The rise of the dedicated set-piece coach is one of the most significant tactical shifts of the past five years. Aston Villa's Austin MacPhee, Arsenal's Nicolas Jover, and Brentford's set-piece team have shown that a handful of well-designed attacking routines can be worth between five and ten extra goals a season. At the elite level, that can be the difference between European football and a relegation scrap.
The good news is that the principles behind these routines are not secret. With a clear framework and a willingness to spend ten minutes per session on set pieces, any team from grassroots to semi-professional can transform their dead ball threat. Here is what the specialists actually do, and how to translate it to your own team.
The Numbers That Started a Revolution
Just eight matches into the 2025/26 Premier League season, there had already been 56 set-piece goals. Across a full season, set pieces account for around 21 percent of all goals scored in the top flight. At grassroots and youth level, that figure climbs above 35 percent because defensive organisation is weaker and individual mismatches are easier to exploit.
The clubs taking set pieces most seriously are reaping the rewards. MacPhee's routines at Aston Villa have produced an estimated 28 percent of their goals from corners and attacking free kicks alone. Arsenal have built whole game plans around the threat of their corner deliveries. Brentford have made a name for themselves with imaginative throw-in routines that confuse defences and create chances from nothing.
The Three Principles Behind Every Great Routine
Principle One: Disguise. The best routines start in ambiguous positions. Teams like Brentford and Tottenham line up in starting formations that could lead to half a dozen different deliveries. The defending team cannot organise effectively because they do not know what is coming until the runs have already begun.
Principle Two: Movement creates space. Static attackers are easy to mark. Specialists design routines built around crossovers, dummy runs, and blockers. The aim is to create a single moment where one attacker arrives unmarked at a specific spot. Everything else in the routine exists to create that moment.
Principle Three: Specific delivery to specific zones. Coaches and analysts identify the zones most likely to produce goals from each set piece type. The penalty spot. The near post six-yard area. The edge of the box for second balls. Once the zone is chosen, the deliverer practises hitting it until they can do it under pressure.
Corner Kick Innovations You Can Steal
The all-up corner. Some teams now commit all ten outfield players to attacking corners, leaving nobody on the halfway line. The logic is that the chance of a goal from the corner is higher than the chance of conceding from a long counter. At grassroots level this is bold, but if you face a team with a slow goalkeeper distribution it can be highly effective.
The screen and pull. Two attackers stand close together near the penalty spot. As the ball is delivered, one acts as a screen, blocking the path of a defender. The other pulls away into the space created. Practise this until the timing of the screen and the run are perfectly synchronised.
The short corner with purpose. Short corners are often dismissed as a waste of the threat. Done properly, they pull defenders out of the box, change the angle of delivery, and can lead to better crossing positions. Have a planned second action after the short pass: a one-two, a cutback to the edge of the box, or a switch to a deep crosser on the far side.
Attacking Free Kicks Around the Box
Free kicks in dangerous areas are too often wasted on direct shots that fly into the wall. Specialists treat them as another set piece opportunity with multiple options. The deliverer should be able to choose between four or five routines depending on what they see from the defenders.
A simple framework: design two routines for free kicks from the right channel, two from the left, and one central. Train each of them weekly. When match day comes, the deliverer signals which routine before stepping up, and every player on the pitch knows their job.
Throw-Ins as a Genuine Attacking Weapon
The most underused set piece in the game is the long throw. Stoke City built an entire era around Rory Delap's throws, and Brentford have brought the long throw back into modern fashion. If you have a player who can deliver a flat throw into the six-yard box, you have a corner you can take from forty different positions on the pitch.
Even without a long thrower, throw-ins can be productive. The combination throw - where two players combine to free a third for a cross or shot - is a low-risk, high-reward weapon. Design two or three throw-in patterns and practise them weekly. Your players will be amazed how often opponents are unprepared for them.
Training Set Pieces Without Boring Your Squad
The biggest barrier to better set pieces is that players find them tedious to practise. The solution is to make set piece training competitive. Award points for goals scored, deduct points for chances missed, and run a season-long leaderboard. Suddenly the ten-minute set piece block at the end of training becomes the most engaging part of the session.
Use video too. Show your players clips of professional teams scoring from the routines you want them to copy. Once they see why a specific run or screen matters, they will execute it with much more conviction in training and on match day.
Key Coaching Points
- Disguise your starting positions: do not give the defence time to organise
- Build every routine around a single, specific moment where one attacker arrives unmarked
- Train deliverers to hit precise zones, not just whip the ball into the area
- Have a planned signal so every player knows which routine is about to be used
- Always plan for the second ball: arrange players around the edge of the box
- Train set pieces weekly, briefly, with clear measurement of goals scored and conceded
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