A lot has been product of a perceived ugliness returning to English soccer – the set-piece tradition engulfing the Premier League, the NFL-style playbooks and the scrums inside six-yard containers at corners and free-kicks.
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta are the principle exponents, with 19 targets from dead-ball conditions this season within the league, whereas solely conceding seven. The land of the giants, a significant factor in what fuels their title cost as they hunt for a primary crown in a technology.
The obsession is nothing new for Arteta, who satisfied Pep Guardiola to deliver the now revered however then lesser-known Nicolas Jover to Manchester Metropolis in 2019, a matter of months earlier than Arteta was appointed to the highest job on the Emirates Stadium.
It was seen as an actual space for enchancment and a technique to complement an attention grabbing model and Jover managed that development throughout two years, earlier than leaving to hyperlink again up with Arteta at Arsenal in 2021. With the correct specialist gone, no person was left to fill the void.
A shiny younger coach within the academy, Carlos Vicens, had received the Youth Cup with Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap’s cohort. Txiki Begiristain determined to interview his Beneath 18s boss for the job. He had a stipulation for his fellow Spaniard about set-pieces.
‘Txiki instructed me I used to be going to have to try this if I wished to be a part of the teaching workers,’ says Vicens, now in his first senior No 1 job at Braga, fourth within the Portuguese prime flight and within the Europa League quarter-finals after turning round their tie with Feyenoord final evening. ‘It gave me the strain of getting to do them nicely for Pep. You don’t wish to let him down.’
Carlos Vicens with (from left) fellow Manchester Metropolis coach Enzo Maresca, boss Pep Guardiola and assistant supervisor Rodolfo Borrell in 2022
Vicens holds an fascinating Premier League report from his Manchester Metropolis days
He stepped as much as the function of set-piece specialist at Metropolis after Nicolas Jover (above) left the Etihad to reunite with Mikel Arteta at Arsenal
Though not his forte, Vicens remarks that Spanish coaches – notably within the decrease leagues – are fixated on set-pieces. Within the third and fourth tier at Majorcan aspect Llosetense near house, he labored below a coach in Nico Lopez who leant closely on corners.
For a person who spent his formative teaching years even decrease within the regional divisions, taking his personal digital camera to movie the opposition for scouting reviews as a one-man band, Vicens was prepared for something. Spending weeks combing by means of totally different routines, Vicens then launched into the very best season ever when it comes to set-pieces within the Premier League.
No staff has ever posted a bigger disparity between targets scored from set-pieces and conceded in a single marketing campaign than Metropolis in 2021-22, serving to them to 93 factors and an eighth English league title.
Guardiola’s Metropolis, the set-piece kings. Who would have thought? Vicens presided over 21 targets scored – Aymeric Laporte topping the charts with 4 – with their backline, led by Laporte, Ruben Dias and John Stones, breached simply as soon as. Metropolis received the title by a degree from Liverpool on the ultimate day. That was achieved with out rucks or mauls, with solely 10 minutes of devoted coaching the day earlier than a match, simply a few routines within the bag. This was simplicity and a report that has not but been crushed.
‘We conceded only one aim, away at Aston Villa – I keep in mind that,’ says Vicens, who would maybe be greatest served remembering Bernardo Silva’s gorgeous volley on the counter-attack as a substitute that received them the match. ‘We nonetheless received, so fortunately I didn’t price us any factors!
‘That was the season earlier than Erling (Haaland). We didn’t all the time have the tallest staff. I all the time inspired them, like Ruben or John, to channel the eagerness that they had in open play – celebrating defensive actions – they usually realised its significance.
‘I mentioned to think about in case you guys are so good at defending in open play and set-pieces: you’ll be unbelievable. They purchased into it. When elite gamers see that you simply give them assist, they all the time purchase in as a result of they’re aggressive monsters.’
Vicens – who impressed Kevin De Bruyne’s well-known nook routine, the place he whipped the ball throughout the byline to the close to publish for Stones to attain at Anfield in 2024 – reveals that the altering nature of set-plays within the Premier League noticed Metropolis use extra zonal defenders with every passing yr.
Ruben Dias heads house in opposition to Newcastle in December 2021 throughout their record-setting set-piece season
John Stones turns the ball in from Kevin De Bruyne’s intelligent near-post nook routine in opposition to rivals Liverpool in 2024
One season they strengthened the entrance publish and the following determined to clog up the again publish. It’s why you’ll typically see each participant again in their very own field to defend today.
‘A vital a part of the job is to neutralise the opponent,’ Vicens says. ‘For that it’s essential examine. It takes time however it’s essential condense that in what you present the gamers. I used to be very acutely aware about not bombarding them with an excessive amount of data.
‘You’re not working for any coach, you’re working for Pep. He’s very demanding in how a lot info the gamers have to course of. They should pay attention. I used to be very eager on not giving them an excessive amount of. It’s important to filter what you present them.’
Vicens is aware of a good bit about finding out. Simply the three levels to his title. Economics from the College of the Balearic Islands whereas nonetheless taking part in – the central midfielder retired as a semi-pro at 27 – and turning down a suggestion from former Metropolis striker Adrian Heath to go skilled with new franchise Austin Aztex in 2008 throughout a yr overseas on the College of Texas.
Then there have been two Masters throughout his first season at Metropolis, when successfully on work expertise with the Beneath 12s within the academy after sending in a blind CV. One in Portugal, that includes a lecture from former scholar Jose Mourinho, and one other devised by Barcelona’s legendary sports activities scientist Paco Seirullo, who labored with each coach on the Nou Camp from Johan Cruyff to Luis Enrique.
Till taking the leap in the direction of Metropolis, Vicens taught economics whereas teaching. Presumably that helped when working by means of what may very well be fairly monotonous set-piece drills with multi-millionaires.
‘After the assembly within the locker room, I all the time went round to each particular person participant,’ says Vicens. ‘I do know the assembly will final quarter-hour – or 14 minutes, I attempted to scale back it – and I wished to verify the data was being obtained.
‘ this whenever you sit down with them. You realise he would possibly want extra of this or that when delivering info. It additionally made me near the gamers and that may assist them from a mindset standpoint.’
Vicens is now the pinnacle coach of Braga in Portugal the place he has been pitting his wits in opposition to Jose Mourinho and his Benfica staff
Guardiola and Vicens discuss techniques throughout their time collectively at Metropolis
Vicens joined Braga final summer season and is the newest of Guardiola’s Metropolis proteges to leap into administration, after Arteta, Enzo Maresca and Brian Barry-Murphy. He’s opted in opposition to asking his outdated boss for favours.
They did converse in August and round Christmas however Braga’s schedule is as relentless as Metropolis’s – Vicens had 10 matches in his first month and it has barely let up. How he speaks is eerily just like the kind of methodology Guardiola put ahead in his personal first yr on the Etihad Stadium.
‘Pep all the time mentioned the identical factor: “Be true to your self, the intestine feeling tells you and normally it’s proper”,’ says Vicens, whose Braga aspect have misplaced as soon as within the league since mid-December and beat Mourinho’s Benfica within the cup. ‘He trusts his intestine and instinct. He’s transmitted that to me.
‘I knew I used to be going to be a head coach once more. You’re writing issues down, creating this record of concepts for tradition whenever you’re chasing perfection. It’s what I’m making an attempt right here. The goal is all the time change into higher, change into higher, and that’s what I discovered with him. All the pieces you do within the constructing must be tremendous elite. Little by little, you may see you might be doing issues higher.’
