Report: Who is really organising Liverpool's set-pieces for Arne Slot after two headed goals against AC Milan
09/18/2024 12:00 PM
Liverpool recorded an impressive victory over AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Reds needed a big win having fallen to a shock first defeat of the season against Nottingham Forest at the weekend.
Things did not start well for Liverpool, though, with Christian Pulisic scoring just three minutes into the game. It looked like another long night might be ahead for Arne Slot.
However, Slot made a slight tactical tweak, dropping Alexis Mac Allister a little deeper alongside Ryan Gravenberch. This allowed Liverpool to take control of the midfield and dominate the game.
Something else that helped enormously was the Reds’ proficiency from set-pieces. Liverpool scored once from a free-kick and once from a corner to turn the match around.
After such success, a light has now been shone on exactly who is organising Liverpool’s set plays.
Aaron Briggs takes credit for Liverpool set-pieces
Ordinarily, this kind of thing may not be of any interest at all to most fans. But nowadays it has become commonplace for teams to have designated set-piece coaches.
Liverpool were looking for a set-piece specialist themselves over the summer, but did not end up hiring one.
In the meantime, Slot has delegated the responsibility to one of his coaching team as he focuses on more general aspects of the Reds’ tactics.
And according to The Athletic, the man tasked with setting things up for corners, free-kicks and throw-ins is first-team development coach Aaron Briggs.
READ MORE: Arne Slot says what he’s noticed from Federico Chiesa in Liverpool training
They claim that Briggs is ‘working closely’ with analysts such as Dan Spearritt, Joel Bonner and Jansen Moreno to perfect Liverpool’s routines.
All three of Spearitt, Bonner and Moreno were said to have been spotted giving a ‘joyous reaction’ as first Ibrahima Konate and then Virgil van Dijk scored from set-plays for the Reds at San Siro.
Opposition analyst James French was also reportedly one of those doing much of the preparation for Tuesday’s game against AC Milan in particular.
With Liverpool identifying dead-ball situations as an area for improvement, Briggs and the Reds analysts’ work is already paying off.
Will Liverpool hire a specialist set-piece coach?
Although he is covering the remit for now, Briggs was certainly not hired to be the man for Liverpool’s set-pieces.
However, as seen by both goals against Milan, the former Wolfsburg and Monaco assistant manager is doing a good job together with the analysts.
The two headers were not simply a coincidence. The Athletic claim that Liverpool had ‘identified a weakness’ in Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan being slow to come off his line from set-plays.
The plan was reportedly to put balls into the six yard box for Liverpool’s best headers of the ball to attack. It worked a treat.
And according to journalist David Lynch on Substack, the Reds now ‘do not wish to make an addition unless there is a guarantee of improvement on what they have’. With happiness said to be abound over Briggs’ role so far, it may be a while before he’s taken off duties, if he is at all.
