Often forget I have this account, but I'm back quickly to say: I did another pod about set-pieces! It's not about Arsenal, too! The long-awaited* sequel to my deep dive on Utd's set-piece woes, but with a much happier spin this time round *don't check

Last min set-piece preview I’m sure everyone was clamouring for ⬇️ Both teams neatly conceded their 10th of the season last week (~33% of their total conceded!) Also, Myles was 2 when we last played at the Ems in a UCL semi final 🙂 www.squawka.com/en/features/...

Elite from Ahmed, really interesting to see how this trend plays out with the boom of set-piece coaches

Please read and make the holiday sabotage this piece required worth it for me

One for the Geordies (and the masochistic LFC fans): I had a look at Dan Burn's seemingly inevitable header, and just how inevitable it really was. How well did Newcastle set it up? How badly did LFC stumble into it? And, most importantly, how is Dan Burn that tall? www.squawka.com/en/features/...

Making actual use of Ødegaard's limited whip + depth by shifting the blockers 10 yards up, and not worrying about the 'run from back to front' stuff - Merino has always been an elite front-post aerial attacker too, showed it at RSO. Very happy with those adaptations from Jover

www.squawka.com/en/features/... Did some more writing (I long for the days without strict word-counts)

Bournemouth the league's most influential side this season imho

Didn't manage to catch the game midweek but now giving it a rewatch: Insane but not surprising how everyone focused on the Ødegaard miss, rather than on the fact he's the only reason we didn't completely roll over in the first 20 minutes

Anyways! We’re not here to take part, we’re here to take over 💯😤🔥

A shame to lose him but I'm lower on Heaven than most. Growing physicality but inconsistent with using his size, and despite his *elite* qualities IP, he was always such a risk OOP next to Saliba. Aerially pretty weak too. Without that physicality, his pathway at AFC was always a doubt

We did another pod! We were happy about Arsenal (mostly)! We talked about transfers! Use it to pass the time before having to watch another Emery game

After finding out my job start date was pushed to next week, Towells has mercilessly forced me to record a pod tomorrow. So I got the S̶c̶o̶o̶b̶y̶ Thoobi Gang back together (cc @setpiecesicko.bsky.social @eulenberg.bsky.social) to do a bonus ep reviewing the Spurs game and discussing the transfer window…

Pretty happy with this ep, scuffed mic quality and all. Think now I’m beyond the rage at opportunities missed, I’m trying to be a lot more understanding of how we missed them. Manas also bails us out of vibing our way through a tactics pod 🙏🏻

My thoughts on Zubimendi for the @potshot.bsky.social Substack back in July. If you can't tell, I adore him. potshotpod.substack.com/i/146862505/...

Some selected stats to complement this excellent thread: - Lowest itl for attacks centrally - 2nd lowest itl for shot % outside of box - Midtable for OutBox and PenArea shots despite 3rd itl for total goals (big 6yd/SP bias) BONUS - lowest LHS shots itl All from whoscored

Between the constant lack of fitness and the general variability of his style, I’m slowly but surely souring on Calafiori, especially with the funding lost on an actual LW. Needs a big second half of the season

It's Boxing Day. The family are asleep in front of the sofa. You've got a leftovers sandwich. It's the perfect time to listen to the latest episode of Pot Shot. Enjoy 👇

Personally would give Saka like 3 months. No need to rush him back when we’re likely out of the race after this spell, and I’d much rather him have career longevity than wreck himself for the sake of a closer second place finish

Had to pause the @potshot.bsky.social recording today because @alexcollings.bsky.social was laughing at me too much. There’s a reason Tots Ep3 is taking its time, and most of it’s the HR proceedings

Feeling quietly confident Utd concede yet another SP goal today, given how good Bmouth are. Expect those big spaces between zonals and general mobility issues on SPs to get abused by Bmouths excellent movement

Not sure how much of a safe space this app is for this kinda opinion, but: Jhon Durán is what people tried to convince me Darwin Núñez was Top player, with just the right sprinkling of chaos

Not a surprise that we’ve scored 2 and had numerous big chances off quick free kicks this season. Have to stop letting the opposition settle us so easily, especially when our throw-ins (and *especially* Timber’s) are generally very poor on the attack

🆕 Delighted to share my first piece for BBC Sport - I take a look at Arne Slot's Liverpool and the tactical tweaks he has made since Jürgen Klopp. ⚽🔴 ttx www.bbc.com/sport/footba...

