Nobody show Mikel Arteta how Palermo scored the perfect set-piece goal | OneFootball

Allow us to speculate for a hundred words or so about how Mikel Arteta spends his free time.

Arteta comes across as an all-consuming personality. It’s hard to imagine the Arsenal manager separating his home and work life with any degree of success.

Years working with Arsene Wenger, who infamously spent his free time watching obscure football matches from around the globe at the expense of other hobbies, has likely rubbed off on Arteta.

Is Serie B, the second tier of Italian football, obscure enough? The world is a smaller place thanks to the internet and streaming services, meaning Palermo’s recent match with Spezia would’ve been accessible.

And the sight of Palermo scoring the perfect set-piece goal within 10 seconds of kick-off would’ve had Arteta scrambling for his notebook, furiously smashing the lightbulb directly above his head.

Knocking the ball back to the centre-back from the first whistle, pink-shirted Palermo resisted the temptation to launch a hopeful howitzer into opposition territory.

Instead, a cute pass to the left-back opened up angles undiscovered since Pythagoras was on the prowl.

Five seconds after the game had commenced, a pass so lofted that it could’ve been delivered on a magic carpet was approaching the Spezia penalty area.

The attacker, rising like an Amish barn after a running start on an unsuspecting defender, headed the ball into the Palermo frontman’s feet.

Rather than go for goal himself or engage in a touch-feely wrestling match with the nearest centre-back, a delicate backheel allowed Jacopo Segre to thunder a first-time shot into the net.

Ten seconds, 1-0. And that was the scoreline when the final whistle blew.

In the wrong hands, this specific method of scoring goals is so agricultural that you can smell the manure.

But Arsenal have long since surrendered the moral high ground when it comes to footballing aesthetics.

Arteta’s system is geared towards out-of-possession structure, with players who can press hard, track back and win their duels preferred over more cerebral talents.

The manager has a singular vision in attack, which involves pumping crosses into the box.

Set-pieces are the tip of the iceberg, with the whole team taking turns to ruffle the opposition goalkeeper like a rugby scrum from every corner.

It’s not football to stir the soul, not that anybody connected with Arsenal will give a solitary eff if they win the Premier League title in May.

But perhaps Palermo have demonstrated how set-pieces can be more romantic than a grey weekend in Bognor.

Their 10-second strike combined both effective pre-planning and visceral joy, direct football that skewers the opposition with technique rather than bludgeoning them with brute force.