Arne Slot Claims The Premier League Is ‘Not A Joy To Watch’: Does He Have A Point? | OneFootball

Another game, set-piece and match result for Arsenal on Sunday sparked debate over the watchability of Premier League football, and even managers are having their say.

On Monday, Liverpool manager Arne Slot claimed that set-pieces are the “new reality” of the Premier League and that he believes most games are no longer a joy to watch because of the reliance on them.

Of the total goals scored in the top flight this season, 27.5% have been non-penalty set-piece goals – the second-highest rate since 2009/10 season.

Does Slot have a point – is Premier League football actually boring, and is this just down to set-pieces?

SET PIECE RELIANCE

Slot’s Liverpool were joint-bottom when it came to scoring from set-pieces (excluding penalties) from the start of the season until the end of 2025, but since the turn of the year, no team has scored more from set-pieces than the Reds.

“First of all, we just have to accept it. I think it’s mainly here in the Premier League, because if I watch other leagues there isn’t so much emphasis on set-pieces,” Slot said in his Monday press conference.

“Do I like it? My football heart doesn’t like it. For me, 10 or 15 years ago, I was always looking forward to watching Barcelona play every Sunday evening – but for me most of the games in the Premier League are now not a joy to watch.

“However the games are always interesting because they are so competitive. That’s what makes this league great – anyone can win against anyone – but, as someone who loves to watch football, there’s a big difference in the Premier League compared to three or four years ago.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, whose side has scored the joint-most goals from corners in one season in Premier League history [16], with nine games remaining to improve on their current tally, was asked about his side’s ‘ugly’ win against Chelsea in his post-match news conference. Arteta said “it’s not ugly…for me it’s a beautiful game to play because there is so much quality and you have to adapt so much to what they do.”

Football is an entertainment industry: that is why billions across the globe indulge in it. No young child watches a Mikel Arteta set-piece routine, or VAR analysing whether a toenail is offside and decides that’s why they want to become a footballer.

But is the genuine output of football changing, in making football ‘boring’, as well as the reliance on dead-ball situations, too?

The CHanging Data

While the ‘eye test’ is telling many football fans that the quality of games is poorer, due to a reliance on set pieces, data can be utilised to verify this.

In terms of set-pieces, there have already been three more goals scored from corners in the Premier League this season (138) than in the whole of the previous campaign. The league is projected to reach 273 goals scored from set pieces this season, when the average from the seven seasons prior is just 218.

With ten games of the season left for most sides, the total goals scored from set-pieces tally has already surpassed the 2020/21 season.

In the seven seasons before 2025/26, the average share of the total goals scored in the Premier League by set pieces was 21.1%. This year, it is already at 27.5% – a staggering difference.

Almost one in three goals this campaign have been scored from a set-piece.

Manchester United interim boss Michael Carrick told the media on Tuesday that the situations inside the penalty area at set-pieces had “gone too far” and are contributing to the reason clubs are turning to these situations to get goals.

“It wasn’t long ago we were told you couldn’t lay a hand on anyone in the box and it would be stamped out. It’s crept in. The success of set-pieces, corners in particular, probably in terms of being able to put so many bodies close together, has made more teams do it because the success rate is so high.

Set pieces, especially corner kicks, are taking over the Premier League – but what about this rise in ‘direct’ football?

DIRECT FOOTBALL’S IMPACT

This season has seen a surge in ‘route one’ football.

The Pep Guardiola/ Roberto De Zerbi trend of the early 2020s, where teams focused on ball retention, is starting to give way to teams playing as directly as possible.

Especially after the promoted sides, who in 2022/23 and 2023/24 tried to play more expansive football, and got torn to shreds, all being relegated back down to the Championship at the first time of asking, teams are now realising that recruiting for a more physical squad and playing in their opponents’ own third is the best route for success.

In the seven seasons before 2025/26, the average number of short passes for a team per game was 413.4. This year, it sits at 386.3 – a sizeable drop, showing a change in directness is likely.

But the number of passes in a football match has dropped massively in itself – the average passes in the Premier League in 2025/26 of 438.4 juxtaposes the 484.5 average in 2018/19. A swing of nearly 50 passes per game – to put that into context, that’s 13 fewer passing sequences per game for each team [average passes per sequence in 2025/26 is 3.97].

Table via Opta Analyst

But it is not just the ‘weaker’ sides on paper who are playing more direct – Manchester United average 50 long balls a game, just seven behind leaders in this metric, Brentford.

And Brentford themselves are seeing the fruits of direct football, sitting 7th in the Premier League under Keith Andrews. Going direct is the latest ‘trend’, and it is working.

And with direct football comes the idea that long throws are cool again! Rory Delap will be pleased.

IS The PL ACTUALLY Boring?

Just because football may be less and less about the number of passes in a sequence, and more about results, it doesn’t mean it’s suddenly less effective.

Footballing trends change season by season, and even with the least British managers in the league since it began in 1992, a style of play that puts pragmatism and solidity first is being adopted.

Set-pieces are a controlled variable – they don’t depend on a game state. That’s why managers like Mikel Arteta enjoy them. Win a corner, and you have a chance. Normal tactics no longer matter.

Football may be at its most formulaic in years, but managers and tactical trends always come and go. Being that child watching clips on YouTube dreaming of becoming the next Lionel Messi does not – and that’s why the sport is better for having attacking, free-flowing play.

This year’s Premier League title race, with Arteta’s set-piece kings fighting out against the side that least depends on dead-ball situations, Manchester City (just 10.5% of their goals are scored from this), is a true battle between these ideas.

Whoever comes on top in May could just define where the future of the Premier League lies.