Taylor Twellman tore into Inter Miami’s set-piece defending last night after the Herons’ 3-2 loss to CF Montreal.
The Florida franchise saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end as Inter Miami were well and truly beaten by Canadian giants Montreal, with the hosts conceding two goals from set-pieces.
With Lionel Messi not in the squad and Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez starting the game on the bench, Inter Miami were depleted from the start, though it was issues at the back that caused real problems.
Inter Miami torn into after set-piece defending against Montreal
Speaking on Apple TV’s coverage of the game, pundit Twellman was highly critical of how Inter Miami approached Montreal’s set-pieces, with the Quebec-bases side scoring two from dead-ball situations.
Indeed, Inter Miami’s defending from these situations has been an issue for the best part of two years, and the Herons are yet to learn the basics when it comes to defending corners or free-kicks.
Twellman said about Inter Miami’s set-piece defending: “You have to defend set-pieces. I couldn’t care less what anybody says about Inter Miami.
“They have not figured this out since the beginning of last year to now. These are simple defending set-pieces, the goalkeeper isn’t coming off his line quick enough, and defenders aren’t man-marking.”
Tata Martino needs to solve set-piece flaw this season
Quality defending from set-pieces can be the difference between a playoff spot of a post-season of doing nothing, something Inter Miami know far too well.
And this season has to be the one that manager Tata Martino finally solves Inter Miami’s issues at set-pieces, with something clearly wrong at the back for the Herons.
Teams have already caught on that Inter Miami are poor on defending corners and free-kicks, and the longer this problem is left unchecked, the more points the Florida franchise will drop, which could lead to catastrophe.