Matt Taylor lifts lid on addition of ex-Sunderland midfielder to Bristol Rovers’ coaching staff

In an attempt to address the team’s set piece problems, Matt Taylor revealed that the 36-year-old Lee Catermole, a former Sunderland midfielder, was a “club appointment” to join his coaching staff at Bristol Rovers.

When Catermole began his new position on Thursday, Rovers said he had joined the coaching team with a “focus on the development and implementation of set pieces.”

Having amassed a total of 272 Premier League appearances as a player, while also playing in the Championship and League One for the Black Cats, the 36-year-old offers valuable experience that Taylor hopes will have a positive effect on his players.

Discussing the appointment ahead of this weekend’s trip to Birmingham City, the Rovers manager said: “First time I’ve met him today. Club appointment. A brief phone call yesterday but first time I’ve met him officially today.

Looking forward to working with him. Got a fantastic reputation in the game. Seems the right type of character this club wants to build around in the future.

So yeah, time will tell in terms of how much he does, how soon he does it. Sort of all hands to the pump at the moment but yeah, he goes straight into the game in probably a more observing and watching capacity this weekend.

“The club have advertised for a position within the coaching department and obviously someone of Lee’s experience certainly fits the bill.

He’s young in terms of his coaching career to date but he’s played the game at a top level and always led teams, being in a high position in relation to squads and changing rooms. So we’re looking forward to what he adds to the group and what ultimately what he adds to this group of players.

“Today was his first day,” Taylor added. “Thursday is always a pretty busy day with press, with match prep and certainly with the week we’ve had in terms of the weather, everything’s a little bit up in the air. So he’s certainly had to hit the ground running today.

“Everyone’s been making their introductions and then we’ve gone through a normal Thursday. When the dust settles, we’ll all get time to sit down with him and talk through each other’s expectations.”

Rovers’ struggles from set pieces have been a frequent topic of conversation with Taylor this season. Defeats in games against the likes of Wigan Athletic, Peterborough United and Wycombe Wanderers earlier in the campaign all saw the Gas concede poor goals from set pieces while failing to take advantage in attacking scenarios has also been a major issue.

The defensive side has improved in recent weeks but it’s a habit that hasn’t been completely broken as proven in the last two League One matches against Leyton Orient and Blackpool.

However, deliveries into the box are rarely of either good enough quality or being met effectively and that will certainly need to change as Rovers look to improve their underwhelming goals tally.

“I think we all feel there’s room for improvement in terms of set piece attacking and defending,” Taylor stated.

“I must say we’ve improved our defensive understanding and our defensive output in set piece moments. Not so much in the last couple of games but we’ve been going in the right direction. I think we felt that was an Achilles heel of ours for the first 10 or 12 games of the season. So we’ve moved in the right direction in that department but certainly in terms of the attacking ones.

“But ultimately it’s what you can do with this group of players and maybe this group of players needs some fresh ideas, a new voice. I’m not sure because we’ve tried everything twice over in terms of our attacking set pieces and we’ve also had chances at times, but there’s also been a feeling that there’s huge improvements to be made.”