Aaron Briggs has spoken publicly for the first time since his dismissal as Liverpool's set-piece coach in December 2025. The 35-year-old, who now works for UEFA in its game insights department, revealed his frustrations over the team's inability to reverse their set-piece problems despite his efforts.
Rise and fall at Anfield
Briggs joined Liverpool in the summer of 2024 as first team individual development coach but was soon handed responsibility for set-pieces due to his analyst background. After helping the Reds win the Premier League, he was named set-piece coach on a full-time basis last summer.
However, he lasted just half a season in the role, with Liverpool holding the worst set-piece record in Europe's top five leagues at the time of his exit. Slot, who had been publicly critical of the record, took over dead-ball duties with his backroom team.
Improvement not enough
While Liverpool's set-piece record improved slightly, it wasn't enough to boost their overall performances. The Reds scraped Champions League qualification by finishing fifth, and after an end-of-season review, Slot also lost his job.
Briggs holds no ill-feeling towards Slot and spoke to the Dutchman after his Anfield exit. "There wasn't a falling-out. Arne was really supportive and I spoke to him a few weeks ago. It was very amicable. The numbers were the numbers unfortunately and that's part of football," he told the Athletic.
Heart and soul
Reflecting on his time, Briggs said: "I took on the role full-time and thought I could make a difference. I put my heart and soul into it, as many hours as humanely possible." He added that he spoke heavily with Virgil van Dijk, who was getting frustrated, and they tried everything to correct the issues.
"It hurt when we weren't performing as I was putting everything into it and it wasn't going great. In hindsight, it didn't work out for the club or myself, but no regrets," he said.
