West Ham Online

I find it very interesting how much talk and emphasis there has been placed on set pieces in the game of late with countless articles and talking heads going all misty eyed about it's genius, and it really feels like a healthy dose of hypocrisy and whataboutism.

It always used to be a backhanded compliment to teams like a Stoke or a Bolton who used set pieces to their maximum advantage to make up the skill gap between them and the top sides. 'Oh, they are good at set pieces. They're just a big physical negative side. You know what you're going to get.' Always viewed as an ugly and non desirable and negative way of playing the game which top teams should never get involved in. Anti football. It was levelled at us a couple of seasons ago when Dawson and Zouma and Soucek were great presences for us from corners.

Now since Arsenal started doing it, it's all of a sudden become romanticised  and idealised and something to aspire to, and it's a 'smart' clever and pioneering way of gaining any 'marginal gain' you can when in reality they are just doing the same thing the likes of Tony Pulis had his sides doing 15 years ago and the same people were looking down their noses at it and talking about them scornfully.

Ridiculous really. Just because certain sides are doing it, it now becomes clever and revolutionary instead of uncultured and behind the times.

Afraid so Scorch. Plays into the rich 5 or 6 narrative. The media/TV money and global subscriptions it generates means that the Mancs, Pool, City, Arse, Chelsea are seen as and possibly do drive 70% of revenues globally to funds the Prem Lge gravy train. The aforementioned media companies and supporting pundits/experts, journalists, web sites etc make up the thousands of “pigs at the trough” of the Prem Lge.   Hence these clubs are benefactors of both conscious and unconscious bias. