Yet not every club feels the same. Tottenham, under Ange Postecoglou, do not have a specialist set-piece coach and, since the beginning of last season, Spurs have conceded more set piece goals (excluding penalties) than every Premier League team, except for Nottingham Forest.

At Chelsea Mauricio Pochettino didn’t have a set-piece coach, believing he did not need one, before the Blues hired Cueva with a new set-piece department being set up at Stamford Bridge.

That particular issue was one of the reasons for Chelsea replacing Pochettino with Enzo Maresca in the summer.

There needs to be buy-in for the position to work, and Austin MacPhee was one of the only staff kept on when Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa two years ago.

Given how hands-on Emery is, it is a seal of approval in itself.

MacPhee – who joined Villa from Midtjylland in 2021 – was also Scotland’s set-piece coach but stepped down last month to spend more time with his ill father.

He has been credited with Villa’s improved set-pieces and last season they became the first team in Europe to score 20 goals from set plays.

Former Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough worked with MacPhee for the national side between 2020 and 2021.

He said: “Austin was innovative. I gave him free reign and it was a good relationship. He was very strong in his beliefs on things. Sometimes you may have to pull the reins on it, but the majority of the time you could see things working.

“It’s just whether you’ve got enough time to work on that but I’m not surprised he’s at Aston Villa and doing well. He communicates very well and he’s one of the standouts in the Premier League when it comes to that role.”

Though Baraclough rightly points out set-pieces have not suddenly become important – they have always been worked on, but have become more inventive.

“Now you have something like the draught excluder,” he said.

“That was something we deployed in Bosnia (in 2020). I hadn’t seen it before and Austin came to me and said ‘what about this? I’ve seen this at Atletico Madrid’.

“We were one of the first British sides to use it and the players were thinking ‘what’s all this about?’ You could see them laughing and giggling. It was Paddy McNair we used on the floor, it’s genius really.”

As teams increasingly focus on the fine margins, former Blackburn and England striker Chris Sutton emphasises how focus on set-pieces is nothing new.

He said: “The difference in the past was that managers who wanted to work on them, did so themselves.

“I get how the game has evolved since then with the new technology that is available, but it is like these things and ideas did not exist back in the day, when they definitely did.”

Manchester United and Ten Hag may be happy with a draw at Villa Park, a tough assignment as Bayern Munich discovered when they were beaten here in the Champions League on Wednesday, but it cannot disguise the manager and the team’s continued struggles.

United’s failure to win means they have their worst points tally after seven games of the Premier League era.

It is their worst start since 1989-90, when they finished 13th in the First Division, and the sight of more than £300m-worth of Ten Hag signings starting on the bench painted a grim picture of the club’s desperately flawed recruitment strategy under him.

They did, at least, show some of the organisation and fight missing in the embarrassing 3-0 loss at home to Tottenham last Sunday and some of the defensive resilience that disappeared after a good start in Porto.

United have now gone five games without a win, the first time in five years this has happened, and while this was an improved performance it still leaves them with only two league wins so far this season.

This was not what Ratcliffe and United’s powerbrokers had in mind when they eventually decided to stand by Ten Hag this summer, after casting their net but failing to find a suitable alternative.

United at least had shape and a semblance of organisation, a sharp contrast to Spurs and Porto, but there is still no evidence of what clear identity Ten Hag is attempting to fashion.

The fixture list after the international break starts with a home game against Brentford before a trip to Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the Europa League, West Ham United away, then Leicester City at home.

If Ten Hag survives – and he still sounded confident after this draw at Villa – more positive results must come instantly.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou called his side’s collapse against Brighton in the Premier League “probably the worst defeat since I’ve been here”.

Spurs were 2-0 up after 37 minutes and heading for their sixth successive win in all competitions after goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison, but conceded three times in the second half as Brighton took the three points.

“It was disappointing and I’m absolutely gutted with that,” said Postecoglou.

“It’s an unacceptable second half – we were nowhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we were going.

“We kind of accepted our fate and it’s hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We usually fight for everything, and when you don’t you pay a price.”

Spurs missed the chance to go sixth in the Premier League and are ninth with three wins, one draw and three losses from their seven matches.

Postecoglou criticised his side’s mentality and spirit, adding: “Maybe things were travelling on too smoothly. Football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself and that’s what it looked like in the second half.

“It’s a terrible loss for us, as bad as it gets, and there’s only one way to fix it and that’s my responsibility.

“We lost all our duels, we weren’t competitive and if you’re not competitive, irrespective of what you do tactically, it is not going to work.”

Real Madrid might make a January move for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool look at extending two deals, and Paul Pogba is set for a fresh start away from Juventus.

