Southampton land former Arsenal set piece coach
Georgson has worked for Malmo since September 2021 as Sports Director and then Technical Director
Written by Training Ground Guru — August 20, 2023
FORMER Arsenal set piece coach Andreas Georgson has joined Southampton in the same role.
The Swede, 41, worked under Mikel Arteta for the Gunners in 2020/21, having previously held the same position at Brentford the previous season. In September 2021, he returned to Malmo - where he had worked from 2006 to 2019 - to become their Sports Director and then Technical Director.
In April 2022 he appeared on Episode #37 of the TGG Podcast and outlined, in great detail, the work he had done at Arsenal. You can listen below.
Saints boss Russell Martin explained: “We spoke to quite a few people about the set piece role which is probably why it’s taken quite a while. Then it was about trying to get Andreas out of his current role (at Malmo) and getting him into this one.
“We are really pleased that we have been able to do it, although it’s a little bit later than we would have liked and he would have liked. Even today (I’ve seen) the intensity of his work and the level of detail.
"I couldn’t spend too long in there with the set pieces because it’s not how my brain works.”
Director of Football Jason Wilcox added: “Andreas has an excellent understanding of the game model we’re building here, in which set-pieces play an important role.
“He is an expert in what he does and truly eats, sleeps and breathes set-pieces, adding another string to our bow within the backroom staff supporting Russell and the team.”
SET PIECE WORK WITH ARSENAL
Georgson appeared on Episode #37 of the TGG Podcast and outlined the work he had done with Arsenal as their set piece specialist.
“It’s a lot about selling to them (the players) - ‘If we spend time on this it will really help you in the game and it will help the team,’” he said. “It’s a lot about being a salesman, because set pieces are boring to begin with. Try to make it fun, try to do it in context and try to motivate the players.
“It takes patience and it takes motivation from the players, because they would rather take 20 shots after a session (than practice set pieces). That is so much more passionate for them and more fun.
“Players didn’t become footballers to understand how to avoid a block, but it is still highly effective to know. Detailed work (on set pieces) is really boring, it doesn’t come from passion, it just really helps if you can improve your role in the team in this specific area.
“There are not so many (set piece) specialists out there that I think will be efficient. You need to find the right man or woman to do it and if you’re going to do it there must be full buy-in - including from the manager - so that everyone accepts we are going to spend time and effort on this.
“I’m not sure every team needs to have one (a set-piece coach). I think every team needs to have a strong set-piece process. Whether you build that with your assistant or a specialist is not the key thing. There needs to be a thought-through process of how to improve it over time.”
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