Liverpool are set for a major revamp this summer, with their managerial switch leading the way in terms of changes.
Long-serving boss Jurgen Klopp will move aside for Arne Slot, who will arrive at Anfield from Dutch club Feyenoord.
Klopp’s departure will bring with it plenty of staff changes. While first-team goalkeeper Alisson has confirmed that Claudio Taffarel will stay on under Slot for the new campaign, plenty of other backroom changes are expected to take place.
One big change to the coaching positions at Anfield is a newly created role of a first-team set piece coach.
The role itself has become increasingly important in the modern game, with teams now looking to maximise on marginal gains throughout the season.
Chelsea chiefs aware of Liverpool staff search
Several other clubs have invested heavily in this area, with Chelsea reaching an agreement with Brentford in March for set-piece guru Bernardo Cueva to join the Blues next season.
The appointment of Cueva at Chelsea actually was a controversial one, as Mauricio Pochettino preferred to run dead ball situations himself.
Pochettino was more old school in his approach to set pieces and felt that his existing coaching team could cope with drilling his Chelsea players, before his departure was announced yesterday.
Klopp, too, also used to run set pieces within his own coaching team, but his departure has led to a newly created position at Anfield.
Liverpool have begun searching for a dead ball specialist and have advertised their search on LinkedIn.
And according to The Telegraph, the powers that be at Chelsea will have taken notice of Liverpool’s advertisement after the Blues and Mauricio Pochettino mutually agreed to part ways, as it seemingly would vindicate their own feeling that a more specialist coach is needed.
What was Liverpool’s set piece record this season?
Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover was in the limelight for much of the season thanks to their success from set-pieces, with Liverpool’s fierce rivals Everton also enjoying success in that area.
The Gunners narrowly missed out on the Premier League title to Manchester City, while the Toffees narrowly avoided the drop.
Their safety was secured thanks to a strong run of form towards the end of the season, which included a 2-0 Merseyside Derby win in April.
As per WhoScored, Arsenal led the way with 20 set-piece goals, closely followed by Everton’s 19. Manchester City were third with 16, followed by the 15 of Liverpool, Newcastle United and Luton Town.
Defensively, Manchester City conceded a league-best of just three set-piece goals, followed by Arsenal’s seven.
Liverpool conceded 10 times from set-pieces, with Everton conceding 11 times, placing them sixth and 12th place respectively in terms of the best defensive set-piece records.