Defending set pieces continues to be an aggravating problem for Minnesota United

There’s no getting around it – set pieces are killing Minnesota United.

After Saturday’s draw at Houston, manager Eric Ramsay noted that the team’s own numbers ranked Minnesota as “one of the worst” teams in the league at defending set pieces. Wednesday against DC, the Loons got even worse, giving up goals in the 90th and 91st minutes, both from set pieces, to turn what looked like a win into perhaps the worst loss of the team’s now-nine-game winless stretch.

“I don’t think you could lose a game in a worse way,” said Ramsay.

Minnesota came into Wednesday’s game knowing the threat that DC forward Christian Benteke poses. The Belgian forward came into the game with 14 goals, many of them of the aerial variety, and so the Loons naturally focused their game plan on defending the 6′3″ Benteke.

Given that Benteke set up the equalizer and scored the winner, both from set plays, you’d have to say that they failed – or as Ramsay put it, “We’ve unfortunately tonight lost the game to one player.”

Minnesota started the game with Carlos Harvey at right center back and Caden Clark at right wingback, and after Clark was substituted out, Sang Bin Jeong took over at the right wingback spot. Given that Harvey is nominally a midfielder, Jeong is a wide forward, and Clark was until this year playing as a number 10, it’s perhaps not surprising that their set-piece defense was something less than stellar.

“On set plays particularly, they end up adopting roles that perhaps center halves would end up adopting, and they just don’t have the same level of intuition and experience in dealing with those types of things,” said Ramsay. “I think Carlos will be the first to tell you on that second one that he ends up mis-clearing, and sort of mis-timing his movement back into the game, and that’s ultimately cost us.”

From set plays, Minnesota used Harvey to mark Benteke man-on-man, with the idea of letting the traditional center halves – Micky Tapias and Michael Boxall – attack the first ball in, or win, and clear, the second balls. According to Ramsay, while they knew Benteke was always going to win his share of headers, what happened after the initial ball was the real problem. “What we haven’t done is to defend the second ball well enough, and that goes for both those situations,” he said.

Another set-piece problem – from the wrong end

It won’t go down as a set-piece goal against, but DC’s first goal also came from a set piece – a Minnesota throw-in. Whether on attacking throw-ins or on corner kicks, the Loons usually leave three players outside their offensive penalty area – two to pick up loose balls, and one to serve as the soccer equivalent of a free safety in football, tasked with cleaning up problems before they arise. The idea is to get the center backs into the attack to win headers and create a scoring chance.

In this game, it was Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Hassani Dotson picking up the loose balls, and Caden Clark playing safety – and unfortunately, making a mistake that turned into the worst-case scenario for an attacking set-piece. Clark attempted to step up and make a pass to get the ball back into the attack, but Cristián Dajome picked it off, and played a long pass for a charging Benteke.

That left Benteke with half the field to run, and Hlongwane as the main defender tracking back. Say what you will about Bongi, but he is not perhaps the best defender to have back against one of the league’s top scorers.

Benteke neatly sidestepped Hlongwane, held off a late challenge from Dotson, and scored the game’s first goal – caused by one misplaced pass near the other penalty area.

Cold, hard truth, not heated discussion

Ramsay has been firm in his desire to be positive and to show, in his words, “empathy” for his team this season. He’s doing what he can to keep his team united through a season that’s gone off the rails.

So he’s not going to go ballistic, in the locker room or in the press conference room – but you can sense his frustration beginning to come through.

“I can be very direct, I can be very clear, I can lay the standards very clearly on the table and I can give the players very cold, hard truths,” said Ramsay. “I don’t think that needs me to scream and shout in people’s faces for that to be the case. They will know full well today where the line is, and we haven’t reached that line.”

Saturday, San Jose comes to town, holding the worst record of any MLS team. The Loons will need to figure out how to reach the line in that one, or they can expect even more fans booing them at the final whistle than there were on Wednesday night.