The most damning evidence for me is that we're also **** on free-kicks, both direct and indirect. Being crap at all set-pieces suggests it's a coaching problem, to me, rather than any physical drawbacks due to height. When you take into account that some of our players were seen as specialists in that area before they joined, Bale and van der Vaart for example, then I think we need to work on it. As an aside, Sandro improves our defensive options on set-pieces quite dramatically. He nullified Kevin Davies in our game at the Reebok, winning a series of headers against one of the players we've suffered badly against in this area over the years. It'd be interesting to see whether he can develop that into a threat at the other end of the pitch.
VDV is one of best players at taking half chances or creating a chance for others. It does seem a waste not to have him in the middle.
He's actually a decent header of the ball too, despite his diminutive frame. Scores more than his fair share in the air for a man of 5'9".
