Austin MacPhee

[adrenachrome]

Super John putting inswingers into the near post from the right is a thing of beauty.

[Olof's Beard]

The other coaches were getting the piss taken out of them for huddling round their iPad wondering what to do.

But that's football. Under Unai they are all highy efficient cogs in the machine.

His hot hair and his funny name

Austin copped the most for his hot hair.

[Bad English]

I'm as fickle as fuck and I love MacPhee now.

[maidstonevillain]

Positive comments in his Wicki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland

[Mister E]

Positive comments in his Wicki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland

Interesting - I hadn't checked him out till you posted this. So he worked with young John McGinn at St Mirren.
Certainly he's had some useful experience, especially as N Ireland assistant coach at the time when they were doing well.

[Toronto Villa]

I'm as fickle as fuck and I love MacPhee now.

David O’Leary was right about you

[LeeB]

Positive comments in his Wicki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland

Interesting - I hadn't checked him out till you posted this. So he worked with young John McGinn at St Mirren.
Certainly he's had some useful experience, especially as N Ireland assistant coach at the time when they were doing well.

I was ramdomly watching a Youtube video of the St Mirren league cup win mentioned in that Wiki the other week, and wondered what had took that very decent looking Portuguese lad that I'd never heard of to a club like that and it turns out it's prog-rocking set piece guru.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Positive comments in his Wicki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland

Interesting - I hadn't checked him out till you posted this. So he worked with young John McGinn at St Mirren.
Certainly he's had some useful experience, especially as N Ireland assistant coach at the time when they were doing well.

I was ramdomly watching a Youtube video of the St Mirren league cup win mentioned in that Wiki the other week, and wondered what had took that very decent looking Portuguese lad that I'd never heard of to a club like that and it turns out it's prog-rocking set piece guru.

They bought him from Portugal but Esmaël Gonçalves is from Guinea-Bissau.

[dcdavecollett]

I like the way Unai is prowling the technical area for most of the match, then steps back when Villa re either attacking or defending a set-piece, and Austin steps forward to direct operations.

Unusual, but seems to be working well.

[kippaxvilla2]

Sugar bags.

[Dante Lavelli]

I like the way Unai is prowling the technical area for most of the match, then steps back when Villa re either attacking or defending a set-piece, and Austin steps forward to direct operations.

Unusual, but seems to be working well.

There’s mention of this in an Athletic article.  He is one of the few coaches that’s allowed a say during games.  The article suggests that Emery also observes the set piece coaching (whereas Gerrrad never paid any attention) which has given MacPhee greater credibility within the squad/club.  In summary, Emery is a fan according to Greg Evans.

[dave shelley]

How dare you leave out the second g!

[Dogtanian]

An interesting article on how Villa use Trackman to work on set pieces;

https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/

Villa were the first Premier League team to start using it when Austin MacPhee introduced it in 2021. He also uses it with the Scotland national team.

"At Villa, set-piece training was detached from the main sessions and not fully aligned under previous managers."

"In the first week at Bodymoor Heath, Emery watched MacPhee’s sessions closely and liked what he was seeing."

"Both Digne and Luiz scored from direct free kicks, establishing this as the first Villa team for nine years to score two direct free kicks in a Premier League season."

[Mister E]

An interesting article on how Villa use Trackman to work on set pieces;
https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/
Villa were the first Premier League team to start using it when Austin MacPhee introduced it in 2021. He also uses it with the Scotland national team.
"At Villa, set-piece training was detached from the main sessions and not fully aligned under previous managers."

"In the first week at Bodymoor Heath, Emery watched MacPhee’s sessions closely and liked what he was seeing."
"Both Digne and Luiz scored from direct free kicks, establishing this as the first Villa team for nine years to score two direct free kicks in a Premier League season."

This was mentioned after the RedManc game in which Digne scored: MacPhee had realised that many efforts were not hitting target because the refs are not fully marking out the 10 yards (avg wall-distance is - apparently - about 8 yards, because the refs do not stride out the full distance). So, vs RedManc the players asked the ref to stride it out, and they also moved the ball back slightly ... IIRC.

[Risso]

An interesting article on how Villa use Trackman to work on set pieces;

https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/

Villa were the first Premier League team to start using it when Austin MacPhee introduced it in 2021. He also uses it with the Scotland national team.

"At Villa, set-piece training was detached from the main sessions and not fully aligned under previous managers."

"In the first week at Bodymoor Heath, Emery watched MacPhee’s sessions closely and liked what he was seeing."

"Both Digne and Luiz scored from direct free kicks, establishing this as the first Villa team for nine years to score two direct free kicks in a Premier League season."

I can't see what any of the training has to do with scoring direct to be honest. You've just got to kick it so it goes straight into the goal.