I have something I must confess.
In a moment of weakness in mid-October, radio commentary for an ultimately forgettable Premier League match was left to play for a short journey despite a clear red flag.
Danny Murphy's views were being disseminated on the airwaves.
Now, I was admittedly only subjected to it for a mere five minutes. Unfortunately, whether it be through bad timing or sheer repetition from the former player, it was more than long enough to hear an unimaginative trope on the modern, beautiful game that we love.
- Published prior to Tottenham's game against Marseille on Tuesday night
I’ll permit you three guesses as to what it was…
Congratulations, you only needed the one! He was indeed bemoaning the very idea of a set-piece coach — again.
Granted, there is probably little need in Murphy catching a stray in my introduction to the subject matter for this week’s column, but it’s entirely deserved as a portion of punditry continues to devolve and essentially celebrate being uninformed.
After being put firmly in his place last year by a specialist coach that worked with the highly successful Liverpool team in recent years as to exactly why they're employed by clubs, Murphy has clearly not changed his mind.
It's pretty simple. If the specialist coach have been researching his/her subject for 17 years... every day, like I have, then an assistent coach will never have a single chance to have the same knowledge around that subject. They are more generalists.
— Thomas Gronnemark (@ThomasThrowin) August 23, 2021
That's why they bring me in
Anyway, the latest in what will be a long line of specialist coaches to make Murphy look incredibly ignorant on the subject is Tottenham’s Gianni Vio, a vastly experienced set-piece expert whose previous roles include the same job with Italy as they pipped England to Euro 2020 glory.
He is playing a huge part in keeping a currently underwhelming side in the top-four fight.
Former banker earning his Spurs
An inspired hire by fellow Italian Antonio Conte, the 69-year-old former banker is certainly earning his spurs this season.
Tottenham’s struggles with creating chances from open play in 2022/23 is concerning given the attacking talent at hand, scoring just 13 times in as many Premier League fixtures and averaging a lowly 1.01 expected goals for (xGF) per game from such situations per Opta Analyst.
They sit top of the charts in set-piece goals scored, however, an area that proved instrumental in Saturday's come-from-behind win over Bournemouth, already surpassing last term's total of eight — netting nine through 13 games this season.
Spurs set-piece improvement looks sustainable
Of course, these set-piece numbers can have a rather large error bar, especially when considering the small sample size for this campaign, but the underlying numbers are very encouraging from Spurs, too, suggesting this is more than just a few speculative efforts finding the target.
Conte's side have allowed the second-fewest scoring opportunities and created the second most chances from set-pieces in the league.
Only Newcastle (6.79) have fashioned more xG from set-pieces than Spurs (5.92), while West Ham (1.58) are the only team to concede a lower xG conceded total than Tottenham (1.62).
Excelling at both ends of the pitch in what is rapidly becoming one of the most important aspects of the modern game is a credit to the work Vio and the team have clearly put in on the training ground.
It’s one thing to have preparation bear fruit in matches, but players recognising, and publicly praising, the value of the work done is another. Vio received high praise earlier in the campaign after a set-piece routine helped Spurs secure a 1-0 win against Wolves.
"I just told him three times that we have to give him more money. He has to get a pay rise for sure! Shoutout to him," said Dejan Kulusevski.
"He's very important. He makes a difference, like you can see. At the end of the day, we won on a set-piece so we have to keep working on that. It's not the funnest thing in the world but it makes results. It helps a lot.”
Undoubtedly, it has helped a lot. Tottenham have set-piece goals to thank for their inflated position of third in the table, finding life difficult from open play.
Indeed, doubts about Conte's style are surfacing despite sitting five points off the top, a big indicator that specialist coach Gianni Vio is making a huge difference.
If you're a long time listener of Danny Murphy, become a first time caller and educate him on what is going on at Spurs.
