Sort Out The Set Pieces And You're Half Way There

THERE are several types of football: American, Association, Australian Rules, Canadian, Gaelic, Harrow, Rugby Union and Rugby League being the most-popular. Of these, Association Football, or the real game, stands out - because it is the most-continuous and flowing. Play only becomes static after a foul, a goal or a corner kick - otherwise play is continuous over the 45 minutes of each half.

In Rugby League, teams re-group following the fifth tackle in each phase of play, in Rugby Union they can re-set themselves after each scrum, line out or breakdown (ruck and maul). In American and Canadian football, there are a set number of plays (downs) to move the ball a set distance, while in Australian Rules the players re-group after each clean catch or thereabouts.

So, in these games, teams consciously practice set pieces; they have control of the ball - they know what they are going to try next, the opposition might hazard a guess, but they have to react quickly to counter whichever more the team in possession comes up with. Everything stems from controlled possession at a set piece, with the intention either to control the next attack or to gain field position from which to launch an attack from the next set piece.

Watching the highlights of the SPL games on Saturday and Sunday, I was struck by how little control our teams appear to have over set pieces - free kicks, corners and so forth, also, how little attention they appear to pay to defending such moments in games. Peter Houston, for instance, was not happy as Rob McLean's studio guess on Sunday night's highlights programme, with his Dundee United side's efforts at set pieces during Saturday's defeat at Celtic Park.

Yet, it stands to reason, if a corner kick is seen as a good attacking opportunity for the team winning one - surely the defending side should put more effort into organising their efforts to prevent goals from corners - I don't think they do, from some of the shambolic defending I saw over the weekend.

I have said before and will doubtless say again - we are not professional enough in Scotland; we do not work hard enough at the basics of team play or indeed at the technical aspects of football. Until we do, our game will struggle.

I DO not pay a great deal of attention to the English Premiership: over-paid, over-rated and over-hyped, that's my take. Certainly, when Manchester United are on-song, they play some wonderful football and although they weren't operating at peak efficiency, there were some wonderful moments in the highlights slot from their meeting with West Brom, on MOTD2 on Sunday.

There has been a lot of comment about their new Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea. He is very young for a goalkeeper, only 21, but, he looks the part, he will mature and get better and if he made a slight error in conceding Albion's goal - no keeper is ever faultless.

The big question around him is: how will he react to the in-depth analysis of his every move? Glad though I am to see him still playing in Scotland, I still feel SAF may regret not going for Allan McGregor - there is a top-class keeper, made for the Old Trafford cauldron. And, he's one o oor ain.