On offense or defense, Minnesota United’s set pieces have been bad the past three weeks. But over the course of the Loons’ 52 games in Major League Soccer, the numbers from corner and free kicks have been even worse.

Four goals conceded on corner kicks have cost the Loons in three losses since June 23, including game-winners for Colorado and Dallas, and two in a 3-0 loss to Houston last Saturday. After that loss, coach Adrian Heath said he was contemplating what he could do to stanch the bleeding.

Heath said Friday alterations will be implemented when United (6-11-1) plays host to Real Salt Lake (9-8-2) on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.

“We’ve certainly changed one or two things, defensively and attacking wise,” the coach said. “Ultimately, as I’ve said in the week, it depends on the quality into the box and depends on the desire of people to get on the end of balls into the box.”

The issue is far from new.

Seven of Minnesota’s 36 goals allowed this season have come off set pieces, fifth-most in MLS, and the Loons are the only team without a goal scored off a set piece — including 83 chances on corner kicks in 18 games. But since entering MLS in 2017, the Loons’ stats on set-piece goals are grim: 18 goals allowed and 10 scored for a differential of minus-eight — 20th among the 22 clubs to play in the 2017-18 seasons, according to data complied by whoscored.com and filtered by the Pioneer Press.

The Loons have primarily employed man-to-man marking on set pieces; getting beaten one-on-one is the consensus culprit.

“People have lost their guy, including me,” Loons center back Brent Kallman said. “It’s the accountability of making sure your guy doesn’t score, and we’ve just failed.”

After last weekend’s loss, Kallman and fellow center back Michael Boxall were new names added to the growing list of United players responsible for goals allowed on set pieces. They’ve joined Collin Martin, Carter Manley and Tyrone Mears since June 23.

“It’s a mentality,” said United assistant Mark Watson, who oversees the defense. “It’s (being) willing to fight through a lot of little things, hands, and pushes and bumps and picks, but that’s the job, and we haven’t done a good enough job with it.”

The World Cup in Russia has featured a record-setting amount of goals produced from set pieces, including a pivotal role in this week’s semifinals. France beat Belgium 1-0 on a header off a corner kick in the second half, and England capitalized on an early free kick to take the lead in their eventual 2-1 loss to Croatia. Related Articles Loons’ late rally falls short in 2-1 loss to Columbus Crew

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“I’m sure the coaches in the World Cup are pretty good; they do the job, they do their homework,” Heath said Friday. “Just goes to show it’s not as easy as people think.”

After a midweek training session, Heath wondered aloud.

“Is it zonal? Is it man for man? Is it a mixture?” he said. “Everybody’s tried it. … People spend a lot of time on it and at this moment in time we’ve been caught out with it, and we have to address it. Is there a simple answer to it? No.”