RECENT headlines around Nicolas Jover have revolved around Gary Neville calling him the most annoying man in football.
But, with Arsenal having scored ten goals from corners this season, their set-piece coach is getting under the skin of opponents even more than a pundit affronted by what he sees as an overstepping of the mark on the touchline.
And, if Jesse Acteson can get under the skin of Sligo Rovers’ rivals in the same way, he will know he is doing something right.
In elite sport, there is a lot of talk about marginal gains.
But the statistic rolled out by John Russell in explaining why the Bit O’Red had become the first League of Ireland side to appoint a set-piece coach was staggering.
He explained that HALF of the goals his side had conceded in 2024 were from dead balls.
Acteson volunteers that only 11 per cent of the goals they scored were in such scenarios — so the scope for improvement at both ends is vast.
And it is the challenge of doing just that which helped persuade Acteson to leave Canada and land in Ireland on New Year’s Eve.
He has already learned to call it football rather than soccer and he has begun to pick up that there is some other terminology which does not travel either.
Acteson said: “For us, back home, a neutral player is a joker.
“But the first time I said it, it got a laugh and there was some questioning from players as it means something different over here.”
But he said they are serious about embracing his role with a greater appreciation now for specialist coaches than when Kevin Keegan initially brought in Mark Lawrenson as his defence coach at Newcastle United.
Acteson said: “Set-plays are almost a different sport, the ball is stopped and the ball in a regular game is not stopped. There’s time to set up and focus on something.
“There are different technical skills whether it’s a free-kick or a throw-in, like heading and volleys.
“Yes, you use them in the flow of a game but probably not as much as in sets.
“It’s a different skill set and sometimes they get thrown to an assistant who may not have a huge background or focus on that.
“But there are a lot of stats, strategy and analysis which have to be taken into consideration.
“More clubs are realising the importance of it.”
CROSSED PATHS
Jover’s contribution has brought the appreciation of the discipline to a new level in this part of the world, with Acheson a fan of the Frenchman whose formative coaching years were spent in his home province of Quebec.
The Sligo recruit said: “He coached in a university which was in the same league as I worked in but I hadn’t started at that point.
“Arsenal are pretty consistent and they’re so dominant that teams are afraid of conceding set-pieces against them.
“Even when he was at Manchester City, they were good at it.”
Acteson grew up in Montreal as a native English speaker who was educated in French which has allowed him to coach through both languages.
CONCUSSION CONCERN
He was an enthusiastic hockey, lacrosse and football player until a series of concussions resulted in him giving them all up by the age of 17.
He told SunSport: “My dream was to play professionally but doctors told me I should stop so I quit hockey and lacrosse at 13 or 14.
“I kept the football up because it was what I wanted to do full-time so I just tried to be safer with contact.
“Then I got a couple of more concussions, nothing really bad, but it was an accumulation and it felt like it was a tough decision but one that I wanted to make.
“I went straight into coaching. It was something I had wanted to do from an early age.”
SACRIFICES ALONG THE WAY
He threw himself into it which resulted in him, simultaneously, holding roles at a university, college and two clubs.
He explained: “I didn’t feel like I wanted to be full-time in one thing so there was a lot of experience I was able to gain from different clubs and schools, working with different people.
“Each environment required different things so it means I was able to progress as a coach and a person.
“It wasn’t easy, though. There was a lot of work to do with not much time for a social life.
“But if you’ve got a goal or a dream, you’ve got to make sacrifices to get what you want in life. That’s the path I chose.
“Every place I worked at, it didn’t feel like work because of the colleagues I had. The players gave you energy and drove you to push them.
“When you are working in some places with not a huge staff, you wear a lot of different hats but the analysis and set-piece aspect came later on when I worked with people who worked on youth national teams.”
LINKED IN TOGETHER
There was no mutual contact between him and Russell but there was a connection made over LinkedIn and after several Zoom meetings both decided they wanted to work together.
Acteson said: “He presented his vision for the club, the model of play, how the club works and it felt like a really good fit for me.
“John thought it would be helpful to bring me in.
“We aligned well in terms of our values and how we saw things and that was important. It felt like a good opportunity.”
He is also excited to experience the match atmosphere at The Showgrounds.
With under three weeks to go before the Bit O’Red’s home league opener against Waterford, he admitted there is still much work to be done.
But, with Russell working with a much smaller budget than most other managers, Acteson hopes he can help bridge the gap.
He said: “Set-pieces are probably the reason why they missed out on Europe last year.
“They were good in open play, scored a lot of goals and didn’t concede a lot in open play.
“But they conceded a lot and didn’t score as much from sets.
“That can make all the difference between three points or one or losing the game.
“There will be an equal focus on attacking and defending set-pieces.
“It’s one thing knowing the data and knowing the context, though.
“We’ve got to keep working on the other aspects that we were good at too.”
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