During his illustrious time as Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger was predominantly known for the easy-on-the-eye possession based football that his side played.
For years, Arsenal fans were screaming out for Wenger to buy one or to enforcers to beef up his sides’ spine, however, the Frenchman stayed true to his principles.
After moving to the Emirates Stadium under Wenger, Arsenal became a side known for their beautiful football rather than their trophy winning, which was also a result of the club’s financial situation at the time.
Now, under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have financial freedom and they’re once again trying to return the club to some of the glory days at Highbury.
In order to do so, Arteta has claimed that he’s trying to make Arsenal ‘kings’ of every aspect of football, including set-pieces.
Arsene Wenger wasn’t a fan of Stoke City maximising set-piece situations
In their disappointing draw against Fulham last weekend, Arsenal struggled to create chances from open play, but still nearly won the game thanks to their brilliance at corners.
Arsenal cleverly use blockers and disrupt the opposition defence and goalkeeper in order to prioritise a route for Gabriel Magalhaes or William Saliba for example.
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Nicolas Jover’s tactics don’t quite cross the line in terms of being called up for a foul, but it’s often extremely close.
Jurrien Timber arguably fouled Lucas Paqueta for example when Gabriel was dominating corners against West Ham United recently.
That being said, all the way back in 2010, Wenger was very critical of Stoke City at the time, a side modern day Arsenal are now often compared to.
Speaking about Stoke’s ‘dark arts’ from corners in a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur, Wenger said their tactics were akin to rugby, not football.
Wenger said: “You cannot say it is football any more. It is more rugby on the goalkeepers than football.
“When you see the way [Ryan] Shawcross kicked Heurelho Gomes, how Robert Huth pushed Gomes in the goal, you cannot say that is football any more.”
Mikel Arteta isn’t offended by Arsenal being compared to Stoke City
At the time, Stoke manager Tony Pulis was fuming with these comments, particularly in regards to Ryan Shawcross.
Now, it would be very interesting to hear Wenger’s updated thoughts on how Arsenal are now bullying sides from set-pieces themselves, albeit in a fair manner.
Arsenal today are extremely different from the final days under Wenger – a reality of the task presented to Arteta.
In order to beat Manchester City over the years or Liverpool thus, Arsenal have had to be near on perfect, and it’s credit to Arteta that he’s been able to maximise dead-ball situations so well.
It’s definitely not the Wenger way, but Arsenal fans certainly won’t mind being called ‘Set Piece FC’ one bit if leads to wins and in turn, a much craved Premier League title.
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