Joe Cole has explained that Chelsea need to sharpen up in both attacking and defending set-pieces.
The Blues have been a great physical team over the years that have scored freely from corners, especially when they had the likes of Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry attacking crosses.
But they haven’t quite found the same success this campaign due to a lack of presence in the box, as well as some questionable delivery at times.
Frank Lampard’s team did score from a corner on Tuesday night in the crucial 2-1 victory over Lille in the Champions League group stages.
Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta powered in a header from a perfect Emerson Palmieri corner and that turned out to be the goal that secured qualification for the Champions League last-16.
Antonio Rudiger’s return should help Chelsea from set-pieces in both penalty areas, as the colossus centre-back is brilliant in the air and has a presence.
Cole has pinpointed it as an area that Lampard’s team need to make improvements moving forward and suggested that the work behind closed doors is starting to pay off.
“This is another thing that the club want to brush up on, scoring more goals from set-pieces and conceding less,” Cole said on BT Sport 2 (10:25pm, 10 December).
“I think it’s another little thing, we talk about the minor improvements the club want to make, and there were signs of that tonight.”
It’s a big part of the game dealing with set-pieces and one that managers will work on for hours in training to make sure their players get it right.
Chelsea definitely need to improve overall defensively and from set-pieces, but having a leader in Rudiger organise the backline is going to help massively.
The likes of Willian and Mason Mount have been guilty of poor set-piece deliveries in an attacking sense, which is why it should perhaps be handed over to the full-back pair of Emerson and Reece James.
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