You might have heard Arsenal FC making the rounds on social media for relying heavily on set pieces to score goals, but what you may not know is that Bayern Munich have a pretty good record in this department too.
The Bavarians have knocked in nine goals from set piece play, a new league record. Aaron Danks, Vincent Kompany’s assistant in charge of training set pieces, is the mastermind behind this added threat.
“The best coaches sometimes have to be the best ‘thieves’,” Danks told Bild (as captured by Twitter account @iMiaSanMia). “We look around a lot in Europe. We also look at old stuff — we looked at old free-kicks and corners from [Arjen] Robben and [Franck] Ribéry. We explore as many options as possible. Our analysts are doing an excellent job. It’s not always easy to find time for it, but we train as much as we can.”
The mention of “thieves” harks back to time Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta hired professional pickpockets to help keep his players more alert. Between the two teams, maybe there are parallels like the Ro16 tie in the 2016/17 Champions League.
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