Liverpool's performance from set-pieces has improved considerably but Arne Slot insists that has little to do with Aaron Briggs' exit
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)
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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot believes his side's set-pieces have gone "back to normal" after recent successes. The number of goals conceded compared to those scored has been an issue for Slot all season.
So much so that it led to Aaron Briggs – the individual development coach who was pushed into the set-piece role at the start of the campaign – was sacked in late December due to the continued under-performance.
Since then things have improved markedly but the Reds boss said that was not a reflection on Briggs.
In the first 26 matches of the season Liverpool conceded from 13 set-pieces and scored from eight but in their last 12 games since Briggs' departure they have conceded from two and scored from eight.
"It would be very unfair to (blame) Aaron, who was partly responsible for that because, (because) in the end I'm responsible for everything," said Slot
"We've been in that period of time (being) so unlucky. We all knew that it couldn't go on like that because we hardly gave away a chance in set-pieces but every ball went in and we created multiple opportunities to score and the ball didn't go in.
"So that things go back to normal now, it's something which we expected. We didn't change that much, maybe made one or two slight changes.
"What changed is things went back to normal, because in the Champions League I think we were number one in set-pieces."
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The Reds particularly struggled defensively against Premier League opposition set-pieces and that will be tested again at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Interestingly, however, five of their eight league goals against Forest since their return to the competition in 2022 have been scored from set-pieces.
In Vitor Pereira, Slot is facing his third different Forest manager in four matches but is still looking for his first win, having lost one and drawn one to Nuno Espirito Santo and been defeated by Sean Dyche at home earlier this season.
"Back then (in November) they were in a different management as well because I think it was Sean Dyche's third or fourth game," added Slot.
"That sometimes makes it a little bit more difficult because we only have (one game) to see if this manager changes personnel, changes tactics but we, of course, know him because he worked last season in the Premier League as well.
"It was a difficult game for us in the beginning of the season – the first half-hour was very good from us and then we conceded a set-piece and the game went completely the opposite way.
"We know what we can expect if we play Forest because I've played them three times already."
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