Aston Villa manager, Unai Emery has praised his set piece coach, Austin MacPhee following John McGinn’s goal against Luton Town.
For the twelfth time in a row, Aston Villa won at home as they dispatched Luton 3-1 in comfortable fashion.
Up against the Hatters, Unai Emery’s side had over 70% possession and arguably should have scored more on the day.
The Villains opened the scoring through captain John McGinn as he made the most of a clever free-kick routine.
This was added to by Moussa Diaby’s first Villa Park goal and an own goal from Tom Lockyer. This saw Villa secure yet another home win.
What has Unai Emery said about Austin MacPhee?
MacPhee joined the Villains in 2021 under Dean Smith and has kept his role at the club ever since.
Sometimes his credentials have come under questioning by fans who believe Villa don’t score enough from set pieces.
With that being said, Villa’s opening goal on Sunday came from a clever routine.
Discussing his set piece coach with Birmingham Live, Emery said: “We have Austin preparing things and he has an analyst coach working with him too. I like to work on each situation with each player, in couples and in groups.
“In football, my method is to individually and by groups work a lot, then working collectively on what they want to do.”
Emery is famed for his work with individual players and it appears that his methods haven’t changed when it comes to set pieces.
On that point, he added: “I have worked a lot in my career on set pieces, offensively and defensively, but football is progressing a lot and we now have individual coaches for them.
“We have two, three or four working. We have two analyst coaches as well preparing things.”
It appears that the Villa boss is working around MacPhee and helping to create better set-piece opportunities.
Rounding off his comments, the Spaniard said: “On set pieces, I am happy with what we are doing.
“I am supporting him and sometimes giving my opinion on set pieces, but he is 80 per cent doing.”
It is good to see Villa making the most of set pieces and hopefully, this represents the start of an upward turn.
