Liverpool have parted ways with set-piece coach Aaron Briggs as concerns continue to mount over the club\u2019s poor performance from dead-ball situations this season. Aside from penalties, the Reds have managed just three Premier League goals from set pieces, a tally bettered only by bottom-placed Wolves, who have scored twice.<\/p>\n
With the issue becoming increasingly hard to ignore, Liverpool have moved to address it by dismissing Briggs from his role within the first-team coaching staff. Journalist Paul Joyce reports that there are currently no plans to appoint a direct replacement, with responsibility for set-piece preparation instead being shared among the remaining coaches.<\/p>\n
Premier League teams with the fewest set-piece goals (excluding penalties)
\nWolves \u2013 2
\nLiverpool \u2013 3
\nBrentford \u2013 3
\nBurnley \u2013 4
\nNottingham Forest \u2013 4
\nLiverpool confirm Briggs\u2019 departure
\nThe club announced the decision in an official statement, expressing gratitude for Briggs\u2019 contribution during his time at Anfield, which included last season\u2019s title-winning campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiverpool FC can confirm Aaron Briggs has departed his role as set-piece coach of the men\u2019s first team,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving joined the club in July 2024 \u2013 initially as an individual development coach \u2013 Briggs played his part in our Premier League title success last season as part of Arne Slot\u2019s backroom team. He departs with the thanks and best wishes of everyone at the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the announcement struck a respectful tone, recent public comments from both Arne Slot and club captain Virgil van Dijk appear to shed further light on the thinking behind the decision.<\/p>\n
Van Dijk voices frustration
\nLiverpool\u2019s struggles defending set pieces have been particularly costly, with the team currently holding a worrying set-piece goal difference of minus nine. It was little surprise, then, to hear van Dijk air his concerns following last weekend\u2019s 2\u20131 victory, a match in which Wolves again found the net from a corner through Santiago Bueno.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been games where we defended them well,\u201d van Dijk said. \u201cBut the reality is we\u2019ve conceded too many set-piece goals and we don\u2019t score enough ourselves.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s something we have to improve. A lot of the time it\u2019s not even about the first contact \u2014 it\u2019s the second phase that really hurts us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it mental? I hope not. If it\u2019s in your head, then that\u2019s a problem. For me personally, it\u2019s not.\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been good enough, and we all know that. We\u2019ve talked about it and we have to fix it. That\u2019s why we work on it in almost every training session.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most set-piece goals conceded in the Premier League
\nLiverpool \u2013 12
\nBournemouth \u2013 12
\nWest Ham \u2013 11
\nNottingham Forest \u2013 11
\nCrystal Palace \u2013 10
\nSlot admits shared frustration
\nSlot has also been open about his dissatisfaction, admitting that the entire club is irritated by Liverpool\u2019s ongoing problems from dead balls. Speaking before the Wolves match, the head coach highlighted how stark the contrast is with last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know how important set pieces are \u2014 more than ever,\u201d Slot said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re so annoyed by our current record. It\u2019s extremely frustrating because at this point last season, when we went on to win the league, we hadn\u2019t conceded a single set-piece goal.
\n\u201cYou simply can\u2019t compete for the top four, let alone the title, with a set-piece record like ours. We\u2019re the only team near the top of the table with a negative set-piece balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
After once again conceding from a set piece in the 2\u20131 win, Slot added: \u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re maybe the only side that hardly ever scores from set pieces \u2014 and even worse, we keep conceding from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taken together, those comments help explain why Liverpool have decided to reshuffle responsibilities behind the scenes as they look to resolve one of their most glaring weaknesses this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool have parted ways with set-piece coach Aaron Briggs as concerns continue to mount over the club\u2019s poor performance from dead-ball situations this season. Aside from penalties, the Reds have managed just three Premier League goals from set pieces, a tally bettered only by bottom-placed Wolves, who have scored twice. With the issue becoming increasingly …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":57157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sipa_66420558-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57158,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57156\/revisions\/57158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}