Welcome, Mauro Zárate, we hadn’t really been expecting you, but we’re sure glad you came. We need more like you. Because every football match should have at least one free-kick maestro just as every city should have at least one court and concert hall, ideally to be used in conjunction with each other.
A team with a set-piece specialist is like a judge with a giant gavel and a voice fit for movie trailers. And well-executed free-kicks give a special pleasure, delivering justice with aplomb or a punch. Once a player has proved his deadliness from free-kick – as Zárate did with that wicked marvel against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday – he gains a new status and adds another layer of intrigue to his subsequent matches.
Opponents of West Ham will henceforth be extra wary of fouling within Zárate territory and, when free-kicks are awarded in range, onlookers will experience a heightened thrill of anticipation and apprehension, Hammers fans knowing that Zárate could mete out another spectacular punishment and opposing fans dreading the harshest sentence but knowing they could yet be fully pardoned – and the greater the fear beforehand, the more satisfying the jeer if the ball finds the wall or the stands.
So that’s the type of character Zárate has become, joining what promises to become a good-sized cast in this season’s Premier League. Willian is the star so far, though Christian Eriksen has the same tally, both having scored twice from direct free-kicks this term. Oscar, Yann M’Vila and Gylfi Sigurdsson have each converted one, meaning that Zarate’s success on Sunday took the number of goals from direct free-kicks in the season so far (eight) past the total for the whole 1999-2000 season (seven), a surprising feat given David Beckham and Ian Harte were active back then.
Beckham, as it happened, only scored from one free-kick in the league that season, while Harte did not score from any. But both atoned the following season, each scoring four times from free-kicks in the 2000-01 league season, a campaign haul that only one player has exceeded in the last two decades.
All hail Laurent Robert, scorer of five free-kicks in the 2001-02 season and 11 overall in his Premier League career, the same number as Cristiano Ronaldo and Sebastian Larsson, but not as many as Thierry Henry and Gianfranco Zola, who both scored 12 in the league, with Beckham the outright leader with a total of 15.
Larsson has yet to score with a free-kick this season and the sense of anticipation when he stands over one is dwindling, but, aged 30, he must have a few years left in him, even if M’Vila could try to pull rank on him. Patrick van Aanholt could also make a case for being involved after his goal against Stoke on Saturday, smashing the ball into the net from 25 yards after a free-kick was rolled to him by Adam Johnson.
So there is scope for many more goals from direct free-kicks this season. Like Larsson, Alexandar Kolarov is an established threat who has yet to convert one, and the same goes for Yaya Touré, Alexis Sánchez, Mesut Özil, Jason Puncheon, Chris Brunt, Juan Mata among others. Then there are younger players who regularly supply fine crosses from free-kicks but have yet to find the net with one in this season’s top-flight, notably Robbie Brady and James Ward-Prowse. And, come to think of it, a goal from a free-kick is something that has been missing from Ross Barkley’s repertoire despite his bright start to the campaign – and it is not for want of trying, as Barkley has shot from more free-kicks without scoring than anyone else.
He and others must hone their technique. Especially if they are to help surpass the tally of 2007-08, when 41 direct free-kicks ended up in the net.
