This article was published before the Rangers Review exclusively revealed that the club were set to appoint Scott Fry as their new set-piece coach.
Rangers are looking to add an expert set-piece coach to Danny Rohl’s staff. The news, as revealed exclusively by the Rangers Review yesterday morning, will be welcomed by supporters who have seen their side underperform at dead-ball situations for the past couple of seasons.
Last season, the club infamously took until December to score from a set piece in the league, and since the start of this campaign, they’ve looked particularly soft defensively.
In two of Rohl’s three league wins so far, Rangers have opened the scoring from a set piece. Playing against teams in Kilmarnock and Dundee, who sat deep, both of those strikes demonstrated the marginal gains offered by corners and free kicks.
Here’s a closer look at the wider set-piece trend in football and why Rohl is correct to address the issue after two seasons.
Why are clubs investing in set-piece coaches?
In the Premier League, after five matchdays, 25 percent of goals had derived from set pieces (not including penalties) according to Opta - that’s a lot. Well up on the 19 percent recorded in 2020/21, for example.
As the game becomes more physical and coaches are afforded less training time with such a heavy game load, dead-ball scenarios are more important than ever. In the modern game, any marginal gain is exploited by the best teams - from recruitment to corners - and at the elite curve of football for a few seasons, we have seen that play out in set pieces. Whether it be Nicolas Jover at Arsenal or Austin MacPhee at Aston Villa, dedicated ‘set-piece coaches’ are becoming more and more visible.
After all, if they account for around 25 percent of goals in a league, surely it would be negligent not to give specific attention to these areas? No one bats an eyelid at a ‘defensive unit’ coach, because of the obvious value, nor should they at a set-piece coach in the present age of analysis.
Set pieces are a “game within a game”. They can prove a leveller for underdogs or an extra tool for dominant teams to unpick low blocks.
Of course, some clubs have dedicated set-piece coaches and others have coaches designated to set pieces. What is the difference? One source explained to the Rangers Review recently that it comes down to the coach’s investment, whether they see set-pieces as an obsession or a duty. Similarly, the time and priority given to set-pieces in training, make-up of the squad and success or failure of routines all make a difference.
Who has been in charge of Rangers’ set-pieces?
The best clubs thrive on consistency in the dugout. From a set-piece perspective, the likes of MacPhee and Jover have had seasons to develop relationships and evolve ideas within their squad.
Rangers have had five different coaches assigned to set pieces in the past five years, hardly a recipe for success. They’ve had some sustained joy from 2021-23 under the spells of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale and the early Philippe Clement era, but in the last two seasons, their output has nosedived.
Remarkably, Rangers and Celtic scored the joint-fewest set-piece goals last season in the entire Scottish Premiership, with eight goals. Hibs, at the top of that table, managed more than double (18) the Old Firm clubs combined.
After Tom Culshaw departed with Steven Gerrard in 2021, Roy Makaay headed up dead-ball situations to good effect under Van Bronckhorst before Harry Watling was handed responsibility under Beale. Including direct free-kicks, Rangers managed 21 set-piece league goals in the 2022/23 season, an improvement on 17 the season before.
It's been a bit of a nightmare since. Rangers actually created quite a lot of opportunities from set-pieces in 2023/24, but only scored nine times. Last season, their chance creation dropped and they only scored eight times as covered.
That's the risk of your chance creation dropping across the board - sometimes you'll overperform, sometimes you'll underperform.
This season, already, despite underlying numbers remaining similar to last season, the club have already scored five set-piece goals, for example, unlike in the 2023/24 campaign.
The point remains though that since 2023, output has dropped.
Clement asserted he wouldn’t appoint a set-piece coach because he wanted control of himself. That ultimately was his undoing across the board at the club; quality was diluted by quantity. Although by the end of the Belgian’s tenure he lacked the support structure to be a success (with no CEO, chairman or sporting director) he was reluctant to hand over control and as an example, set pieces suffered after a promising start under his stewardship.
As explained by the Rangers Review upon the dismissal of Russell Martin, Mike Williamson, given the responsibility of set pieces from the summer, was seen to lack the authority required internally to make such moments a success and viewed as more of an extra coach than a set-piece specialist.
The quality of delivery is also a vital component. England were mocked for using Harry Kane to take corners at Euro 2016, for example, but Declan Rice, as one of Arsenal’s ‘biggest’ players, is sacrificed in the box because of his quality of inswinging delivery. Meanwhile, it is likely no coincidence that a side who have become gradually less physically imposing struggles in either box.
What does the data show?
We’re looking at xG from set pieces over the course of five seasons to determine the average chances Rangers have created and conceded from corners, free-kicks and throw-ins.
It can provide us with real insight into what the underlying numbers say and not just the top-line of goals scored.
For example, in the 2023/24 season, Rangers created the second most chances from set pieces in the division (16.43xG) but underperformed that total by around seven goals, scoring just nine.
And this season, despite creating a similar number of opportunities to the season just past, they're scoring at a better rate (0.45 goals/90 up from last season's 0.21).
Generally, however, there is a pattern of regression in the past couple of seasons following otherwise good performance from 2021-23. And the best way to limit such variables is to keep chance creation high and chances allowed low - something the club have failed to do in the past two seasons.
Here’s what Rangers’ set-piece chance creation looks like in the past five league seasons, per 90.
Their set-piece xG ranked first (21/22), second (22/23), second (23/24), seventh (24/25) and fourth (25/26) in relation to the rest of the league.
The story is similar in a defensive sense.
Rangers’ set-piece xG conceded ranked first (21/22), second (22/23), first (23/24), third (24/25) and ninth (25/26) in relation to the rest of the league.
Look at the past two seasons. Last campaign, six sides were creating more from set-pieces than Rangers and this season, only three sides have conceded more chances to the opposition from dead-ball situations. Clearly, something needs to change.
Have we seen set-piece improvements under Rohl?
Rohl’s side have scored two set-piece goals in three league games. Nico Raskin’s header against Dundee last weekend was the type of move we’ve seen before. The Belgian is chronically undermarked by the opposition because of his height, which can deceive, given the scale of his jump.
Teams now regularly use a zonal marking system and that means that often, the opposition will try to block the runs of John Souttar and other centre-backs, or a taller player like Youssef Chermiti and focus their attention on said players, while leaving Raskin free to often start as a decoy for taller players before attacking the ball himself.
The run of Derek Cornelius before he scored against Kilmarnock was also something new. Staying away from Killie's zonal set-up allowed the Canadian a straight, untracked run onto James Tavernier's delivery.
We’ve seen Rohl’s men try to manipulate opposition defensive structures in different ways. Chermiti should’ve scored with this back-post effort against Celtic at Hampden, who loaded their stronger headers off the ball to the front of their zonal structure, as an example.
However, a concession against Roma in last week’s Europa League tie was the latest instance of this side looking a soft touch defensively.
And although Rangers are scoring at a better rate than last season from set pieces, the point remains that they have created less and therefore scored less on average since 2023.
Until the underlying numbers improve, the output will remain inconsistent.
If Rohl is to succeed at Ibrox, not least this season, he can leave no stone unturned and assigning proper attention to set pieces is a good start.
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