Leeds United manager Javi Gracia will look to use former Newcastle United coach Mikel Antia to give the Whites an edge with set-pieces this season as the Whites boss confirms his backroom staff.
Antia was part of Rafa Benitez's backroom team at Newcastle when they won the Championship in 2017. Since departing Tyneside in 2019, the former Magpies coach now finds himself moving to West Yorkshire following a spell in the United States.
Gracia knows Antia well from the time they spent together during their playing days. The pair were teammates at Real Sociedad in the late 1990s, but the duo have never worked together in a coaching capacity before.
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Since then, Antia has gone on to garnish a reputation as a highly-regarded member of backroom staff at the various clubs he has worked with. Yet there is one asset in particular that Gracia will be looking to tap into as Leeds look to battle against relegation from the Premier League.
During Newcastle's title-winning season, Antia was tasked with improving the club's poor record at set-pieces. The Spaniard went on to spearhead a formidable dead-ball playbook that saw the Magpies score 25 goals from corners and free-kicks, while only conceding 10 goals from set plays in 46 league games.
No team had a better output from set-pieces that season and Antia's influence was vital, especially when considering the fact that Newcastle clinched the title by just a single point. This is the same number that Leeds currently sit above last-placed Southampton by and it could well prove to be the margin of difference between relegation and survival for the Whites come May.
With Antia's set-piece influence, Leeds supporters will be hoping they find themselves on the right side of the fine-line when the full-time whistle blows against Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road on May 28.
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