Premier League to crack down on set-piece tactics

The Premier League are set to enforce their rules on holding and blocking on set-pieces more strictly this season, though those rules haven’t changed.

Hamzah Khalique-Loonat of The Times reports that the offence of holding will be penalised more stringently in set-piece situations this season, specifically when an attacker is trying to stop the movement of an opponent.

But Dale Johnson of ESPN clarifies that the “change” is only to underline what is already there in the rules on holding and blocking.

It’s not a rule change, just an area of focus for the officials ahead of the new season.

Arsenal were undoubtedly one of the beneficiaries of the way set pieces were officiated for much of last season, scoring plenty of goals through clever routines that took certain defensive players out of the play.

Ben White started to gain a particular reputation for underhand tactics on corners.

Yet one of Arsenal’s strengths on corners was their adaptability. They didn’t have one routine that relied on White, but a number of different ways to score. It was that variety that made the team so effective.

The Gunners have already shown in pre-season that they can score corner goals without any noticeable blocking or holding.

The concern for supporters is that Arsenal might start being pulled up more regularly based on the belief that they’re somehow gaining an unfair advantage, when the reality is that the team are just very good at scoring from set-pieces.

And is that something we desperately need to punish? Defenders often employ exactly the same tactics, so will they also be pulled up, or are we purely focusing on stopping attackers?

Does the game really need to find ways to stop teams that are too effective at scoring goals?