CHELSEA’S MOST IMPORTANT SIGNING OF THE SUMMER IS NOT A PLAYER
With his long blond hair and beard, the biggest name in Premier League set-piece coaching looks more like a hell-raising heavy-metal star. But speak to those who work with Austin MacPhee and he is calm, logical and detailed about how he gets teams to approach one of the most important aspects of the modern game.
MacPhee is arguably the most stunning signing of the summer, with Chelsea paying a fee to land him from Aston Villa.
He is among the new breed of coaches who are rock stars in their own right, taking centre-stage since rules were changed so that only one person is allowed in the technical area at a time. For MacPhee to get closer to the players for a set-piece, it will mean Xabi Alonso taking a step back onto the bench.
It has been an incredible rise for MacPhee, 46, who was working on Michael O’Neill’s staff with Northern Ireland 10 years ago this summer, helping them reach the knockout stages of the European Championship.
“He tends to be quite calm,” said Stockport midfielder Oliver Norwood, who played at Euro 2016 and still keeps in touch with MacPhee. “He was part of the backroom staff but looked at the set-pieces.
“It was something that we wanted to work really hard on for the tournament. This is no disrespect to the way we played, but we wanted to be good at set-pieces if we had the chance, and we had our success in the tournament and in the qualification round.”
MacPhee started at Cowdenbeath and St Mirren in his Scottish homeland, before his chance of international football came with Northern Ireland. And with it a chance of success on the biggest stage.
“There was penalty preparation – the percentages of success which penalties would bring,” Norwood said. “He’s a great guy and I got on really well with him. Obviously it’s great to see him do well.”
MacPhee only came into the Premier League’s view after a spell with Hearts, Scotland and Portugal. Roberto Martínez described set-pieces as an “obsession” for MacPhee as the Scot looked to improve Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates at dead-ball situations.
He spent five years at Villa Park where more focus was on him after the technical-area rules changed. MacPhee would celebrate set-piece goals like this one by Morgan Rogers – also recruited by Chelsea this summer – from a rehearsed corner routine against Liverpool last season.
Rogers is now the most expensive English player after Chelsea spent £117m to land him from Villa. MacPhee’s fee was undisclosed but is likely to be a record for a set-piece coach.
It also shows how important set-pieces are in the modern Premier League. Arsenal were masters at corners and free-kicks as they won the title last season. MacPhee will be responsible for improving Chelsea’s record from set-pieces.
During a chaotic campaign with three different head coaches, Chelsea did score a healthy amount of set-piece goals (21), but there were problems at the other end, with 19 conceded.
MacPhee steadily improved Villa and his influence was evident as they won the Europa League last season. But they also had a poor Premier League campaign for conceding set-pieces (16) and that will be the area MacPhee will be working on at Stamford Bridge.
He has been straight into the action since joining up with the Chelsea pre-season tour, getting into a training session immediately in Hong Kong rather than stepping back and assessing what he has on his hands.
During half-time in the defeat by Juventus at Kai Tak Sports Park he was briefing substitutes as they warmed up. Earlier in the tour they conceded a goal against Western Sydney Wanderers from a corner, so there is work to be done.
There is an element of pressure on MacPhee to deliver now, with set-piece coaches seen as an important part of match preparation rather than a training-ground afterthought.
“There are certain things that don’t change. Until they change the laws of the game, restart set-pieces will always win and lose games and you will ignore them at your peril,” the late Graham Taylor said in the documentary An Impossible Job.
Liverpool sacked Aaron Briggs last December when they looked for a change of set-piece direction. The stakes are now high for these specialist coaches, with Arsenal’s Nicolas Jover reported to receive a bonus when a set-piece goes in.
And in a landscape where Premier League chairmen try to resist paying compensation for a head coach, Chelsea were happy to meet the price to get MacPhee out of Villa. It gives the impression that he will have an important part to play as Chelsea try to climb the table this season.
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