Set-piece coaches are the best-value hire in football and most clubs still treat them as an afterthought
Every season the data says the same thing and every season most clubs ignore it. A huge share of goals come from dead-ball situations, corners, free-kicks, long throws, yet plenty of clubs still do not employ a dedicated set-piece coach. Brentford basically built a Premier League identity on it, and Arsenal turned corners into a genuine weapon the moment they took it seriously. It is the cheapest marginal gain in the sport. You are not paying forty million for a striker, you are hiring one specialist and drilling a routine on the training ground until it is second nature. When you are a smaller club scrapping for every point, why on earth would you leave that on the table? The numbers have been public for years, the [Premier League](https://www.premierleague.com) even tracks set-piece goals, and clubs still act like caring about corners is somehow beneath them. Change my mind.