Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover is becoming as important as any on-field star, but Gary Neville says he’s the “most annoying bloke in football”.
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Gunners have become set-piece kingsScored from two corners against Red DevilsNeville irritated by dead-ball successFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Jover is being billed as a “genius” by many after making the Gunners a destructive force from dead-ball situations. They registered another two goals from corners when seeing off old adversaries Manchester United 2-0 at Emirates Stadium.
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Red Devils legend Neville was tuning into that game as part of a watchalong special from podcast, and he was left irritated at seeing his former club undone by another masterclass from Jover. Neville said: “The set-piece coach at Arsenal, he’s got to be the most annoying bloke in football. He’s got to be, hasn’t he? He’s got to be though, hasn’t he?”
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Liverpool icon Carragher, who was sat alongside Neville, said when suggesting that Jover should be handed a blank cheque in north London: “I’ll tell you what, give him what he wants. If you was that set-piece coach for Arsenal, you could write your own contract, couldn’t you? You couldn’t get rid of him. You know, if he said, ‘I want 25 grand a week’, you’d have to give it to him, wouldn’t you?”
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Mikel Arteta lured Jover away from Manchester City shortly after bidding farewell to the Etihad Stadium and taking the reins at Arsenal. He has said of key cog in his coaching machine: “He’s a very special person and obviously someone very close to me. I went to war for him at City because I felt there was a big room for improvement in that department.
“I contacted him and I suggested to Pep (for him) to come and help us. Since then we’ve been extremely close. We share a clear vision of how we want to put everything together, about how everything is connected, aligned and can work efficiently in our team. There are a lot of other people who put a lot of effort and thought and hours into that, but for sure he is someone who is very, very important for the team.”