A day after Arsenal scored two goals from corners to overpower Chelsea (who had scored their solo goal of the evening from a corner themselves), to stay at the top of the Premier League standings, Liverpool manager Arne Slot
lamented the state of football in the English league these days. Slot—whose club are in 5th spot in the league, 14 points below Arsenal—is not happy with the “new reality” of football. Or, as he phrased it, his “football heart” ain’t chuffed at them set-piece goals.
“Do I like it? My football heart doesn’t like it,” Slot lamented on Monday ahead of Liverpool’s game at Wolverhampton on Tuesday. “Now most of the games I see in the Premier League are not, for me, a joy to watch.”
Slot said set pieces are one reason the Premier League has “so much competitiveness”, with smaller teams able to pull off big upsets.
“Teams have become so much stronger – three or four years ago, when the top clubs faced the No 18, 17, 16, 15 [in the table], it could have been a four or five goals difference, and that’s usually what you like. If there’s so much difference between the teams, then one team is really good, but that’s not the situation any more. It’s not only about the set-pieces, it’s also because so many teams have become very strong. But we’re not going to change.”
Slot also pointed the finger at lenient English refereeing compared to the Dutch league, where Slot coached until joining Liverpool. In England “you can almost hit a goalkeeper in his face” and the referee will still play on, Slot argued.
“Maybe in five or 10 years’ time things will change again but I wouldn’t be surprised if you went to an under-16s game somewhere, Sunday League football, if you see teams completely being focused on set-pieces,” Slot added. “That’s the new reality.”
While Arsenal, who are chasing their first Premier League title since 2003, are masters of the dark arts of set-pieces goals (specially off corner kicks), Slot’s Liverpool have also scored three goals from corners in a recent 5-2 victory over West Ham the day before.
(With inputs from AP)
