Liverpool turned around their deficit at AC Milan with two set-piece goals, with one of Arne Slot‘s support staff credited after the 3-1 victory at the San Siro.
The Reds went down to an early goal from Christian Pulisic only to take the lead before half-time with headers from Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk.
Both came from similar situations in the six-yard box, with Konate leaping highest to nod in Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s free-kick before Van Dijk found space to power home Kostas Tsimikas‘ corner.
Liverpool exploited the weakness of goalkeeper Mike Maignan before Dominik Szoboszlai made it 3-1 by clipping in Cody Gakpo‘s drilled cross in the second half.
It was interesting to see the Reds score two such goals after advertising for a new specialist set-piece coach over the summer, and it has now been confirmed that position is being filled by Aaron Briggs.
The Athletic‘s James Pearce is among those to report on Briggs’ role, with journalist David Lynch explaining on his Substack that the club have “paused” their search.
“Liverpool had identified a weakness pre-match of Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan being slow to come off his line from set-pieces,” Pearce wrote.
“The plan was to take advantage of that vulnerability by putting balls into the six-yard box for Slot’s biggest aerial threats to attack against stationary defenders.”
Pearce also noted the input of analysts Dan Spearritt, Joel Bonner and Jansen Moreno as well as opposition analyst James French – the latter of whom was also credited by U21s coach Barry Lewtas after a set-piece goal against Man City last month.
Briggs was officially appointed as first-team development coach, filling the void left by Vitor Matos as a bridge between the academy and senior setup, but his duties extend beyond that.
He was seen throughout pre-season working with players on set-pieces and that has continued into the campaign proper, with the first tangible results in Milan.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Slot admitted it was about time the work of his assistant was “rewarded” with goals.
“We were a bit disappointed with the result against Nottingham Forest, we were also disappointed at getting eight corner kicks and not scoring, but we were very close,” he told reporters.
“So we felt, with all the work we put in at set-pieces, that at some moment we should get the reward.
“Two very good set-pieces, two very good headers that got us two goals, which was important.
“I think we were very comfortable on the ball, pressed really well, but in the end you need the goals as well.
“We hit the crossbar a few times today out of open play, so we needed set-pieces, it was good to see that we scored them for all the work my assistant and the players put in.
“It’s nice to see that it got rewarded today.”
