{"id":218092,"date":"2025-12-30T13:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T13:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/218092\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T13:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T13:13:09","slug":"liverpool-coach-pays-price-for-set-piece-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/218092\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool coach pays price for set-piece struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool<\/a>\u2019s set-piece coach Aaron Briggs has paid the price for the champions\u2019 continuing frailties and has left the club.<\/p>\n

The decision follows the concession of a 12th goal from set pieces this season \u2014 seven from corners alone \u2014 in Saturday\u2019s nervy 2-1 win over bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Briggs was appointed to the specialist role of set-piece coach in September after Liverpool had initially advertised the role externally. He joined the club at the start of the 2024-25 season as a member of Arne Slot\u2019s backroom staff.<\/p>\n

Responsibility for set pieces will now rest with Slot and the rest of the coaching staff, including Sipke Hulshoff and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. <\/p>\n

\"UEFA<\/p>\n

After the exit of Briggs, right, responsibility for set pieces fall under the existing backroom staff, including Van Bronckhorst, left<\/p>\n

JASON CAIRNDUFF\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

Slot has repeatedly bemoaned Liverpool\u2019s set-piece difference this season, which stands at -9 at present, and claimed that unless there was an improvement his side would not finish in the top four. The league leaders Arsenal boast a set-piece difference of +8.<\/p>\n

No side in Europe\u2019s top five leagues have conceded more than 12 (Liverpool are level with Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest) and they have scored only three goals.<\/p>\n

Points were dropped against Crystal Palace, Manchester United and Leeds United to name just a few occasions when Liverpool conceded from set plays, and Virgil van Dijk labelled the vulnerability as a \u201ckiller\u201d at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Liverpool<\/p>\n

Van Dijk described Liverpool\u2019s problems from set pieces as a \u201ckiller\u201d after the 2-1 win over Wolves<\/p>\n

PETER BYRNE\/PA<\/p>\n

As has become the norm in the Premier League<\/a> with other set pieces coaches, Briggs would assume responsibility at corners by stepping into the technical area during matches with Slot taking a back seat.<\/p>\n

During the loss at Manchester City earlier this season Alexis Mac Allister was spotted coming over to the bench after one set piece and calling for instructions for Briggs.<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s continuing susceptibility means the club felt that an intervention was required and a mutual decision was taken to see Briggs move on.<\/p>\n

Slot said recently that the set-up was the same as last season and added: \u201cI know the importance of set-pieces \u2014 it gets more and more and more. That\u2019s why we are so annoyed by our current record, because it\u2019s impossible to [finish in the] top four, top five with our set-piece balance, let alone winning the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur set-up is the same. Defensively, our set-up is the same as almost any other team in the league. And if you look at xG, then you wouldn\u2019t expect us to concede so many goals. So, you could argue then if things go back to normal, we will not concede as much any more.<\/p>\n

\"Liverpool's<\/p>\n

Slot said he was \u201cannoyed\u201d by Liverpool\u2019s record from set pieces this season<\/p>\n

ASHLEY WESTERN\/COLORSPORT\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after half a season is it still a coincidence that we concede so much more than what you would expect us to concede? That\u2019s a difficult one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reliance on set pieces in the Premier League this season has increased by 8 per cent with 28.6 per cent of goals coming from non-penalty set pieces (144 of 503).<\/p>\n

Liverpool have fared much better in the league phase of the Champions League, scoring five and not conceding any in six games.<\/p>\n

Briggs, a former Manchester City analyst, initially joined Liverpool as their new first-team individual development coach after the departure of V\u00edtor Matos, who joined Pepijn Lijnders at Red Bull Salzburg. Matos is now the head coach of Swansea City. Briggs had previously worked at Wolfsburg, Monaco, Blackpool, Preston North End and Uefa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool\u2019s set-piece coach Aaron Briggs has paid the price for the champions\u2019 continuing frailties and has left the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-218092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}