What Jason Wilcox said about set-piece expert Andreas Georgson amid strong Man United links

Jason Wilcox previously worked with set-piece coach Andreas Georgson at Southampton and now he could join the technical director at Manchester United.

Georgson, 42, has now been strongly linked with a move to United to become the set-piece coach for Erik ten Hag’s side.

The Dutch manager has already appointed Rene Hake and Ruud van Nistelrooy as his new assistant coaches at Old Trafford.

However, the club have been without a specialised set-piece coach since Eric Ramsay departed the club midway through the 2023/24 campaign.

Georgson has worked in the Premier League with Arsenal and also had roles at Brentford and Southampton.

He was hired by Jason Wilcox at the Saints in August 2023, when he was the club’s director of football.

The now-United technical director spoke glowingly about Georgson and his expertise.

“Andreas has an excellent understanding of the game model we’re building here, in which set-pieces play an important role,” explained Wilcox.

“He is an expert in what he does and truly eats, sleeps and breathes set-pieces, adding another string to our bow within the backroom staff supporting Russell and the team.”

Georgson himself has also detailed the importance of getting the players to buy into the set-piece work on the training pitch.

Speaking to Training Ground Guru, he said: “It’s a lot about selling to them (the players) – ‘If we spend time on this it will really help you in the game, and it will help the team,’

“It’s a lot about being a salesman, because set pieces are boring to begin with. Try to make it fun, try to do it in context and try to motivate the players.

“It takes patience and it takes motivation from the players, because they would rather take 20 shots after a session (than practice set pieces). That is so much more passionate for them and more fun.

“Players didn’t become footballers to understand how to avoid a block, but it is still highly effective to know. Detailed work (on set pieces) is really boring, it doesn’t come from passion, it just really helps if you can improve your role in the team in this specific area.”

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