Celtic fans can finally praise the club for doing something forward-thinking.
Amid the moaning and groaning about how the Celtic board are running matters, the powers that be have appointed a set-piece coach in the form of Ross Grant from Hearts.
The reaction from quite a lot of the Celtic Park faithful towards Ross’s appointment has been positive, including some complimentary words from Martin O’Neill.
But former Hoops striker Frank McAvennie isn’t in that camp, as he completely dismissed the idea of Ross coming in as a set-piece coach, as he told his Let Me Be Frank Podcast.
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Frank McAvennie is not having Celtic’s appointment of set-piece coach Ross Grant
Simon Houston: “Hearts have lost Ross Grant, their technical coach, their set-piece coach, because he had been head-hunted to Celtic. I know you aren’t a big fan of set-piece coaches.”
McAvennie: “No. I think it’s a load of c__p.”
Houston: “He worked with Austin MacPhee, who has a really, really good reputation (at Aston Villa).”
McAvennie: “Oh, that’s great.”
Houston: “You don’t like set-piece coaches?”
McAvennie: “No.
Houston: “Why? Celtic never score goals from corner kicks.”
McAvennie: “How about we aren’t big enough. We haven’t got anybody big enough to score goals from corner kicks. Who have we got?”
Houston: “Is it as simple as that?”
McAvennie: “Of course it is. Martin O’Neill’s team used to score goals all the time. It doesn’t matter if I am marking you; you aren’t going to score. Simple as that, if I am bigger than you. If I am a good player, you aren’t going to score.”
Get with the times, this is modern-day football…
McAvennie’s argument against Ross is pretty pathetic, and it’s the age-old rubbish about size.
He thinks Celtic don’t score enough goals from corners because ‘we aren’t big enough’, rather than focusing on how times have changed and there is a lot more to set-plays in the modern game.
First and foremost, at least McAvennie acknowledges that the champions of Scotland need to improve on their attacking set-plays.
But it’s not just about swinging the ball into the box and doing everything to allow the biggest man to score. It’s about how you out-fox, out-think and out-do your opponents.
When McAvennie played, the sport lacked the extensive coverage and detailed tactical breakdowns that define the modern game. The opposition now knows every little detail about who they are going to face by just sitting at a computer.
Therefore, you have to do more than just have a ‘big guy’ in the box.
One of the men who Grant has worked with is Aston Villa and Portugal’s set-piece coach, Austin MacPhee.
Villa scored from set-plays for fun last season, including the opening goal from a corner in the Europa League final.
This wasn’t just a corner put straight into the box, but played short, to draw the opposition out of their positions, the player on the edge of the box (Morgan Rogers) pretends to play it into the danger area, where the Villa players are actually blocking their opponents from getting out.
Then the ball is just lifted to Youri Tielemans, in all the space in the world, who makes a late run, just inside the area, and he hits it first time into the bottom corner.
See, no big man needed. Ross has worked a lot with MacPhee, and hopefully, he can bring some of that magic to Parkhead.
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