Who is Aaron Briggs? Liverpool set-piece coach leaves club after Arne Slot admission

Aaron Briggs joined Arne Slot's coaching staff in 2024 but his role has been in the spotlight this term with Liverpool having the worst set piece record in Europe

Liverpool coach Aaron Briggs on the touchline

Liverpool coach Aaron Briggs has paid the price for the club's set-piece woes this season which have hampered the Reds' title defense.

Arne Slot's men sit fourth in the Premier League table but have shipped 26 goals so far with questions raised over their vulnerability from set plays. In fact, no team in Europe's biggest leagues has a worse record than Liverpool when it comes to set pieces.

Those issues were evident in the weekend win over Wolves, which took Liverpool's tally to 12 goals conceded from set pieces this season. Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Brentford, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Tottenham have also managed to exploit the Reds’ weakness

And now it is reported that Briggs is set to leave the club, with the responsibility for set plays falling on the rest of the backroom staff.

The former Manchester City analyst was in demand in 2024 with Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta reportedly keen to take him to the Emirates. Instead, he joined Slot's new-look backroom team on Merseyside, initially as first team individual development coach.

Briggs has previously worked at Vfl Wolfsburg, AS Monaco and Man City, and held a variety of roles along the way. He was lauded by Virgil van Dijk last season after masterminding a routine for Mohamed Salah's goal against Pep Guardiola's side.

"Yeah, we worked on it in training yesterday, Aaron Briggs came up with it," Van Dijk said. "Did it work that well in training? Yes. I think we scored once in training, out of three maybe, I'm not sure. But obviously we practiced it and every game we try to score from set-pieces, and today we were clinical."

Aaron Briggs masterminded the corner routine that led to Liverpool's first goal against Manchester City(Image: Getty Images)

He later took up the role as set-piece coach this summer but he has left the club on the back of a worrying start to the season for the Reds.

Arne Slot's comments after the Wolves game suggested changes need to be made, claiming: "Unfortunately, we’re maybe the only team that hardly ever scores from a set-piece, and even worse, we constantly concede.

"It is obvious there are more things for us to improve and this is definitely one of them. Although, we had a great set-piece – the first one after half-time.

“I think we have been unlucky in multiple situations in our set-pieces; it is 18 games now and we need to improve.”

And Van Dijk admitted the issue has been 'hurting' Liverpool this term following the win over Wolves. "There have been plenty of games when we have defended them very well. But the fact is we've conceded too many set-piece goals and we don't score enough," said Van Dijk.

"It's something we have to improve. I would say at least 75% of the time or even more, it's not even about the first contact. It's the second phase that is the killer.

"Is it a mental thing? I hope not. If that's in your head then it's an issue. Personally, it's not in my head."

This article was first published in February 2025. It has since been updated.