How Midtjylland became hotbed for set-piece experts

"Given the Danes are among Europe's most prolific coffee drinkers, chances are nearly every staff member will visit the one breakout area at FC Midtjylland's training complex several times daily. While there, not only will they receive their caffeine hit but also a reminder of the club's most important table, which sits directly above the machine dispensing espresso after espresso. It is not, though, the Superliga standings (which they have topped four times since 2015) but a graph showing Midtjylland's dead ball goal difference."

"Set-pieces are trending in the Premier League, with Aston Villa's Austin MacPhee and Arsenal's Nicolas Jover nationally recognisable touchline prowlers whenever their team has a restart. In summer 2024, Chelsea paid Brentford 750,000 in compensation for set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva, with Fabrizio Romano's three X posts on the move making 5.9m impressions. Michele Aragona, who recently joined Ipswich from Midtjylland as a set-piece analyst, remembers thinking "this will shock the market"."

FC Midtjylland emphasises set-pieces as a core competitive advantage, tracking dead-ball goal difference prominently in its training complex. The club's approach has delivered four Superliga titles since 2015 and involved scoring at least ten more set-piece goals than conceded in each championship campaign. The Premier League is now following, with clubs hiring set-piece specialists and investing significant sums, as Chelsea paid Brentford for Bernardo Cueva. Michele Aragona moved from Midtjylland to Ipswich as a set-piece analyst, noting the market impact. Matthew Benham's 2014 takeover established analytics-led set-piece prioritisation that has been emulated across Europe.

Read at www.bbc.com