Midtjylland play in Herning, a metropolis in west Denmark with a inhabitants of 55,000, and practice in Ikast, a city of about 20,000 inhabitants.
They're removed from any brilliant lights and have needed to, in keeping with Larsen, be “modern”. That “began with expertise improvement” he advised BBC Sport, however there may be additionally ambition. “We additionally wish to develop into champions in Denmark yearly.”
Set-pieces rapidly grew to become Midtjylland's factor.
“Once I performed, [set-pieces] received the final 10 minutes of the ultimate coaching session earlier than a match,” Larsen defined. “We tried two totally different variations and that was it.
“Now we attempt to put them into each coaching session and discover inventive methods to speak about how we will activate the gamers in order that they take pleasure in set-pieces as a lot as they take pleasure in all the pieces else.”
However whereas the thoughts's eye jumps to fancy-dan routines, with elaborate dummy runs and indulgent actions, in keeping with Aragona that's “a typical false impression”.
“Individuals assume, ‘oh, we should create totally different routines for each recreation relying on the opponent's weak point', however that is not the case,” he mentioned. “Routines can win you video games however if you wish to construct one thing constant and to be the perfect over a interval of years, it needs to be one thing you possibly can replicate.”
Midtjylland's concentrate on set-pieces is club-wide. Rune Throughout is accountable for them at youth degree, with every age group having one coach whose remit incudes set-pieces.
“At academy degree we have a look at every participant and assume ‘can we give him some particular benefits in relation to set-pieces?'” Larsen mentioned.
“Naturally, there are particular situations, however we're a expertise improvement membership. We wish to have talked to gamers and tried to set them free to allow them to assume themselves and give you their very own concepts and options in matches.”
Naturally, the main target between defence and assault differs between golf equipment.
“The stability we had was round 90% attacking, 10% defending,” Aragona defined of Midtjylland final season.
They misplaced the 2024-25 title by some extent to FC Copenhagen.
“We actually by no means conceded possibilities, so our considering was ‘why do we have to put lots of emphasis on the defensive half if all the pieces goes proper?!'”
Larsen fortunately admits set-pieces characteristic closely in recruitment discussions. Midtjylland are heavy spenders by Danish requirements – the 36.6m euros they paid for gamers in 2023-24 was a nationwide report.
There's, in keeping with Larsen, no minimal top requirement however that metric is taken into account alongside attributes similar to heading skill, lengthy throws and free-kick taking prowess.
