Alex Mitchell: Set-piece superiority is absolutely crucial for Charlton Athletic

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Alex Mitchell has talked about the importance of Charlton Athletic being set-piece masters in both boxes this season.

Addicks vice-captain Lloyd Jones scored from a free-kick on the opening day of the League One campaign at Wigan Athletic.

And it is the likes of Jones, Mitchell and Macaulay Gillesphey – who have started as manager Nathan Jones’ first-choice centre-backs – who will be expected to dominate in both boxes.

Charlton have posted successive 1-0 victories in the league after Luke Berry’s stoppage-time strike against Leyton Orient last weekend.

But last season, according to stats site WhoScored.com, the South Londoners only scored six set-piece goals – the fewest in the division.

Last season’s promoted trio Derby (25), Portsmouth (16) and Oxford (14) all posted significantly more.

Charlton conceded 14 times from set-pieces which puts them 13th in those standings. Play-off winners Oxford let in one more but Derby (eight) and Portsmouth (10) underline that there has to be a tightening up in that regard.

The Addicks have made a 100 per cent start to the season despite not totally catching fire in the final third. They are joint lowest for shots per game (seven) with Rotherham (16.5) leading the way.

Asked how vital it is that Charlton’s backline chip in with goals from deadball deliveries, former Millwall youngster Mitchell told the South London Press: “I think it’s something like 30 per cent of goals come from set-pieces, so it is absolutely massive.

“It is something that Charlton weren’t that great at last year, so we definitely need to work on it. But that is also about utilising throw-ins and everything else.

“Lloyd’s goal came off his shinpad! No, it was good. He had one against Portsmouth the weekend before that I thought he had a chance of scoring.

“Him and Macca have been brilliant with me. I feel like we’ve got a good back three going on at the moment.

“Set-pieces are an important killer of the game and can kill the momentum of a team but also on the flipside it is about not conceding – that should be a priority.

“I think we’ll be very hard to break down in open play.”

Mitchell, 22, has scored once in both of his previous seasons.

The one he netted while on loan at St Johnstone came in a 2-1 home defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership – with former England keeper Joe Hart between the posts.

“I touched it down in the six-yard area and Joe Hart was in no-man’s land,” joked Mitchell. “No, what happened was their guy missed the header and I touched it, left-footed it in – which shocked me.

“It was a good day because I had been a bit gutted. I was meant to see Kasabian play the night before but they changed the game around. I was buzzing to score, so it made up for that.”

Mitchell is not getting carried away by Charlton’s flawless start and says his temporary spell with Orient helped teach him a lesson.He said: “We were flying under Kenny Jackett and I was definitely guilty of getting ahead of myself – not focusing on the game and maybe reminiscing when we were beating teams.

“I just focus now on every game as it comes.”

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