds’ set-piece issues
With Kieffer Moore, Harry Souttar, Anel Ahmedhodzic and Vinicius Souza all in their ranks, Sheffield United are one of the tallest teams in the Championship.
As such, it was a real surprise when Leeds broke their corner duck against the Blades, though it certainly took something more clever than a standard ball into the box.
After that game, Farke insisted it is something Leeds work on all the time, which makes it frustrating they haven’t been rewarded since.
He said: “Happy days. Since the first day, I insisted that set pieces are important. My teams are always there on top with this. Not happy last season with this on our deliveries. I saw this goal coming from the corner. Lads, do me a favour and end this curse.
“Compliments to our guys in the staff working on this. This was what we executed what we planned, a low delivery. Need a few more this season.”
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