@setpiecesicko.bsky.social when anyone asks him to be on a podcast

Frankly very grateful for this. The only thing that would make games like Everton and Fulham worse is having people tell me that Nketiah is the solution. My phone would be somewhere in the Thames

Dropping this statline against someone with winter fuel allowance is *crazy*

I will never forget the uproar I was met with for my pre-season prescience. Apologies welcome any day now

Bayern had a goal disallowed for a no-arms block on the GK yesterday. Mr Jover, I come bearing awful news from the European front

Hi, Apologies for having to do this once again, but sadly things are still really tight for myself financially while I continue to look for full time work. Idk how much longer I can continue freelancing, so any help in the meantime would be extremely appreciated 🫡 ko-fi.com/moesquare

Martinelli wing-back redemption arc, I am here for it (dw about build-up btw)

Partey’s punt passes to Saka utterly appalling. Gabriel Martinelli a dog in size 9 Nikes. Kai Havertz completely out of sync and out of danger. Pathetic

I've been alerted to this and I am begrudgingly going to have to rip it apart. Here we have Martin Samuel's 7-point-plan, the set-piece-sicko remix 🧵

Everyone was talking about corners and so I talked about corners some more, but it seems like everyone's got bored of talking about corners - either way, here's some more stuff about corners

Oh look, Utd being hit in the same gap between zonal sets! Good thing they hired that defensive set piece coach that they won’t let do anything

Everyone was talking about corners and so I talked about corners some more, but it seems like everyone's got bored of talking about corners - either way, here's some more stuff about corners

Absolute delight to have h on the pod. Hope this manages to do justice to his insane breadth of tactical knowledge, and to his brilliant ability to communicate that. Real shame Alex had to tap out, but hope my *5 minute* unbroken breakdown of our corners makes up for it somewhat (thread soonish)

The more important scoreline for the evening: Jover 2-0 Georgson One for the real set piece fans out there

The universe is demanding it

Saliba about Arteta:

Latest pod on our equally fragile and precious midfield solutions being torn apart by Arsenal for fun. We explored the disaster of a bit of man-to-man against untrackable rotations and a bespoke set-piece defence plan that left an open door for Gabriel... open.spotify.com/episode/6QYR...

ttx

SET-PIECE REVIEW TIME Another Big Gabi Goal this weekend, after one in the week. He seems unstoppable in these moments, but what I loved is how Arsenal *made* him unstoppable by fighting back against opposition tweaks - A 🧵 (this time with fixed gifs!)

More goals! More wins! More Pot Shot! Think Lorcan is *especially* excellent in this, and its well worth a listen for him alone

Utd is my fave game to attend so that's cool, *but* we now have to cram in another hard fixture into the first month or so next year. Brighton A, (Utd now), Spurs H, Villa H, Zagreb H, Wolves A, Girona A, City H in 28 days is, dare I say, make or break.

Utd placing an emphasis on scoring early (in halves) to try and establish a control they don't yet have/can't earn at even scorelines? Or just a couple of advantageous situations created by the new system and squad build?

Very cool! (also, Everton are having a down year on set-pieces, and its a huge part of the reason they're 2 points above "hellscape fixture-list" Wolves)

Villa falling foul of two iconically funny calls this season is wonderful Emerying

Think Jackson is very much in a tier with Palmer and Caicedo in terms of quality of buy. Incredibly smart purchase, especially in the middle of incredibly not smart ones

Horrendous Gabriel Jesus cameo. Had a week without this main character syndrome and he was a revelation, but we're back to this self-fellating garbage again. Bin.