Former set-piece coach Aaron Briggs has spoken out on his time at Liverpool and his firing from the club in December 2025, as well as his true feelings on Arne Slot
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Arne Slot the manager of Liverpool reacts during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Nottingham Forest FC at Anfield on September 14, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images)
Aaron Briggs worked as Liverpool's set-piece coach under Arne Slot(Image: Getty Images)
Former Liverpool coach Aaron Briggs has spoken publicly for the first time about his firing from the club, having been dismissed by the club halfway through the 2025/26 season.
Briggs was the set-piece coach in Arne Slot’s setup at Anfield and played a role in the Reds’ Premier League title triumph last year. He came under huge scrutiny the following campaign though as Liverpool’s form slumped.
He was fired on December 30, with the Reds holding the worst set-piece record in Europe’s top five leagues at that point. By that point, Liverpool had conceded 12 set-piece goals, excluding penalties, and scored from just three.
Slot and the rest of his coaching staff would go on to take responsibility for set-pieces for the remainder of the season, with Liverpool only just securing qualification for the Champions League after finishing fifth. That wouldn’t be enough to save the Dutchman’s job though as he himself was fired earlier this summer and replaced by Andoni Iraola.
Briggs, who now works for UEFA in its game insights department, has now spoken to The Athletic about his time at Anfield, and reflected on the chain of events that led to him being dismissed from the club.
“I had experience of being in the spotlight at Wolfsburg and Monaco as an assistant coach, but the thing with set pieces is that it’s very, very measurable. It’s black and white,” Briggs said.
Former Liverpool set-piece coach Aaron Briggs
Aaron Briggs was fired by Liverpool in December 2025(Image: Getty Images)
“That summer (2025), I took on the role full-time and thought I could make a difference. I put my heart and soul into it, as many hours as humanely possible.
“The club tried to help so it wasn’t just me on my own. The analyst team were really helpful. We didn’t just watch it go downhill. We had meetings and spoke with the players, the coaches.
“I was doing more research, looking at all the chances we conceded and how they happened.
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“Am I putting the wrong players in the wrong places? Is it the setup that is wrong? But it was mostly second and third balls so it wasn’t the setup at delivery.
“We spoke to key players, and Virgil [van Dijk] was one I spoke to heavily. He was getting frustrated. I was, the club were, the fans were.
“We tried to help each other. We tried everything to correct it.”
Despite taking the fall for Liverpool’s poor set-piece record, Briggs insists he has no regrets from his time at Anfield, and holds no hard feelings towards Slot.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 01: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Aaron Briggs and Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD2 training and press conference at AXA Training Centre on October 01, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Aaron Briggs with Arne Slot during a Liverpool training session in October 2024(Image: Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
“It hurt when we weren’t performing as I was putting everything into it and it wasn’t going great,” Briggs added. “In hindsight, it didn’t work out for the club or myself, but no regrets.
“I was very fortunate to be part of a team that won the Premier League and go on an open-top bus parade in Liverpool with hundreds of thousands of fans.
“I wish from the bottom of my heart it had gone better in that second year, but everyone was trying so I didn’t feel alone.
“There wasn’t a falling-out. Arne was really supportive and I spoke to him a few weeks ago. It was very amicable. The numbers were the numbers unfortunately, and that’s part of football.”