Wales manager Chris Coleman concerned over conceding set-piece goals
Monday 28 March 2016 23:40, UK
Wales manager Chris Coleman believes their opponents at the European Championships will target them at set-pieces after they were exposed again in Ukraine.
Andriy Yarmolenko condemned Wales to a 1-0 defeat in Kiev on Monday night, with the winger finishing expertly from Ruslan Rotan's free-kick in the 28th minute.
That set-piece frailty is a familiar theme for Wales, having conceded from a corner in a 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland last Friday.
Wales also conceded twice from set-plays in a 2-0 European Championships qualifying defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina last October, and Coleman accepts opponents will target them in this area in France this summer.
"In both games [against Northern Ireland and Ukraine] I was pleased overall with the players," said Coleman.
"The only thing I'm disappointed with is that we conceded both goals from set-plays and sometimes a pattern can emerge.
"First of all, I must look at myself as a manager and a coach and look to adjust something in the preparation.
"I will look at that because if you look at our record in open play in the last 15 games the amount of goals we've conceded is not very much.
"I'm not giving any secrets away, the opposition will look at the stats [of Wales conceding from set-plays].
"It's definitely something we need to go and work on."
Coleman had said before the game that heading to Kiev was a "risk" given the sort of test posed by Ukraine and the environment Wales were heading into.
Wales were also without key players Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, once more, but Ukraine took time to settle and Yarmolenko scored from their first meaningful attack.
After the interval, Ukraine were happy to play on the counter-attack and Joe Allen, Jazz Richards and Shaun MacDonald all forced saves from Andriy Pyatov in the home goal.
"It's never easy to come here, even at full-strength it would be a tough game," Coleman added.
"We've come to a tough place to play but we were the team that dictated.
"Apart from the goal, Wayne Hennessey has had one shot to save and we were always the team dictating the tempo of the game.
"We know it's a good test for us because when we play Russia and Slovakia in the Euros it will be very similar."
