LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 29: Mikel Arteta manager / head coach of Arsenal reacts alongside Nicolas Jover during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Semi Final First Leg match between Arsenal FC and Paris Saint-Germain at Emirates Stadium on April 29, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Set pieces have recently become big business in the modern game and Newcastle United are the latest club ready to appoint a specialist member of staff to tackle both the attacking and defending side of dead-ball situations.
As reported by Chronicle Live earlier this week, Newcastle have gone in search of a new 'elite-level' set piece expert who will lead the 'planning, design and execution' of set-piece routines. The job advert states the the opportunity is an 'outstanding one' at an 'ambitious Premier League club'.
But why are Newcastle making this change, and why now? Chronicle Live assesses the reasoning behind the backroom move at St James' Park.
A growing trend in the Premier League
Many will scoff at the need for such a specific member of staff but a growing number of top flight clubs are seeing significant success after opting to put more focus on this area of the game. As such, it is no surprise to see the rise of the set piece gurus patrolling the technical areas during free-kicks or corners.
Liverpool raised eyebrows close to a decade ago by hiring a dedicated throw-in coach, while in recent years the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester City, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Ipswich Town have appointed set-play dedicated coaches, with some enjoying more joy than others.
Explaining the recent uptrend, former Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, recently said: “It's a very interesting challenge, a very interesting task, where there is big improvement possible. Go back 20 years ago and it was maybe the goalkeeper coach. Not a lot of football clubs then had the sport science or nutritionists."
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Meanwhile, the man who led Liverpool's analytics department under Jurgen Klopp, Ian Graham, recently admitted: "Until very recently, most teams didn't spend any time practicing set pieces. Maybe you'd do it for 10 minutes before an important game, but it wouldn't necessarily be informed by any kind of analysis."
Brentford were the first club in England to opt for such a role, with former banker Gianni Vio arriving back in 2015 to solely focus on dead-ball situations at the then-Championship side. "Set pieces are a different moment than the normal game," he told ESPN.
"In the normal game, the two teams are playing together. But when there is a set piece, we are the owner of the time. That changes everything. I can decide how many players are in the box, when everyone is where, and what happens in the first moment."
In a league where each position up the table is worth an additional £3m or so, it pays to invest in these small margins.
Kieran Trippier of Newcastle United
Kieran Trippier of Newcastle United
The Arsenal effect
Ask football fans to name one Premier League set piece coach and most will probably respond with: 'that annoying fella from Arsenal'. That man in question is Nicolas Jover.
Formerly of Brentford, working alongside Thomas Frank, the coach worked with Mikel Arteta - who says set-pieces are a 'crucial' part of the game these days - at Manchester City before making the move to Arsenal. The reason Jover is so well-known among non-Gunners is due to his constant presence in and around the technical area whenever the north London outfit are faced with a set piece.
He may have been mocked of late but his record - at least at one end of the pitch - speaks for itself. After all, in the season before Jover joined Arsenal, they had scored just five goals from set pieces.
As of late April, Arsenal had found the 68 times since his Emirates Stadium arrival back in 2021, which ranks as the highest return in the top flight over that period.
However, work does appear to be needed at the opposite end of the pitch. This, due to the fact that as of early May, Arsenal had conceded a whopping 38.7% of their goals for the season from set pieces.
Eddie Howe's view on the matter
Newcastle found the net 12 times from set plays last season and have been known, in recent seasons, to deploy impressive routines on a matchday having worked on the systems on the training pitch.
Howe has often heaped praise on his backroom staff for their roles in that area of the game, with Jason Tindall, Simon Weatherstone, Stephen Purches and others dedicating time and energy to set pieces behind the scenes. Kieran Trippier, Sandro Tonali and Lewis Hall are also known to play key roles in dead-ball strategies at the club's Benton HQ.
Howe has been specifically quizzed on the matter in recent months, with the Newcastle boss asked for his take on the rise of the set piece coach in the English game. “It’s something we have discussed, looked at and talked with the club about,” the Newcastle boss said late last year.
“I think we have a set play analyst who is very good. Kieran does a lot of work with Jason regarding our set plays, they work incredibly hard to try and improve our product from our corners and set plays but also from a defensive viewpoint which we’ve not been too bad.
“A lot of work goes into them, we practice them a lot. Sometimes you go on runs where you score and sometimes you go on runs when you don’t but we do know it is an area we need to contribute to. It can win you games and it can really make the difference, as other teams have found out this year.”