Real Madrid had planned to sign England right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, 25, on a free transfer next summer when his contract with Liverpool expires, but might move for him in January after Spain defender Dani Carvajal, 32, sustained a serious knee injury. (Sport – in Spanish), external

Liverpool are progressing with contract talks for two key defenders – 21-year-old Jarell Quansah and France centre-back Ibrahima Konate, 25. (Mirror), external

Paul Pogba, 31, is in talks with Juventus aimed at ending his second stint with the Serie A club and making a fresh start after his doping ban was reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (Mail), external

Wolves do not intend to sack manager Gary O’Neil and will give him time to turn his side’s fortunes around after six defeats from their opening seven Premier League games. (Telegraph), external

Manchester City have set aside £80m to spend on players in the January transfer window after Rodri’s season-ending injury. (Football Insider, external)

West Ham are interested in bringing former Leicester and Newcastle forward Ayoze Perez back to the Premier League in the hope the 31-year-old Villarreal player can improve their attacking options. (Caught Offside), external

Former Barcelona manager Xavi ​​is seen as the ideal choice to lead a reconstruction project at Old Trafford should Erik ten Hag leave Manchester United. (El Nacional – in Spanish), external

Newcastle United’s attempts to sign Lille striker Jonathan David, 24, have been dealt a blow after Barcelona entered the bidding. (Shields Gazette), external

Liverpool have joined Newcastle and Tottenham in the race to sign 26-year-old attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace. (Football Insider), external

Barcelona are monitoring Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sane, 28, who is out of contract at the end of the season. (Sport – in Spanish), external

Premier League clubs including Arsenal, Wolves, Everton and Chelsea have been monitoring Santos’ 18-year-old Brazilian defender Joao Pedro Chermont. (Caught Offside), external

Match of the Day 2 pundits Joe Hart, Stephen Warnock and former Brighton manager Graham Potter analyse the Seagulls’ 3-2 victory over Tottenham in the Premier League.

MATCH REPORT: Brighton 3-2 Tottenham

Watch Match of the Day 2 on BBC iPlayer.

Available to UK users only.

Match of the Day 2 pundit Stephen Warnock discusses the “outstanding” performance of Jonny Evans in Manchester United’s 0-0 draw with Aston Villa in the Premier League.

MATCH REPORT: Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester United

Watch Match of the Day 2 on BBC iPlayer.

Available to UK users only.

David de Gea was the hero for Fiorentina, saving two penalties as they claimed their second victory of the Serie A season in a chaotic encounter with AC Milan.

The Spaniard got down low to his left to save Theo Hernandez’s first-half spot-kick before superbly diving to his right to prevent Tammy Abraham’s penalty in the second period.

De Gea, 33, has now stopped two of the four penalties he has faced since signing for the Italian club in August.

Yacine Adli and Albert Gudmundsson scored for the hosts with Christian Pulisic levelling in between, in a contest that also saw Milan stopper Mike Maignan save Moise Kean’s penalty, Fiorentina boss Raffaele Palladino sent-off in the closing stages and a red card issued to Milan defender Hernandez after the final whistle.

Scott McTominay scored after 25 seconds as Napoli beat Como 3-1 to continue their fine early-season form and stay top of the Italian top flight.

Romelu Lukaku also scored for Antonio Conte’s team, sitting two points clear of second-placed Inter Milan, who beat Torino 3-2 thanks to a hat-trick from their French international forward Marcus Thuram.

Juventus conceded their first goal of the campaign as they were held to a surprise 1-1 home draw by Cagliari on Sunday.

Razvan Marin lashed home a late 88th-minute leveller from the penalty spot after Dusan Vlahovic’s first-half spot-kick had put the hosts ahead.

But Thiago Motta’s side, who were without Nicolas Gonzalez, Arkadiusz Milik, Timothy Weah and Gleison Bremer, were made to pay for a loss of intensity.

“We took our foot off the pedal after our goal, and we can’t do that. We need to keep attacking, and attack well. What happened is all our own fault,” said Motta.

Wolves captain Mario Lemina says only “liars and cheaters” would blame manager Gary O’Neil for them being bottom of the Premier League table after seven games.

The 31-year-old midfielder says he put in his worst performance on Saturday, giving a penalty away in their 5-3 defeat away at Brentford.

He believes Wolves are on course for relegation unless the players, who he primarily blames for the club’s winless run, respond after the international break.

Lemina said: “The way we are playing, the way we are defending right now is going to get us in relegation and we have to be honest about that right now.”

He added about O’Neil: “No, Gary is not the problem. He is doing really well. If you say Gary O’Neil is the problem then you are liars and cheaters, because he has given us a lot. A lot of things we didn’t have before.

“He has given a chance to a lot of players and now we have to give it back to him, because at the moment we are not giving it back.

“I think the fans really love him as well. Now it is a point of view because of the results, which is understandable.”

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool): Another clean sheet for Liverpool. I don’t think that is being spoken about enough. Some of the passes he played in the win at Crystal Palace with the outside of his foot were easy on the eye, like the one he played to Mohamed Salah to set him away. He just looks more comfortable and more confident.

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool): Monster. Powerhouse. He never looks worried or concerned. The complaints about a penalty were daft, it was really good defending. The player was never getting there and Van Dijk just made sure. It was another captain-like performance from the big centre-half, who Liverpool need to tie down to a new contract as soon as possible.

Michael Keane (Everton): He gets a lot of stick and is under a lot of pressure at Everton. The fans aren’t having him one bit. James Tarkowski, who normally gets a lot of credit, was poor and Keane was solid as ever cleaning up for him.

Diogo Dalot (Manchester United): He hasn’t been great this season but has been very consistent for Manchester United over the last couple of years. Whether he’s at left-back or right-back, he plays really well. He helped his team to get a good point at high-flying Aston Villa and a result Manchester United really needed.