"Our setup is slightly different, but the biggest reason is that things have gone back to normal. Seven of Liverpool's last nine Premier League goals, in fact, have come from set-pieces and five of those were corners. The uptick has addressed a severe imbalance from the first half of the season where Liverpool briefly held the worst set-play record in Europe's top five leagues."
"Set-piece supremacy was not in Slot's playbook to begin with but slowly he's come around to the idea, so much so that he has taken on the responsibility himself alongside coaching assistants Sipke Hulshoff and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Set-piece analyst Lewis Mahoney has been given a greater voice, too, with no plans to bring in a new set-piece specialist."
"It's clear the six-yard box is now targeted by most teams in order to cause maximum chaos by aerial bombardment. Arsenal are the masters of it. Liverpool are late adopters, but generally this is a league-wide trend. Offensive teams are placing 3.25 players in the six-yard box on average, up from 2.51 last season."
Liverpool experienced a dramatic turnaround in set-piece effectiveness, with seven of their last nine Premier League goals coming from set-plays, five from corners. This reversed an earlier season where they held the worst set-play record across Europe's top five leagues. Manager Arne Slot initially resisted emphasizing set-pieces but gradually accepted this as Premier League reality. After set-piece coach Aaron Briggs departed in December, Slot assumed direct responsibility alongside assistants Sipke Hulshoff and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, while set-piece analyst Lewis Mahoney gained greater influence. The team adopted inswinging corners targeting the six-yard box, aligning with league-wide trends where offensive teams now average 3.25 players in that zone, up from 2.51 the previous season.
Read at Sky Sports
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