Football.London’s Alasdair Gold has revealed that Tottenham’s new assistant coach Nick Montgomery has taken charge of both attacking and defending set-pieces.
Tottenham struggled from set-pieces
Conceding from indirect set-plays and corner kicks was a major issue for Tottenham last season but Ange Postecoglou remained adamant that he would not spend too much time on the training ground working on set-piece defending (Daily Mail).
However, Gold has now revealed that a change has been made following the arrival of Montgomery, who joined Postecoglou’s coaching staff in the summer.
The journalist explains that while all aspects of coaching at Spurs are a collective effort between the staff, Montgomery has had a strong involvement in set-piece work at both ends of the pitch.
New set-piece system for Spurs
Gold states that the 42-year-old has implemented a hybrid set-piece defending system, involving both zonal and man marking.
Tottenham have coped much better with corners and indirect free-kicks in the first two games of the season while they have also had success at the other end, with Cristian Romero turning home an in-swinging corner from James Maddison against Everton.
Spurs fans will be hoping that Montgomery’s influence can continue to have a positive effect at both ends of the pitch for Tottenham’s set-pieces this season.
Spurs Web Opinion
While Tottenham have looked quite solid in defending set-plays, it is too early to judge if the implemented changes have had the desired effect.
Another noticeable change is that Guglielmo Vicario has been a lot more decisive in the two matches so far.