We’re villains of set-piece moans Ryan
BRIGHTON keeper Mat Ryan has told his team to stop conceding from set-pieces – or they are going back down to the Championship.
Chris Hughton’s side have conceded 16 times from dead-balls this season – the highest tally in the Premier League.
Jonny Evans and Craig Dawson (below) both netted headers from corners in West Brom’s 2-0 defeat of Brighton at the Hawthorns last weekend.
And before facing Chelsea today, the Aussie No.1 said: “We have been punished by making too many mistakes from set-pieces. We have got to fix that weakness as soon as we can.
“We have been working on it and made some changes. Undoubtedly it has been an area we need to improve on. We need to find ways to deal with it otherwise there is only going to be one outcome at the end of the season – we’ll be going back down again. Fingers crossed it can start this weekend and we can rectify it. Everyone is looking at ways to do better.”
Ryan, who once conceded seven goals in a Copa del Rey semi-final against Barcelona for Gary Neville’s Valencia, insisted the Seagulls are a good defensive unit.
“Here the desperation to defend from the guys in front of me is some of the best I’ve seen in my career,” he said. “If not the best.” Ryan, who has a Scottish mother from Kilmarnock, could have been appearing at the Australian Open instead of the Amex Stadium today but chose football at the age of 12.
“My coach wanted me to pursue a career in tennis and my football coach wanted me to do football,” said the 25-year-old. “I played against current pro James Duckworth. But tennis is individual and I was a bit of a sore loser. I was always getting in trouble with my mum for flinging my racket and breaking it.
“I was getting grounded a lot.
“I am not saying I would have made it to the top but I always wonder how far I would have gone if I had stuck with tennis.”