Popular, sound footballers defending the goals from those setting up the shots! (10)
I believe the answer is:
innkeepers
'defending the goals from those setting up the shots' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'popular sound footballers' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'sound' shows a homophone (sound like).
'footballers' becomes 'keepers' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'in' sounds like 'inn'.
'inn'+'keepers'='INNKEEPERS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for innkeepers that I've seen before include "Landlords" , "They entertain" , "Publicans" , "Taverners" , "Hosts" .)