Arne Slot ran out of excuses after Van Dijk’s ‘KILLER’ comment

Arne Slot ran out of excuses after Van Dijk’s ‘KILLER’ comment
Arne Slot ran out of excuses after Van Dijk’s ‘KILLER’ comment

Liverpool confirmed on Tuesday, December 30, that Aaron Briggs would be leaving the club.

For those unfamiliar with Briggs, he played the role of set piece coach. Briggs initially joined the club in the summer of 2024, as an individual development coach, and was involved in winning the Premier League title with Arne Slot last season.

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The decision was then made to promote Briggs to his fixture role after a search for candidates was carried out on platforms such as LinkedIn.

But things haven’t gone well for the defending Premier League champions or Briggs this season.

Liverpool’s poor record on set pieces

Liverpool’s goal difference from set pieces in the top flight this season is -9 – with 12 goals conceded and only three scored. This is the worst record recorded in any of Europe’s top five leagues.

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It must be said that their record from set pieces in the Champions League is much better: five goals scored and none conceded in six games.

And last season Briggs credited in the slot find the solution for at least one goal scored in Europe.

However, set pieces have become a Premier League arms race and most top clubs have a specialist coach.

Around 30 per cent of goals in the top flight have been scored from set pieces this season and it is clear that Liverpool cannot keep up.

Aaron Briggs leaves Liverpool

Responsibility for set pieces will now fall to the rest of Arne Slot’s coaching staff, including Sipke Hulshoff and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

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It remains to be seen whether this decision is worth it for the Reds, especially in the short term, where set-piece expert Leeds United lurks.

But with the announcement of Briggs’ departure it is clear that the former Manchester City and Wolfsburg coach is shouldering the burden of the Reds’ adverse position.

The Anfield team has been plagued by individual errors on set pieces this season. Their poor record on corner kicks in particular is not down to one man.

In fact, there was plenty of evidence that the Reds were suffering from set-piece syndrome last season, with Slot comments that Liverpool were not scoring enough.

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