Stuart Reid and the science of set pieces
Meet the freelancer who is helping Castellón perfect their dead ball routines.
Set pieces are not typically associated with the ‘beautiful’ part of the game. Historically the domain of the technically unsophisticated, the teams that excelled from corners or free kicks were often those that did so because of a lack of alternatives to score. The idea of Pele’s Brazil or Guardiola’s Barcelona putting one in the mixer was unthinkable, and the idea that someone would visit the Britannia or Turf Moor popcorn in hand was just as outlandish. But then the data started to come through, and the sexy reality of set pieces was laid bare.
They were important. Like 30%-of-all-goals-scored important. Numbers that even the snobby tiki-taka types couldn’t ignore. Numbers that highlighted a glaring disparity with the amount of time spent working on them in training.
Naturally, it was the data-savvy, lower budget clubs who cottoned on first. Brentford have always valued them, and the result has allowed them to become arguably the foremost experts in the Premier League. Diego Simeone knew it was impossible for Atlético to compete thinking the same way as Barca and Real. He shifted the team’s approach - “one of our strongest tools is set-pieces. Beyond how we work on them, we have good takers and good headers of the ball”, he said in 2014. However the uptake was still relatively slow, as Ted Knutson, the founder of StatsBomb, outlined in 2017.
However that article had an impact. One person who read it was Stuart Reid, and he realised that it could be an opportunity for him. He started posting his analysis online, watching hundreds of corners and free kicks a day via Wyscout, and eventually got his chance at Leyton Orient as an unpaid intern. That position led to working with Millwall the following season, where he oversaw a huge improvement in their set piece goals to make them one of the better teams in the league.
Reid has now established himself as a freelancer and one of the expert voices on set pieces in Europe, working with several clubs including Casa Pia, Spezia, Luton and Sonderyske. He has deals with Castellón, Buriram United and Como for the 2023/2024 season. His journey from coaching grassroots football without having much of an idea about set pieces to amassing a database of thousands of set plays for all the major leagues going back several seasons is extremely impressive, not to mention producing detailed reports for the clubs he works with.
While unable to go into detail about his work with Castellón, he took the time to answer my questions about his role, the importance of set pieces, as well as the potential they have in the game as a whole.
How closely involved are you with the players/coaches of the teams you work for and how often does the work you do turn up in the games at the weekend?
SR: Pretty much all my work is remote, so I'm not really involved with the players at all. However I'm usually pretty involved with the coaches at all the teams I'm working with, often having a zoom meeting once a week to talk through my reports and the previous games set-pieces. It's so important to have that constant communication and feedback as to what worked in training and what the players responded to, as that lets me further tailor my ideas and routines. As to how often they're used, that varies from club to club - but on the most part this season they're used pretty frequently. It's usually a significant amount of working remotely, however I like to try and visit each club at least once during the season to further build those relationships with the coaches.
What has been the proudest moment of your set piece analyst career so far?
SR: There's been a few! Signing a contract is always a huge moment for me, football is a hard industry to get into and I've spent the best part of a decade getting to where I am now, so every contract is hugely rewarding knowing coaches and teams value my work. Likewise with every goal that my work has lead to is also a huge moment, knowing the thousands of fans in the stadium cheering the goal are celebrating partly because of you is hugely rewarding. In terms of actual achievements, seeing Casa Pia get promoted to the Portuguese Primeira was a huge moment, knowing set-pieces played a big part in the promotion.
What is a ball park figure for the percentage of corners that result in a goal? In a totally optimal (and fantasy) scenario where all the team does is practice corner kicks, how high could that percentage get?
It's usually around the 3% mark. I think even if all you were to do was to practice corners the figure wouldn't be insane as there's still so much that can go wrong. I think 15% would possibly be do-able but a LOT of sacrifice would have to be made!
Are there any teams that have made set pieces not just an important part of their strategy, but their whole strategy?
I haven't seen that - there's definitely a lot of teams that have one eye on set-pieces when doing their recruitment, but none that make it their whole strategy. As much as I love set-pieces, they're only a relatively small section of the game and I don't think a team entirely focusing their recruitment around set-pieces would be that successful in the other more important aspects of the game!
Many of the data-driven teams like Castellon and others obviously place significant value on getting the most out of set pieces. However the style of play of most of those teams, whether it's Castellon, Arsenal or Brentford, play an attacking, technical style of football. How do those teams balance wanting to maximize set pieces but also maintain a high technical level throughout the squad?
A very good question but sadly one I'm not really very well equipped to answer as I haven't had much experience in recruitment!
How well do Spanish teams generally take advantage of set pieces (both in La Liga and Primera RFEF)? Do they do better or worse than teams in other European leagues?
SR: I think there's the possibility to do much better, La Liga had the lowest set-piece goals per 90 out of the top 5 leagues last season (with 0.21 set-piece goals per 90, Bundesliga was highest with 0.30). It's something I had identified a couple of years ago but had no luck in trying to find a Spanish club that was willing to try and change that. If the rest of the league don't have great set-piece numbers, then that marginal gain of having an effective set-piece strategy is then amplified. In the Primera RFEF it's a mixed bag, almost half the league have scored 3 or less goals from set-pieces - but then you have teams like Ibiza, Castellón and Lugo that are nearing double figures!
How has the demand for set piece analysts increased over time? What percentage of clubs in the top 5 European leagues would you say have one in-house? Do you think that number should be higher?
SR: The demand has definitely risen quite substantially. The numbers of dedicated (as in it's the only part of their job) set-piece analysts in the top 5 leagues is still pretty low as far as I'm aware, I know a majority of Premier League clubs will have a dedicated set-piece analyst but I'm not sure of any others in the top 5 leagues.
In your experience, which works better: teams who deliver the same corner again and again, or teams who vary the delivery with potential for combinations? Does the chance for the taker to potentially develop one perfectly consistent delivery every time outweigh the benefits of a more varied approach and potential higher rate of error that comes with it?
SR: I think that really depends on the qualities of the players in the squad (regarding aerial ability, delivery etc) and how much training time is allocated to set-pieces. A few years ago I was working for a club in England and we had an absolutely huge centre-back (197cm) who was pretty much the most aerially dominant centre-back in the league. So we basically did the same corner time and time again, a chipped ball to the back-post for him to attack. He ended up with 6 goals + 3 assists from centre-back that season! But normally I like variety in the approach, it keeps the opponent guessing and gives you more possibilities.
You have one corner to win the Champions League final, and you can choose the corner taker and the players you would want to have in the box. Who are you choosing?
SR: Trent Alexander-Arnold playing an outswinger to Sergio Ramos would be lethal!
Who are the most dangerous players from set pieces in what you have seen of the Primera RFEF?
SR: There's a few I really like - but can't give you their names!
What are your thoughts on long throws? Would teams benefit from using them more, especially if they have a good long throw in taker?
SR: I think it's a really under-utilised aspect of the game still, but I think that comes down to a couple of factors - the first being there's not many players that have that skillset! Training time is another big aspect that likely limits what teams can do with long throws.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to build a career as a set piece analyst? Is there anything specifically that you think remains relatively untapped within the space, or areas where more work needs to be done?
There's so much that can still be done regarding work and insights around set-pieces as there's lots of info that the big data providers aren't tracking (which does mean a lot of manual work!). As for advice - get your work out there on Twitter/LinkedIn for people to see and watch as many set-pieces as you can!