‘The Level Of Detail’ – Ex-PL Star Hails Aston Villa’s Set Piece Preparations
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Former Aston Villa left-back Stephen Warnock has lifted the lid on how Unai Emery gets his Villa side ready for set piece situations, revealing they use a ‘Trackman’ to perfect what they are doing in training.
Aston Villa mounted a spirited comeback in the 4-3 away win at Brighton on Wednesday evening, with striker Ollie Watkins scoring a brace, which ended his two month long goal barren run.
Villa were 2-0 down early in the first half but Watkins scored twice to bring them level before midfielder Amadou Onana headed in from a corner, giving Emery’s side the lead.
They followed that up with a superb 2-1 victory over Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday.
Onana’s header versus Brighton was Aston Villa’s seventh goal from a set piece this season, in addition to the two direct free kick goals scored by Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia.
Emery’s trusted set piece coach Austin MacPhee is the main orchestrator of the dead ball goals and the club use a specific piece of kit to help them out, according to Warnock.
Warnock, who played for Aston Villa as a player, explained that the club use technology called Trackman, which helps to measure the speed, distance and angle of balls put into the box.
“I have been fortunate to watch Villa train and the level of detail that goes into a training session and how meticulous is he [Emery]”, Warnock said on BBC’s Football Daily podcast (22:20).
“It is Austin MacPhee who takes it and they [Aston Villa] use a Trackman for set-pieces, for free-kicks.
“For anyone who does not know what a Trackman is, it will measure your swing and the trajectory of the ball, speed of the ball.
“They use it for a footballer to take free-kicks and certain positions around the box will suit certain players.
“So, often when you see it and it is like five players around the ball, they do not do that at Villa.
“There are only two people around the ball because that is who should be on it for that position on the pitch because they have worked on it and gone ‘you’re better in this position’ and it is just phenomenal.”
Buendia opened the scoring with a stunning free kick in the 4-0 Bournemouth drubbing in early November and Rogers followed suit with a direct free kick winner at Leeds United in the next game.
Emery’s men have also scored important goals from corners this season, leaving no stone unturned, including Matty Cash’s winner against Manchester City.
In a period when set piece situations have become a very influential part of Premier League matches, Emery has adjusted his team to meet the demand.
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