Set-piece coaches have emerged as an important aspect of football. But what exactly are they for and who are some of its pioneers?

Teams have been making concerted efforts during this World Cup to be more imaginative with their corner kicks, using them to cause confusion within defensive structures or reach aerial targets for direct shots on goal. Many clubs have found this approach successful.

Gianni Vio

Vio was met with disdain in his initial stints with Fiorentina, AC Milan and Brentford; however, his ideas were ultimately met with approval this season when turning around Tottenham's fortunes - from Dier's header against

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Southampton on opening day through to Bentancur's winner against Wolves and Lenglet equalising for Marseille via set pieces he has been crucial in turning around their fortunes.

Vio dedicated two decades to studying variations in free-kick routines and has developed 4,830 distinct options. His work caught Walter Zenga's eye at Red Star Belgrade where they employed him as set piece coach - leading him to then write the book entitled That Extra 30 Percent.

Vio's routines are designed to introduce an element of uncertainty into his opponents' defenders. That is why he encourages his players to swap positions before the kick, walk back into offside positions before walking back onto offside positions themselves and stare directly at the goalkeeper before free-kicks to unnerve him further. Vio tailors his ideas according to talent at his disposal as well as psychology to achieve maximum effectiveness.

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Man-to-man marking

Man marking is an aggressive defensive tactic where each player follows one specific opposition player around the pitch, as opposed to zonal marking where opponents are tracked by position rather than individually.

Man marking can leave space for dangerous attacking players to exploit, especially if they possess the speed and skills to break free from defenders and get past them quickly. A few quick changes of direction from an opponent is all it takes for their path towards goal to become clear.

In response, some managers utilize decoy runners to deflect defenders' attention away from teammates and create more space for themselves. By drawing away one or more defenders from their positions, decoy runners create much larger gaps for other team members to attack through and create greater goal scoring opportunities for team efforts. This method has become increasingly popular across Premier League clubs with full-time set piece specialists on staff.

Parslow’s Mantra

Football has undergone dramatic transformations in recent years and an emphasis has been placed on set-piece specialists. But Parslow cautions against overcomplicating things - his primary objective remains stopping goals at one end while scoring them at another.

As football continues its pursuit of an advantage, set-piece coaches have become an indispensable asset. Yet their introduction hasn't gone without criticism - Jurgen Klopp's announcement of a throw-in coach caused ripples of disapproval among some media members.

Parslow believes the key to success lies in creating defensive chaos, as seen in Casemiro's goal against Nottingham Forest last season. Bruno Fernandes played a square pass before positioning himself offside so as to receive the return ball; by adopting such an offside position he dispersed attention from Casemiro while allowing him to sneak past unmarked area to drop it to Alexander Isak for an easy tap-in finish.

The Short Corner

Short corners provide teams with an opportunity to create overload in wide areas and exploit spaces more easily from further up the pitch. Furthermore, taking short corners from a better angle means defenders must position further out of the box leaving room for teammates to operate within it.

Norwich City's 1-1 draw against KC Current demonstrated how corner routines can even result in goals. Hailie Mace flicks the ball onto John Egan who finds an abundance of space at the far post to volley home the ball from Hailie Mace's flick-on pass.

Short corners often elicit disapproval in stadiums when they lead nowhere, yet when executed properly they can provide opportunities that would otherwise be hard to come by. That is why more teams are hiring specialist set-piece coaches like Parslow who have plenty of experience to reimagine how a team attacks corners.