One of the more pleasant things to come out of Tottenham’s first two Premier League matches of the season has been the fact that they have looked simultaneously more dangerous on offensive set pieces, and less vulnerable on defensive set pieces. What was a major concern last season has improved dramatically this season — though admittedly a small sample size, Spurs have yet to concede from a set piece and have looked significantly better on both sides of those situations. This is despite Ange Postecoglou’s almost dismissive attitudes about coaching that part of the game in the second half of last season and his refusal to directly hire a set piece coach to address it.
Or didn’t he? Tottenham did have a coaching shuffle this summer after Chris Davies left the club to become manager of Birmingham City, bringing in Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo from Hibernian FC and promoting Matt Wells. Postecoglou previously identified Mile Jedinak as being in charge of defensive set pieces with Ryan Mason mostly in charge of offensive corners and dead balls. Football.London reports this morning that starting this season, Montgomery in particular has involved himself in the organization of set pieces on both sides of the ball, though Alasdair Gold takes pains to mention that Postecoglou still sees coaching in all areas of his team as a collaborative effort and there are no coaching specialists.
This is anecdotal and very much based on the “eye test” from watching two Tottenham early season games — set piece statistics are difficult to find without an Opta subscription — but Spurs have looked different thus far. While much of this is a result of Tottenham’s overall tactical system, in their opening two matches against Leicester and Everton Spurs have attempted the most corner kicks (25) of any team in the league, converting one, and have faced just seven against. This is I’m certain partially because they have faced two very bad teams.
That said, I’ve noticed tweaked and different routines off of corners on both the offensive and defensive ends, and while new Premier League rules about impeding keepers on set pieces has certainly helped, Spurs also have defended the few corners they’ve faced more robustly and with fewer lapses in concentration. Not that there haven’t been nervous moments — set pieces are notoriously chaotic events and there have been a couple of scary set pieces where the ball’s pinged around the box or forced Guglielmo Vicario or Spurs defenders into making saves — but particularly on the defensive side Spurs’ players have looked generally more organized and disciplined, knowing what their assignments are and even employing some flexibility on zonal vs. man marking depending on the situation.
Gianni Vio is long gone, now working with the USA National Teams (and reportedly doing very good work), and it would be foolish to look at the opening two matches and think that Tottenham’s set piece woes are over. It’s a long season. Spurs will inevitably concede set piece goals, because every team concedes set piece goals. We won’t know whether this is a short term improvement or evidence of a systemic change until much farther down the road.
That said, Spurs HAVE looked better, and if Gold is right, Nick Montgomery taking a more active role in this area is a strong suggestion that, despite his terse comments to the press, Postecoglou did recognize that set pieces were areas of concern and has taken steps to address the situation. That’s a very good sign.