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Yes the attacking team could make their own wall but that then basically means defenders can duble up on free runners. It has been done before.

anyway... the article in full

After Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 30-yard strike sailed over Hoffenheim’s six-man barrier and past the goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, familiar questions were raised about the effectiveness of forming walls at free kicks.

The Liverpool defender’s strike came two months after Joe Hart, the England goalkeeper, was beaten twice by Leigh Griffiths’ free kicks from a similar distance against Scotland.

The answer as to whether walls prove more of a hindrance than a help to goalkeepers lies in how far from the goal the free kick is being taken. If the free kick is within 25 yards of the goal then the presence of a wall creates a problem for the set-piece taker, who will need to get the desired pace and dip on their free kick for the ball to hit the target and test the goalkeeper.

Anything beyond that distance and the wall merely serves as a guide for the attacker to clear and the 20 yards or so of space between the wall and goalkeeper is more than enough to get the ball below the height of the crossbar.

In the case of both Hart and Baumann, facing free kicks from 30 yards, they would have benefited from adopting a more central position to get a clearer sight of the ball.

Neither was badly positioned because their position was taken up in relation to the wall. The problem they had was that, as they could not see the ball when it was struck, a 30-yard free kick became a 20-yard free kick because they only saw the ball when it passed the wall. They also did not see the body shape of the taker, which can be a good indicator of flight. If the ball is in flight when you first see it, it reduces your response time, meaning the wall actually favours the taker.

The first recognised use of a defensive wall was in 1957 by Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifier against Italy in Rome. “We tried to do things that nobody else had ever thought of,” Danny Blanchflower, the Northern Ireland captain, said. “We had to because they were better sides. Italy seemed frightened by the tactic.”

Yet from the outset, its problem became apparent. Italy moved the ball back five yards to give them space and scored the free kick. They won the game 1-0.

As goalkeepers gain experience, coaches and managers consult them on what they are comfortable with at free kicks. My manager at the Danish club Silkeborg, Viggo Jensen, did this. For free kicks from more than 25 yards out that were within shooting range, my preference was for there to be a two-man wall. This was enough to distract the taker while still giving me a better sight of the ball’s path. Manchester City did actually try this once in a Manchester derby when facing a David Beckham free kick without success but, then again, we’re talking about one of the best dead-ball exponents the world has seen. They clearly had the forethought to try something different, which is creditable, despite the outcome, but it was a one-off and discarded after that one-game trial.

At Silkeborg we worked tirelessly on a system for defending central free kicks by using two two-man walls, split to guard each post, therefore allowing me a clearer view. I took convincing, but when we used this most of the free kicks were hit into the middle third of the goal.

It requires a belief in yourself as a goalkeeper that you can save the shot. In my mind, when facing free kicks from more than 25 yards out, the more bodies in the wall, the greater mistrust I had in myself and the greater fear I had of the taker.
Hart was beaten by two free-kicks from Griffiths, of Scotland
Hart was beaten by two free-kicks from Griffiths, of Scotland
BRADLEY ORMESHER/THE TIMES

Tim Dittmer, the England Under-21 goalkeeping coach and lead national goalkeeping coach at the FA, thinks that there is huge scope on working towards other solutions. “I’m a big believer in disrupting the opposition’s thought process,” he says. “What if we set up a wall more than ten yards away. Say 15 yards, and as they approach the ball, the wall moves towards them? What will their reaction be to that? Even if he aborts the run-up to reset, his thought process has been disrupted and his concentration affected.”

Tim’s theory echoes a similar one used by George Herd, my youth team coach at Sunderland in the early Nineties. For free kicks that are touched to the side to move the angle of the shot away from the wall, which allows a better sight at goal for another player to shoot, George instructed the walls to link arms and shuffle laterally as one, in line with the ball. While perhaps hindering my sight further, to my memory it resulted in more blocks than it did goals.

Perhaps it is time to revolutionise our approach to defending free kicks, rather than just using walls because that is the way it has been for 60 years. But this would take open-minded coaches who are committed to investing enough time in training to make their ideas effective enough to be used in matches.

Posted By: Tombs, Aug 17, 18:38:29