Arsenal will deploy a potent weapon who never sets foot on the pitch when they bid to exploit Paris Saint Germain\u2019s set-piece vulnerability in Tuesday\u2019s Champions League showdown.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta\u2019s side have emerged as Europe\u2019s preeminent force at corners and free-kicks thanks to their set-piece guru Nicolas Jover.<\/p>\n
Having worked with Arteta during their time on Pep Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City coaching staff, Jover was persuaded to follow his friend to Arsenal in 2021.<\/p>\n
Jover\u2019s clever schemes have been the unheralded secret of Arsenal\u2019s success \u2014 until this season when their exquisite execution finally became obvious to overwhelmed opponents.<\/p>\n
The Gunners have scored 44 goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) since Jover\u2019s arrival, including 25 in the Premier League since the start of last season.<\/p>\n
That is the most of any side in the English top-flight in that period, with 19 of those goals coming from corners, including Gabriel Magalhaes\u2019 crucial header in the 2-2 draw at title rivals Manchester City.<\/p>\n
Jover\u2019s importance to Arsenal was laid bare when Arteta smothered him in a bear hug on the touchline when another Gabriel header from a corner sealed a vital 1-0 win at Tottenham earlier this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn his field, in other fields, as a person, the relationship that we have, that\u2019s why I made a decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal,\u201d Arteta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHim and the staff, they have injected belief to the players that there are many ways to win football matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really powerful one and it\u2019s given us a lot. So a big compliment to all of them, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jover has conjured up deceptive routines to both attack and defend from set-pieces.<\/p>\n
The German-born 42-year-old\u2019s most successful creation sees the opposing goalkeeper put under pressure by a ring of Arsenal players while Gabriel times his run to meet a corner at the far post.<\/p>\n
\u201cCredit to Nico. I think he does an amazing job. We train a lot on it. You see it every week how important it is. Sometimes set-pieces decide a game. We are glad to have Nico,\u201d Arsenal forward Kai Havertz said.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Set-pieces are really important\u2019 \u2013
\nIn stark contrast to Arsenal\u2019s attention to detail in dead-ball situations, Paris Saint-Germain have stubbornly opted against focusing on set-pieces.<\/p>\n
PSG boss Luis Enrique did not bring in a specialist when he was hired and the club reportedly work on attacking and defending set pieces only occasionally.<\/p>\n
That has led to PSG routinely conceding from corners and free-kicks, a weakness that has Jover licking his lips in anticipation of exposing their flaws.<\/p>\n
The French champions\u2019 curious attitude to set-pieces has left them vulnerable, much like Tottenham \u2014 serial victims of dead-ball mistakes whose boss Ange Postecoglou is one of the few Premier League managers yet to embrace the trend.<\/p>\n
Champions Manchester City have benefitted from Guardiola\u2019s decision to promote Carlos Vicens from Under-18 coach to set-piece specialist in 2023.<\/p>\n
City scored 21 times from set-pieces and conceded just once in their march to a fourth successive Premier League title last term.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday in modern football, set-pieces are really important,\u201d Guardiola said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are preparing things in the corners like every team does. Someone had to come with the ideas, and we are going to do this so all credit to Carlos.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brentford, who employed Jover for three years, were one of the earliest adopters of the set-piece revolution and Chelsea paid \u00a3750,000 ($1 million) to sign their dead-ball coach Bernardo Cueva in May.<\/p>\n
Andreas Georgson recently joined Manchester United with set-piece schemes his primary task, while Austin MacPhee\u2019s routines helped Aston Villa reach the Champions League for the first time in 41 years.<\/p>\n
Liverpool advertised for the position after Peter Krawietz\u2019s summer exit, their job application seeking a \u201ctactical specialist\u201d with \u201cthe ability to expertly coach both offensive and defensive set-piece strategies\u201d.<\/p>\n
For now, there is no doubt Arsenal are leading the race to capitalise on the marginal gains that can decide a title race or make a European champion. PSG have been warned.<\/p>\n
The post Arsenal\u2019s set-piece guru ready to prey on PSG weakness<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Arsenal\u2019s set-piece guru ready to prey on PSG weakness<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal will deploy a potent weapon who never sets foot on the pitch when they bid to exploit Paris Saint Germain\u2019s set-piece vulnerability in Tuesday\u2019s Champions League showdown. Mikel Arteta\u2019s side have emerged as Europe\u2019s preeminent force at corners and free-kicks thanks to their set-piece guru Nicolas Jover. Having worked with Arteta during their time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}