TheGoogler 604 Posted July 23 **** me you are insufferable. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cambridgeshire canary 7,803 Posted July 23 Not been here ten minutes and he's already getting hated. Gotta love this fanbase Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icecream Snow 777 Posted July 23 (edited) Brighton had the shortest squad in the premiership though (edit - I'm not saying he was a bad appointment, Brighton have a great setup, and if their set piece stats aren't great, then they didn't have the tallest squad to start with) Edited July 23 by Icecream Snow Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deptford Yellow 295 Posted July 23 He could only work with what he had - Knapper obviously sees something in him (!) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt. Pants 5,014 Posted July 23 If you're concerned with Brighton's record at set pieces then this is almost interesting. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4944559/2023/10/11/brighton-set-pieces/ Seems like Stanley also has a performance analysis background, which Knapper would have liked. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peregrine Shorts 538 Posted July 23 at 3 foot 7 inches Wee Billy would drastically reduce the average height of the Brighton team 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert N. LiM 6,301 Posted July 23 23 minutes ago, Icecream Snow said: Brighton had the shortest squad in the premiership though Their average is brought down severely, though, by the presence of Little Billy Gilmour in their squad Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert N. LiM 6,301 Posted July 23 1 minute ago, Peregrine Shorts said: at 3 foot 7 inches Wee Billy would drastically reduce the average height of the Brighton team Just now, Robert N. LiM said: Their average is brought down severely, though, by the presence of Little Billy Gilmour in their squad Haha, beat me to it. 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
repman 754 Posted July 23 Looking at the xG numbers from opta on set plays is interesting. Brighton's xG for and against was 10.11/10.97. They ranked 17th in the league from attacking set pieces and 6th defensively. Compare that to us last year and it's almost the inverse, our xG was 15.14/14.72, ranking us 6th going forward and 20th the other way. Obviously others have already pointed out the height of Brighton's squad last year and that no doubt would have hampered them. I'm not sure if De Zerbi was massively focused on set pieces either, taking training time away from it will also have an effect. I think the one positive here is that this is another appointment that is chosen by the club, and not hand picked by Thorup. If come the new year we're still bad at set pieces then there's no reason why Stanley couldn't be replaced. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pyro Pete 2,354 Posted July 23 "Wot they doin in traynun, neyull?" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424 Posted July 23 Nick Stanley did a good job with Brighton's set pieces when Potter was there (Potter moved him to set piece coach back in the 2020/21 season). De Zerbi has talked fairly openly that he doesn't really like set pieces and would rather focus on open play. Doesn't matter how good a coach you are, you need time with the players to work on routines. It seems de Zerbi didn't give him that time to work with the players. Brighton have basically had one routine for a while now which is to go for a near post flick on as they have a good taker and short players. Norwich have done well to get him, I presume the new Brighton head coach will bring in his own guy as set pieces were a corner stone (get it?) of St Pauli's promotion, so the timing has worked out well for Knapper. 5 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Google Bot 3,936 Posted July 23 Wishing him all the best, can't knock the experience he's had. Hopefully he looks into the routines we carried out with Hughes and creates some of his own. As clearly with the players we have we're quite capable of creating some well worked set pieces. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pete 372 Posted July 23 Last one specifically not a great success. Hughes did the job some success but not a set piece coach on appointment. Stanley good luck in getting any set piece gols from Hanley. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Apples 1,407 Posted July 23 I had high hopes it was going to be a corner specialist, Mr First Man... 🙃 Apples Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
unique 466 Posted July 23 Our success at set pieces next season solely rests with whether Sara stays or goes. No other player comes close to the consistent accuracy of Sara’s deliveries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
