Newcastle United are searching for the club's first ever specialist set-play coach as the Magpies look to score some more big goals from corners and free-kicks
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Newcastle United players celebrate after Dan Burn's opener against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final and, inset, set-piece expert Gianni Vio
Newcastle United players celebrate after Dan Burn's opener against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final and, inset, set-piece expert Gianni Vio
It was a fortnight before the Carabao Cup final, but Eddie Howe was already looking ahead. "A set-play can win us the game," the Newcastle United boss told those around him in a staff meeting. "Let's see what we can do. Let's go into the detail that could swing it for us."
Those words proved prescient. Newcastle would spend the next couple of weeks working on dead ball situations after spotting Liverpool's vulnerabilities in deeper areas inside the box. Although the routines were not exactly coming off on the training ground, crucially, one did when it mattered most after Dan Burn headed the Magpies in front at Wembley.
It was a prime example of the ingenuity of assistant Jason Tindall and set-piece analyst Kieran Taylor yet such is the relentless thirst for improvement, and the demands involved, Newcastle are now searching for an additional elite level coach to lead the strategic planning, design and execution of all offensive and defensive set-play routines.
Much is rightly made of who Newcastle will sign this summer, but this could yet prove a vital appointment. Just ask Gianni Vio, a leading figure in the field, who has worked as a set-play coach under Roberto Mancini, Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino.
"To train at set-pieces is like having another 15 to 20-goal striker," he told ChronicleLive. "I'm sure of it. 100%."
Newcastle need no reminding, of course. Set-play coaches often come in as troubleshooters in order to lift a side who are struggling in such situations, but Newcastle already have a solid foundation in place.
Newcastle United assistant Jason Tindall has helped put a strong foundation in place
Newcastle United assistant Jason Tindall has helped put a strong foundation in place
In fact, just three top-flight sides conceded fewer goals from corners and free-kicks than Newcastle (eight) last season. That is testament to the general defensive work Tindall also does with the team after champions Liverpool were the only Premier League outfit to keep more clean sheets in 2024-25.
Offensively, excluding penalties, Newcastle scored a respectable 13 goals from set-pieces in the top-flight in the same campaign. However, seven teams still bagged more goals from dead ball situations and Newcastle's xG figure was 11.71, which put the black-and-whites in mid-table when it came to the amount of goals Howe's team were expected to score from set-pieces.
Digging deeper, a dozen sides were more effective from corners than Newcastle. At one point, in the opening months of the campaign, Newcastle even took 50 consecutive corners without finding the back of the net in the top-flight.
Arsenal, in contrast, who the coaching staff admire, after noting how the Gunners have scored a number of late winners from set-plays, managed 14 goals from corners alone in the Premier League last season. In fact, Arsenal have scored a whopping 30 league goals from corners in the last two campaigns combined - more than double the amount (13) that Newcastle did in the same period.
Vio, however, has no doubt that Newcastle can 'improve and score even more goals' from such situations, particularly when Howe and his staff already set aside time to regularly practice set-plays.
"There is less space for the training and I think it's a mistake," he explained. "Normally a club spend up to two hours a week warming up - one hour passing the ball and one hour in the rondos. It's important, but set-pieces are also important. If set-pieces make up a big percentage of the goals, it's important to think about that.
Dan Burn opened the scoring in the Carabao Cup final from a corner kick
Dan Burn opened the scoring in the Carabao Cup final from a corner kick
"The training during the week is very important. It's not necessary to train every day. One or two sessions, but we have to every week. Only half-an-hour or 20 minutes in one session and 15 minutes in another because the level of the players in the Premier League is at the highest.
"It's not necessary to stay for an hour. For me, the video before training is also important so the players know the structure, the strategy and the task - starting positions, timing and final positions."
So what are the secrets? How did Vio help turn Spurs into a side who scored nine league goals from set-plays in 2021-22 into one that bagged 16 goals the following season? How did Vio become so valued by the players that Dejan Kulusevski once joked 'he has to get a pay rise' while Harry Kane even gave the Italian a signed shirt as a thank you for his contribution?
Well, as Vio mentioned, regular training and video sessions are key as well as buy-in from the players, which, naturally, becomes easier the more successful the routines are. Interestingly, rather than flooding the squad's heads with a flurry of plays from, say, corners, Vio prepares one 'good one' per game.
Vio recognises the importance of analysts, because data can 'maybe change the weakness point of the opponent', but the set-piece coach stressed on-the-pitch drills with the full complement of players, including markers, are crucial to 'know the movement of ours'. It is about maximising his own team's strengths first and foremost - are they better from first or second balls? - and then analysing the opponent's vulnerabilities.
"If they defend zonal, I know I can create superiority in one specific space," he said. "If I attack a man to man organisation, I know I can move the opponent. If I put five players on the second post, I discover the space in the first post. I know my players and I try to know the solution of the opponent game by game."
Arsenal set-play coach Nicolas Jover even has his own mural on the way to the Emirates
Arsenal set-play coach Nicolas Jover even has his own mural on the way to the Emirates
It is a game within the game and the overwhelming majority of Premier League sides all now have their own bespoke set-play coach. For good reason.
After all, of the 1,091 goals scored in the top-flight last season, 230 were from corners or free-kicks. That works out as little more than one in four.
"The big advantage of set-pieces is we can organise our solution," Vio added. "We are the owner of the time. The timing is up to us.
"We decide which player, the number of players, the shape of the players. We have a lot of advantages when we attack, but it's necessary to train.
"When there are set-pieces, the players that normally defend understand that they can score a goal. I always ask them, 'How many opportunities do you have during one game and during one season?' When a defender realises that, maybe, there are 200 opportunities to score in a season, the training is different."