Arsenal fans are not happy with what former Stoke City manager Tony Pulis recently said about the Gunners’ set-piece threat.
Mikel Arteta’s team have developed a reputation for being lethal from dead-ball situations in the last few years, and have thus far scored from eleven corners and free-kicks this season.
This has prompted criticism from many opposition fans and pundits, who aren’t fond of the North Londoners scoring a large proportion of their goals from these scenarios.
Many feel as though this approach has bled into how the rest of the Premier League are approaching the game, and are blaming Arsenal as a result.
However, Pulis unsurprisingly defended Arteta and his side, claiming that it’s ‘brilliant’ that the Spanish manager has embraced this aspect of football.
Arsenal fans aren’t happy with Tony Pulis
Arsene Wenger’s team of the late 2000s developed a heated rivalry with Pulis’ Stoke.
The Potters were the antithesis of the Gunners, playing direct and physical football while Wenger’s outfit were built to play pretty, short-passing patterns.
The French manager famously called Stoke a ‘Rugby team’, which sparked several intense matches between the two sides.
Pulis has finally hit back at the claims that his side resembled a Rugby Union team. Whilst speaking about Arsenal’s recent set-piece endeavours, he claimed that he finds this modern rise in proficiency from dead-ball situations ‘funny’.
“I do find it funny that 10 or 12 years ago, I was taking a lot of flak from Gunners supporters and Arsene Wenger, saying that Stoke were a rugby team because of our corner routines and long throws,” he told BBC Sport.
Arsenal fans have not responded well to this. Many feel that Pulis’ Stoke team were labelled a Rugby side because of their overly aggressive antics on the pitch, which were reflected in Ryan Shawcross breaking Aaron Ramsey’s leg in 2010.
One fan wrote on X: “They were called a rugby team because they had no interest in playing football and just wanted to kick everyone. Nothing to do with set pieces.”
Another added: “That wasn’t why we thought of Stoke as a rugby team … Aaron Ramsey, remember Tony??”
Meanwhile, one supporter wrote: “Stop giving this man time! It wasn’t about set pieces or long throws, but their challenges that one broke Ramsey’s foot!”
Tony Pulis’ Stoke weren’t similar to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal
Aside from being incredibly dangerous from set-pieces, there aren’t many similarities between Pulis’ Stoke and Arteta’s Arsenal.
The Midlands side sat in a deep block in most games, looking to prevent the opposition from playing through them before trying to spring Matthew Etherington or Ricardo Fuller on the counter-attack, with these attackers trying to carry the ball up the pitch to win fouls or throw-ins.
Conversely, the Gunners dominate possession and territory in most games, using their talented players to try and break down opposition blocks.
While, like Arsenal, Stoke had physical players, Pulis’ team were significantly more aggressive in the challenge, in a day and age where tackles were allowed to be more reckless.
Arteta may have taken a leaf out of Pulis’ set-piece book, but he’s taken very little else from the veteran Premier League manager.
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