When a set piece works consistently, it feels like cheating. It is a tempting proposition to become the world’s best team at set pieces because almost no team is built to defend against them, but nothing beats a lethal attack.

Can you be both a team that can execute every set piece to perfection and one that has a lethal attack? Yes. But when you get that good from a dead ball, you tend to want to take advantage of that edge.

You begin to play for the free kick, the corner kick, or the throw-in. That can alter the areas of the pitch you want to attack and the way the attack interacts with the opposition offense. They want the foul; they want the ball to go out of play so they can run the play they’ve been rehearsing all week in practice.

They want to use that gift they have. Can you blame them? It is a free goal if they execute, and even if they don’t execute, the chance of there being a quality chance from a mistake during the dead ball is high.

When it works consistently, it feels like it should be banned from football. It doesn’t feel fair. But when it doesn’t work and the other team immediately does something simple, you feel silly because you have that same quality, but you are focused on other things.

The opposition counters, jogs down the other side of the pitch, plays two or three passes, a player of high quality cuts in from the top of the box, and the shot hits the post. Almost a goal.

All that practice, all that maneuvering into position, all those attempts from a dead ball, and the game is gone in an instant because the opposition is lethal.

I’d rather my team focus only on open play because more often than not, if they did, they’d be better off. Especially against teams who are equal to if not slightly better in the midfield or forward positions.

I’d take a lethal attack that can tear a defense to pieces, limb from limb, any day over a team that is diluting their focus during open play. Focus your recruitment and mind on open play, and then the rest will follow.