After Gabriel Magalhaes scored two more headers from corners and won a penalty from a similar routine, set-piece coach Nicolas Jover’s influence on Arsenal’s set-pieces has been a key talking point during Mikel Arteta’s press conferences this week.
After the 5-2 over West Ham on Saturday, the manager was asked, not for the first time, if his assistant should be due a goal bonus.
He laughed it away, saying: “That’s a question for him and his contract. I’m not sure. I don’t negotiate contracts!”
Three days later, in his pre-Manchester United media gathering, Jover again came to the fore with Arteta challenged to shed more light on his relationship with a coach he recruited in the summer of 2021.
“He’s a very special person. Obviously someone very, very close to me,” explained Arteta.
“I got to work with him at [Manchester] City when I thought that there was a big room for improvement in that department and I contacted him and I suggested to Pep [Guardiola] that he come and help us.
“Since then we’ve been extremely close. We share a very clear vision about how we want to put everything together. It’s not about open play or set pieces, it’s how everything is connected, aligned and can work efficiently in our team.
“There are a lot of other people that put a big effort and thoughts and hours into that but, for sure, he’s someone that is very very important for the team.”
While excelling at set pieces is nothing new for Arsenal – teams of the past, particularly under George Graham, found great success – Mikel Arteta approaches them with a fresh perspective.
Whereas previous coaches allocated specific time in training solely for set-piece routines, Arteta integrates them into a broader philosophical framework, viewing them as part of a holistic approach to the game.
“It’s all connected, you have to train as it’s all connected, it’s not sequences of play that are very far apart. We work in a way that is actually very close to the game.”
Ultimately, he wants to arm his players with the information they need to excel on the pitch.
“It’s the defensive part as well and why you have to defend set pieces and when you have to defend set pieces,” he added.
“Sometimes it’s too late, what actually happened before that for you to be in that position? How can you be in another way in a better position? So that’s always something that we are discussing.”