Guardiola still remembers the sound that told him why English football was different from Spanish football: the roar from the stands when his team won a corner or set-piece. “When I was a little boy we said in England people celebrate corners and free-kicks like goals,” the Manchester City boss recalled. “I remember it very clearly, so nothing has changed.”
But Guardiola has played in the Premier League long enough to know something has changed. Opta reports that the goal rate from corner kicks this season is the highest in Premier League history at around 18%.
The physical confrontation between players as they jockey for position in the box has become one of the iconic images of the Premier League season (Getty Images)
Arsenal have scored 16 corner kicks in the top flight this season, equaling their total in the entire 2023-24 season and equaling the Premier League’s single-season record. However, that’s not to say that their effectiveness from set-pieces under Mikel Arteta is widely praised, even if their efficiency from corners and free-kicks may be admired by other teams in the Premier League.
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Instead, a moral panic is sweeping through the team, fueled in part by the scrambling and tugging in the six-yard box at the corner.
“Most of the games I see in the Premier League now are not a pleasure for me,” Liverpool manager Arne Slott said when discussing the Premier League’s “new reality” after his side scored three goals from corners in a 5-2 win over West Ham United and after Arsenal thumped Chelsea from set-pieces. “I think it’s too much,” added Manchester United’s Michael Carrick.
‘It feels like we haven’t struck the right balance’
independent It has been previously reported that Arsenal’s focus on set pieces has been inspired by Brentford, whose data-driven approach and emphasis on “marginal gains” has been the story of their continued overperformance since their promotion to the Premier League in 2021. The rise of Nicolas Joffe as Arsenal’s set-piece coach, who was educated at Brentford and came to Arsenal after working with Mikel Arteta at Manchester City, is emblematic of a wider Premier League trend.
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However, clubs like Brentford see set-pieces as a difference in avoiding relegation, while Arsenal have gone a step further and applied the same logic to the title race. “We want to be the best and most dominant team in every aspect of the game,” Arteta explained. Arsenal’s success from corners is undeniable, built on the consistency of in-swinging passes from Declan Rice on the left and Bukayo Saka on the right, as well as the aerial power of Gabriel Magalhaes.
This approach can now be seen across the Premier League, leading to another shift. sky sports According to reports, almost half of corner kicks are now directed over the opponent’s goalkeeper or at the back post, an increase of about 15% over the past five years. As a result, the number of direct goals from corners within the six-yard box has almost doubled this season, increasing from 0.07 per game to 0.12 per game. The average number of attacking players within the six-yard box has also increased, requiring more defenders to protect crowded goalkeepers, resulting in comical pile-ups in the box on a weekly basis.
(Getty Images)
“I’m sure when we scored from corners and got an own goal, our fans didn’t care what the goal looked like. I’m sure the Arsenal fans didn’t care what their goal looked like, either,” Liam Rogniol said after Chelsea’s 2-1 loss at the Emirates Stadium, in which all three goals came from corners. “But I would say there needs to be a review at the end of the season about the way teams influence goalkeepers, the way teams defend set-pieces. Because that gives certain teams an unfair advantage.”
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Manchester United goalkeeper Sené Lamence, who joined from Belgium this season, was shocked by Everton’s physical contact from a corner kick during a recent Premier League match at Hill Dickinson Stadium. “We knew corners and set pieces would be difficult. That’s my strength. But today it was a bit too much,” he said. “I had to stand behind the line to come out. It was too much, but it was hard for the referee to see.”
It feels like the Premier League is currently experiencing an increase in corner kick activity within the six yard box and a lag between corner kick referees. sky sports It was also reported that while more corners are now aimed at the six-yard box and more players are closer to the goalkeeper, the number of fouls in the area is not increasing at the same rate. The sport’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board of Governors, did not specifically discuss corner kicks at their recent annual general meeting.
More corners were aimed at the goalkeeper as teams tried to squeeze into the six-yard box to create quality chances (Jacob King/PA Wire)
“Here you can almost hit the goalie in the face and the referee will say go ahead,” Slaughter said. “Do I like it? My footballing heart doesn’t like it,” Carrick agreed. “We were told not too long ago not to touch anyone in the box and we were told there would be suppression in the box,” he said. “It’s crept in and the success of corner kicks and being able to put bodies together has led to more teams doing it. It’s understandable why so many teams are doing it and trying it. As a game, it feels like we’re not getting that balance right.”
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“Sometimes it took them more than a minute to get a corner kick”
The criticism Arsenal have faced for their focus on set-pieces, and their reliance on corner kicks or game-winning goals while removing the element of risk from open play, perhaps reveals the image we want Championship teams to have. The moral panic, if you like, stems from our expectations of the league champions setting the benchmark for how football should be played.
But aesthetics and beauty don’t win titles – and if Arsenal win the Premier League for the first time in 22 years, their fans shouldn’t feel they have to defend their team because they didn’t win in the “right way”. After all, Arsenal’s teams that have been the most noteworthy domestically in the past, especially under Arsene Wenger, have often failed to win the Premier League because of perceived weaknesses. Even if their free-flowing football is praised, their shortcomings from corners or set-pieces are criticized.
Arsenal now take longer to restart play from a corner than any other Premier League team, according to Opta. Arteta’s team takes an average of 44.4 seconds per corner kick, with Manchester City and Chelsea last at 32.3 seconds and 30.8 seconds respectively. Brighton boss Fabian Huerzel took note of this before hosting the Premier League leaders. “When Arsenal get a corner and they’re ahead, sometimes they take more than a minute to get it,” he said, adding: “I think it’s because it disrupts the rhythm of the game and there’s no clear rules anymore about how much time you can take for a corner, how long you can take for a throw-in.”
After Arsenal’s 1-0 win, Huzzele went one step further. “I think there was only one team that tried to play football today,” he said. “I will never be the kind of coach who tries to win in this way.” In an extraordinary press conference, Huzelle also accused Arsenal of wasting time and accused goalkeeper David Raya of falling to the ground “three times” to interrupt the game.
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Arteta responded to Huzelle’s criticism by saying it was “really surprising” – having previously defended his side’s approach by pointing to the wider “evolution” of the game. Although football is a fluid sport, the Premier League has been influenced by the NFL, with every dead-ball moment carefully coordinated and rehearsed to the finest detail. “The team knows what they have to do after every game, whether it’s a throw-in, the restart, open play or direct play,” Arteta said. “Everything is pretty much one-on-one. So unless we change the rules, it’s going to be a different game.”
Even Guardiola, a manager committed to redefining the principles of the game, has adapted, despite City’s lowest ratio of goals from set pieces in the league. He highlighted how the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry changed the modern NBA by taking more shots from behind the three-point line, and how the first iteration of his first Manchester City team, with Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva roaming as a “free number eight,” changed the way opponents defended.
Guardiola has recently responded to the Premier League’s wider obsession with possession, control and pressing by going against the ideas that have shaped his entire philosophy and doing the opposite – making his Manchester City side more direct and transitional. Given some of the measures recently introduced by FIFA ahead of this summer’s World Cup, which include a five-second countdown if players take too long to take throw-ins and goal kicks, perhaps a similar crackdown on corner kicks won’t be long in the future – and that’s before taking into account the referee’s reaction in the box.
“It’s all evolution,” Guardiola said of football’s push-pull dynamic, both tactically and ideologically. “The set pieces are all the same.”