AC Milan have hired renowned set-piece specialist coach
Gianni Vio in an attempt to improve their efficiency in dead-ball situations,
which was one of the weaker aspects of the team last season.
Formerly of Catania and Fiorentina, Vio has a reputation
for being one of the best, if not the best dead-ball strategist in Europe.
With a sole focus on the attacking side, Vio will be
tasked to work with at AC Milan, with the team boasting of a modest record in
dead-ball situations during the 2013/14 Serie A season.
Of the 57 goals scored by AC Milan last season, 26% of
them (18) came from set-pieces, the equal-fourth best record in the league. Of
them, six came from corners, five from direct free kicks, four from indirect
free kicks and three from penalties. Serie A Champions Juventus boasted of the
best record for set-piece goals in the league with 23.
AC Milan mostly scored from open play (66%), but when you
consider that between 40-50% of opportunities at goal come from dead-ball
situations, there is clearly much scope for improvement.
Gianni Vio“The thing I liked the most is the enthusiasm
with which [Filippo] Inzaghi asked me to come and work at Milan,” he told the
club website.
“Now my focus is on getting to know the players better,
how they play and their characteristics.
“I have always focused on attacking dead-ball situations,
we are lucky enough to have Tassotti on the defensive part.”
Vio is lucky to have two of Italy’s great set-piece
specialists in Mario Balotelli and Riccardo Montolivo, with Keisuke Honda also
quite handy with the dead-ball.
Balotelli, should he remain with the club, is a deadly
direct free-kick tacker, while Montolivo and Honda’s strengths are at the
corners and should be utilised effectively by the new coach.
AC Milan are very much a ‘work in progress’ under
Inzaghi, and while the club and their fans are not used to that tag, they are
going to have to be patient and potentially endure a rough patch in the near
future.
The fact of the matter is that AC Milan are no longer the
European powerhouse that they aspire to be, and that does not sit well with the
board, fans and players alike.
If all are patient with coaches like Vio there is a
chance of huge rewards for the Rossoneri however, as evidence might show by the
tactician’s coaching history.
Gianni Vio When he arrived at Catania in 2008, he made
the set-piece the hallmark of their game, with the fans dubbing him ‘Il
Maghetto’ or the Little Wizard. Vio sets out in making the set-piece one of the
grand illusions of football, with dummy runners, blocks or false walls put in
place in order to create a chance.
At Fiorentina he produced much of the same, getting the
best out of the likes of Gonzalo Rodiguez, Stefan Savic and Facundo Roncaglia
in attacking set-piece situations, and making it a strength of the Viola game.
Creating new routines all the time, Vio has written
several books, among them a book called “Dead-balls: the 15-goal striker,” with
the title mirroring the description of Vio by former Catania coach Walter
Zenga. “He isn’t just a free-kick wizard. He is like having a 15- or 20-goal
striker in the team,” Zenga stated. “A 20-goal a season player can get injured.
He can get suspended. But there are set-pieces in every game. Always. And he
knows how to exploit them best. He’s very skilled at it. He manages to get
players scoring who otherwise wouldn’t score.”
He brings an unorthodox methodology to set-pieces by
using the art of deception rather than plain structures. Vio’s aim is to
disorientate the opponents and catch them by surprise, and the surprise factor
will be crucial to an AC Milan side that has been so predictable in front of
goal last season.
Many AC Milan fans have grown very skeptical of any
signings the club now makes, and rightly so, but this man will in no doubt have
a profound impact on the club’s use of set-piece situations.
Football’s version of David Copperfield he might be, but
there is not doubting that his work is very much ‘real’.
Culled from Forza Italian
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