Aston Villa reaping rewards for smart double appointment made before Steven Gerrard arrived

Austin MacPhee and Jose Rodriguez Calvo are proving to be two very shrewd appointments made by Aston Villa.

Head coach Steven Gerrard praised the set-piece gurus following the 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park last month, as Villa scored their seventh goal that had come directly from a corner this season. Impressively, only West Ham and Liverpool have scored more so far this campaign.

Lucas Digne's set-piece delivery in first half additional time was flicked on at the near post by 5 ft 8 Emiliano Buendia to hand Villa the victory on Merseyside.

After full-time, Gerrard was delighted with the effect that both MacPhee and Rodriguez have had on his side since he joined the club back in November.

"We have a guy, Austin, who works ever so hard, and little Jose, we analyse teams' set-pieces for and against," Gerrard said.

"We know how important and crucial they are. We’ve been done by a couple in the previous games and I’ve been on them.

"So today they have been big and delivered, but we still need players to do them right and carry it out and do the right movements.

"To score a header of that quality at the Gwladys Street, I’m sure he [Buendia] will be really, really proud of that one and inevitably it’s won us the game."

Villa appointed MacPhee in August after former boss Dean Smith wanted to supplement his backroom staff with a set-piece specialist.

It was during MacPhee’s time at Hearts where he earned a reputation for developing imaginative corner and free-kick routines. Smith, who worked with a set-piece coach at Brentford, was keen to get him on board.

MacPhee’s influence on Villa's performances in the first few games of the new season was evident as Smith's side scored three goals from set-pieces in their first