‘The penny has to drop’ - Frustrated Darren Moore bemoans Sheffield Wednesday’s set piece weaknesses

Sheffield Wednesday’s Darren Moore was visibly frustrated after the Owls surrendered another lead via a set piece at Bolton Wanderers.
Darren Moore was left disappointed by Sheffield Wednesday conceding another set piece goal.Darren Moore was left disappointed by Sheffield Wednesday conceding another set piece goal.
Darren Moore was left disappointed by Sheffield Wednesday conceding another set piece goal.

The Owls looked to be on course for a big three points on the road at the University of Bolton Stadium after Jordan Storey had opened the scoring, however MJ Williams struck in the 89th minute after the ball fell to his feet from a corner.

Wednesday are well into double figures with regards to goals conceded from set plays this season, and Moore says that the ‘penny has to drop’ for his players sooner or later.

Read More
An all-too-familiar Storey as Sheffield Wednesday throw away two points against ...
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“You can’t recreate all the situations,” he told the media after the game. “If you look at all the goals we’ve conceded from set plays, they’ve all been from different angles and in different ways, but with a similar outcome.

“We’ve worked on them in training, we’ll continue to work on them in training. We’ve got the psychology coach in with them, we try and recreate stuff, and sooner or later the penny has got to drop with them. It just doesn’t seem to be dropping with them at the moment.

“So we’ll work again, we’ll recreate things again, I’ll rattle their cages again, and I’ll knock them about a bit in training and see if that brings it to fruition. We have to learn from them, because at the moment it seems to be the same thing over and over and over again.”

“I know we look to the defenders because it’s a goal, but it’s the whole team. Everybody has their part to play. It is a frustrating one for me because as a player it was one of my strong points in terms of getting organised and getting first contacts on the ball…

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’ll get in the classroom again, we’ll present the questions to them again, we’ll see the answers that they come back with. It’s disappointing to lose it that way in the last minute of normal time, and to not come away with three points.”

And the Wednesday boss insisted that they will continue to work on it relentlessly in training, saying, “Too often we’ve spoken about the same things over and over this season, and still it’s an area of concern for us… When you’re defending, all 11 players have to believe that the ball is coming to them, so they have to get the contact. It won’t always come to the defenders, to Harlee, or Hutch, or Jordan, so they have to be ready – and today they’ve not done that.

“We’ve done it umpteen times in training, and we’ll do it again this week. We’ll work again – set plays, set plays, set plays. But as I said before, you can’t replicate it. You can do 100 set plays and corners in training, but the next team might do something completely different.

“We’ve just tried to bring the concentration levels – and I feel for the boys today because with the ball in play they were excellent.”