Chelsea They have reached a deal with Brentford to hire Bernardo Cueva as their new set-piece coach.
The 36-year-old came to Brentford from the Mexican team Chivas in September 2020 to work as the team’s tactical statistician as part of Thomas Frank’s coaching staff.
According to The Athletic, Cueva will become part of Chelsea after the season ends and the report says that Mauricio Pochettino fully supports the arrival of the Mexican coach.
Chelsea's move to bring in Cueva comes despite Pochettino seeming to downplay the importance of set-piece coaches last month.
'We put a lot of effort into set-pieces. Ultimately, it depends on the quality of the player and their ability to take them,' explained Pochettino.
‘We don’t have a specialist. Perhaps Chilly [Ben Chilwell] is good at delivering, but beyond that, we lack a specialist. If you want to excel at set-pieces, we put in a lot of work. However, you also need skilled takers.
‘When you have strong takers, and of course, Wolves have them, as do Manchester City and other clubs. It's not solely about the work. Our methods are similar. The key is having strong takers.
‘We have specialized [coaches]. We are a coaching staff in charge of all aspects. You can have a specialist and promote them. Or you can have the specialist without giving them a higher position. It depends on how you want to present the idea of focusing on set-pieces.
‘We have a specialist, we have a group of analysts for set-pieces, we have the coaching staff, and we put in a lot of work. Ultimately, it comes down to quality. Currently, we're considering finding a good specialist [player] for the next season.
‘Look at West Ham before and after. What changed? Before and after? It's not the same. The taker is [James] Ward-Prowse. Or is it Pochettino? Ward-Prowse is a much better taker than me. Certainly, you can put in the work, as West Ham did. However, adding a player like him increases the success rate. That's football. Football belongs to the players, not the specialists.’
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