View: Devious Austin MacPhee set-play-routines remain major bonus to Aston Villa and Unai Emery
Aston Villa set-piece coach Austin MacPhee once again underlined his importance to Unai Emery’s new era in the west midlands during their 2-2 draw against Brighton in Dubai.
The Villans were cruising their way to a well-earned victory in the friendly but conceded two sloppy goals in eight minutes to fall behind.
A late Lewis Dunk own goal – created by MacPhee’s ingenuity – made it all square in Villa’s first match of their Dubai warm-weather training camp, but the role of the Scot proved one of the major talking points once again after a brilliantly worked set-piece goal.
Villa have already had plenty of success from set-pieces this season, and MacPhee should take all the praise after devising some deviously successful dead-ball routines.
From a freekick mid-way into the Brighton half, Ludwig Augustinsson dummied the freekick and drew a defender with a run out wide before Douglas Luiz threaded a beautiful through-ball into the path of Ollie Watkins.
With the Villa forward beyond the last line of defence, the attacker squared the ball across the six-yard box, and Dunk inadvertently turned the ball into his own net.
Routines like this look simple but need their fair share of work on the training pitch to come off.
Although just a friendly, the role of MacPhee was the difference between a loss and a salvaged draw in the behind-closed-doors friendly.
According to a report from Birmingham Live, the Spanish manager had followed MacPhee’s success for a long time before he was hired at Villa.
During an initial meeting with the set-piece coach, he was amazed by his brilliantly devised plays for both Scotland and Villa and subsequently kept him on as part of his coaching set-up.
This initial decision bore instant success as Lucas Digne scored Aston Villa’s first direct freekick of the season.
The Scot ensured that both Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa were lined up in front of United’s wall – even instructing Emi Martinez to shout instructions on where to position themselves – and Digne then stroked the ball through the manufactured gap in the wall.
With both Watkins and Danny Ings failing to find top gear in front of goal this season, the importance of scoring goals from set plays has increased tenfold.
And with Villa possessing colossal headers of the ball such as Tyrone Mings and Diego Carlos, MacPhee will surely be at the heart of many more goals in the coming months.
In other Aston Villa news, an alarming stat shows Unai Emery’s midfielders must throw more caution to the wind.