'Dinosaur' who is Premier League's unlikely tactical trend setter and Guardiola's antidote

Martin Macdonald

• 29 Oct 2025 08:00 CDT
• 6 min read

Analysis

Everyone knows there's a new tactical trend taking over the Premier League.

Except, it isn't new at all.

Long balls and set-piece routines are now commonplace in the top-flight, while the reemergence of long throws sent from afar into the penalty area are back in vogue.

Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League but have scored just five goals from open play.

In the league so far, there have been 45 goals scored from a corner which is 18.7% of all goals.

This is higher than the percentage of the previous three seasons in which the most goals from corners were scored.

It used to be that the sides with supposed lesser talent in their squad relied on set-pieces, but now it is the pace-setters, Arsenal, led by Mikel Arteta.

The Gunners have scored nine goals from set-pieces this season, more than anyone else.

In fact, since the start of the 2023/24 season Arsenal have scored 37 goals from corners which is more than any other team in Europe's top five leagues.

The pioneers of long-throws and arguably set-pieces were Stoke City, who bloodied the nose of many top teams under the tutelage of Tony Pulis.

Pulis' name has come up in plenty of conversations among pundits lately due to the throwback tactics some teams are using.

The man himself was labelled as a football dinosaur at times, but was his right to employ those tactics all along?

"I was seen as a dinosaur for my focus on dead-ball situations and long-throws with Stoke City when we were promoted to the Premier League in 2008, but I wouldn't say I feel vindicated by the way they are now in fashion - because I knew back then how important they were," Pulis wrote in his new BBC Sport column.

"My job, whoever I was manager of, was to get results. Yes, I was pragmatic, but I was also purposeful. I worked on my basic beliefs of being effective in a way that would help my club win games.

"The most important areas of the pitch are both ends, and not in the middle. By hook or by crook, you must keep the ball out at one end and put it into the net at the other.

"Attacking set-plays, and also defensive ones, are becoming more prevalent this season, with Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side leading the way, but this is not a new concept.

"Way before Arteta's time, there were young coaches and managers fully aware of the benefits, which clubs today are reaping the rewards from.

"Looking back now at the notes I made when Stoke went up to the top flight, we knew one of the things we had to nail down was set plays in the top end of the pitch because if we did them properly, it would help the team get results.

"In tight games in the Premier League, especially in the first couple of years we were there, they were the difference between us picking up points and dropping them - and staying up or going down - so we worked really hard on them."

Pep Guardiola's philosophy

Pep Guardiola is credited with changing football, for good or bad, depending on who you ask.

In recent seasons, most elite clubs have played out from the back, starting with their goalkeeper. The focus is on patience, passing and possession - the Barcelona philosophy.

The incredibly shift to long balls and set-pieces in 2025/26 has naturally seen Guardiola's philosophy being put back under the spotlight.

Even though he respects the tactical decisions of every manager, whatever they may be, he will never change his outlook on the beautiful game.

"I remember a long time ago with Sean Dyche, Burnley were an incredible threat in the long balls, second balls," the Manchester City boss told reports ahead of the League Cup clash against Swansea.

"Dyche is one of the best by far doing these kind of aspects. It’s not new, he did it before. Or Sam Allardyce. Or I remember when I was not here, Stoke City. Do you remember Stoke City when they made the throws? It happened in that time. Now it’s just more and more teams doing that but then maybe Stoke was the exception. I remember when I was at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger talked about going to play at Stoke City but now it happens a lot of times."

"Every manager does what they believe. I’m focused on that. I want to score from free-kicks and corners – I’m not naive, I want it – but I spend my time on what we have to do to play better, attack better and create chances, to score goals. Defensively, you have to be more aggressive. All the aspects of the game I see. Of course, I pay attention, but I know I’m not the manager to try to… It’s what I’ve done all my career."

It is too simplistic to say what philosophy is good or bad. There's long been a "good versus evil" or "light against dark" concept when it comes to, for example, Guardiola's pure football tactics or Pulis' robust, effective tactics.

Guardiola, for his part, is working on an antidote to combat the rise in long balls, long throws and set-pieces.

"I remember at Burnley when it was tough, we conceded only one corner or maybe not even one. Why? Because we controlled the second balls," he said.

"The best kind of way to defend these games is in that way. But for that, you have to be good in a lot of aspects and we are working on it. I will, until the end, continue to work mainly on our game. And sometimes adapt, when we have to do it.

"We did it at Brentford incredibly well. (Set piece coach) James (French) made an incredible job seducing our players into how we should defend these kinds of actions. It was unbelievable, the same at Arsenal. We conceded a lot of corners against Arsenal because we didn’t control the game."