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Chelsea are in talks to sign highly regarded set-piece coach Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa but face competition from other Premier League clubs as well as Saudi Pro League teams.
Villa would be due compensation for MacPhee with his contract understood to have a specified release clause.
The Scottish coach, 46, has combined his role at Villa Park with a similar position with the Portugal national team for the past
Boss Julien Stephan is focused on set-pieces as he tries to halt QPR’s slide down the Championship table.
Ahead of Saturday’s visit of Hull City (15:00 GMT) QPR are winless in their past four games in the Championship, taking a single point, scoring just two goals, and have slipped to 16th, having been sixth in early October.
Stephan told BBC Radio London it had been “important to refresh mentally and
He continued: “The Victor and Bundu thing, it’s second wave and second wave we attack again.
“So it’s not always pretty, but it’s effective and it’s definitely an area where we have to improve.
“Over 40% of the goals worldwide are scored off the set piece and we were not able to score one, but we also changed that, that just makes us more and more dangerous.”
Former goalkeeper Auer
Twine, 25, joined Bristol City on a permanent deal this summer from Burnley, having spent the second part of 2023-24 campaign on loan at Ashton Gate.
He began his career at Swindon Town, before moving to Newport County on loan and MK Dons permanently in 2021. He joined Burnley in 2023 and also had a spell on loan at Hull City in the first half of last season.
Since 2019-20
The consensus seems to be yes – but with difficulty.
There are several aspects to Arsenal’s set-pieces that make them extremely difficult for opponents to defend. The first is excellent delivery.
“Delivery is key, movement, blocking the goalkeeper. The ball is played over that first player [at the near post] and it’s perfection,” former Arsenal defender Martin Keown said on Match of the Day while analysing Declan Rice’s delivery for
Yet not every club feels the same. Tottenham, under Ange Postecoglou, do not have a specialist set-piece coach and, since the beginning of last season, Spurs have conceded more set piece goals (excluding penalties) than every Premier League team, except for Nottingham Forest.
At Chelsea Mauricio Pochettino didn’t have a set-piece coach, believing he did not need one, before the Blues hired Cueva with a new set-piece department being set
Spurs must have relished the arrival of Arsenal’s teamsheet without the names of Odegaard and Rice, but a lively start soon faded in an occasionally ill-tempered scrap, including an ugly first-half flare-up as players from both sides clashed following Jurien Timber’s challenge on Pedro Porro.
An expected Spurs response to Gabriel’s goal never materialised and keeper Raya was able to enjoy a relatively untroubled existence in the second half.
Arsenal