Liverpool part company with set-piece coach Aaron Briggs
Set pieces have been an area of glaring weakness for Liverpool so far this season and the decision was taken that a change was required.
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Liverpool have parted company with first-team set-piece coach Aaron Briggs.
Set pieces have been an area of glaring weakness for the Premier League champions so far this season and the decision was taken that a change was required.
Excluding penalties, no top-flight side has conceded more goals from set pieces this season than Liverpool’s total of 12 in the Premier League. Only West Ham (10) have conceded more from corners than Liverpool’s seven.
Liverpool are averaging 2.4 goals scored per 100 set pieces. Only Brentford in the Premier League is averaging fewer. In terms of conceding, Liverpool are averaging 8.2 goals per 100 set pieces — only Nottingham Forest average more.
In both of the past two matches against Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Arne Slot’s side were cruising at 2-0 before letting in a goal from a set piece changed the complexion of the games and left them hanging on.
Briggs, a former Manchester City analyst, joins Slot’s backroom staff in July 2024 as the club’s new first team individual development coach after Vitor Matos’ departure.
Liverpool initially advertised for a set-piece coach but were unable to find the right candidate they gave the responsibility to Briggs instead.
Last summer they brought in Brazilian coach Luiz Fernando Iubel as individual lead coach so Briggs could focus solely on set-pieces but the move has not worked out.
Briggs was assistant coach at German club Wolfsburg under Niko Kovac prior to their departure in March 2024. He worked at Monaco as a tactical analysis coach, assistant coach and then head of football methodology between 2020 and 2022.
He also spent nine years at Manchester City where he rose up the ranks from under-18 performance analyst to senior first team performance analyst having previously been on the staff at Blackpool and Preston North End.
James Pearce joins the Athletic after 14 years working for the Liverpool Echo. The dad-of-two has spent the past decade covering the fortunes of Liverpool FC across the globe to give fans the inside track on the Reds from the dressing room to the boardroom. Follow James on Twitter @JamesPearceLFC