Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass has praised assistant Allan Russell for bringing a lethal set piece edge.
Glass revealed set-piece specialist Russell often works until midnight on set-piece routines to outfox opponents.
Burning the midnight oil is paying off as Aberdeen have netted from corners in the last two games against Hearts and Rangers to continue their revival.
Lewis Ferguson netted the winner from a corner kick to secure a 2-1 victory against Hearts at the weekend.
Captain Scott Brown bulleted in a diving header from a corner to put Aberdeen two goals up in a 2-2 draw away to Rangers four days earlier.
Russell is a renowned attacking and set piece specialist coach who has worked with top strikers like Harry Kane (Tottenham, Spurs), Eder Lopez (2016 Euro championship winner, Portugal) and Divock Origi (Liverpool, Belgium).
Glass said: “Allan is very specialised at set pieces and has done really well with it.
“We put a lot of work into it and a lot of time.
“Allan deserves a huge amount of credit for the amount of work and research he does.
“He is up until midnight a lot of nights watching set pieces and how we are going to set up.”
‘The players execute it brilliantly’
The Dons have netted five set piece goals in the opening 12 Premiership games this season.
In the 2020-21 campaign they managed just nine goals from set pieces in 36 league games. Aberdeen are way ahead of schedule to top that return.
All of Aberdeen’s Premiership set-piece goals have been scored in the last six games with a goal against Celtic (2-1 loss) and two at St Mirren (3-2 loss) alongside the strikes against Hearts and Rangers.
Glass accepts there is only so much Russell can do in engineering set-pieces and working with the squad on drills on the training field at Cormack Park.
The players have to execute them in a game environment.
They have in high pressure, high stakes matches against league leaders Rangers and previously undefeated Hearts.
Glass said: “The players execute it brilliantly and there is good delivery which is vital if it is going to work.
“The focus has to be right from the players.”
📺 We have you covered on every angle of Lewis Ferguson's match winner at Pittodrie on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/JuQwX0mUSP
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) November 2, 2021
Delivery of Ramsay… then McGeouch
Fundamental to a set-piece movement is that initial delivery.
Right-back Calvin Ramsay had provided the assists from set-pieces prior to suffering a thigh injury in the 1-0 defeat of Hibs.
Such is Ramsay’s high level of performance the 18-year-old is being tracked by Premier League clubs Manchester United, Everton, West Ham, Leicester City and Southampton.
In Ramsay’s absence midfielder Dylan McGeouch, who made his first start since August in the draw at Rangers, has pitched in with the accurate set piece delivery.
McGeouch provided the corners for Ferguson’s goal against Hearts and captain Brown’s diving header at Ibrox to put the Reds two goals up in what eventually finished a 2-2 draw against Rangers.
Lewis Ferguson on video analysis work
Midfielder Lewis Ferguson revealed that not only do Aberdeen work tirelessly on the training field on set-piece drills they also spend time analysing video with Russell.
Ferguson rose high to meet a McGeouch corner against Hearts and was given a free route to meet the ball as his marker’s run was blocked off.
The Scotland international admits it was another move off the training ground.
Ferguson said: “We spend a lot of time with Allan who does set piece work.
“We go through it on the video a lot.
“As you have seen in the last week or so it is paying off as we have scored from a few set pieces.
“It (goal v Hearts) is one that we have worked on.
“All credit goes to the staff for coming up with these set pieces, showing us them and then practicing them in training.
“When you put the work in you get your results.”
Early set piece indicator in Iceland
Brown and Ferguson have both netted twice in the Premiership direct from set pieces with United States international Christian Ramirez also netting.
Summer signing Ramirez also scored a superbly worked set-piece goal in Aberdeen’s 3-2 Europa Conference League third qualifying round first leg defeat of Breidablik in Iceland on August 5.
It was an early indicator of what the Reds had been working on with Russell although it took longer to bear consistent fruit in the Premiership.
With seven points from the last possible nine Aberdeen are back on track after a 10 game winless run and the set piece goals have been fundamental to that revival.
Legend says set pieces are a ‘potent answer’
Gothenburg Great Willie Miller insists the hard work on the training ground is clearly paying off with the delivery of Ramsay, and now McGeouch, fundamental to the success.
Club legend Miller said: “There is no doubt the work on set-pieces has been put in.
“It seems to work whether it is Ferguson or Ramirez being released or whether some of the opposition players have not had the opportunity to mark the man due to blocking tactics.
“It’s great for Aberdeen.
“Ramsay has a great delivery but he is out injured at the moment.
“However McGeouch’s delivery has been equally as good.
“As long as you can get that delivery and keep working on the training field it looks as though set pieces are a real potent answer to finding the back of the net.”
Aberdeen must keep ‘mixing it up’
Although highly effective in recent weeks Miller reckons Russell and the Dons will have to keep ‘mixing it up’ to ensure they continue to retain an edge at dead ball situations.
That could mean more sleepless nights for Russell as he works on fresh set-piece routines.
Miller said: “Most of the free kicks and corner kicks have been well worked.
“You can go all the way back to the game against Breidablik when Ramirez scored form a set piece.
“If you analyse it you can see the work has definitely been done on set pieces and it is paying off.
“They just have to keep it up.
“They have to keep mixing it up and also hope the opposition don’t twig to it.”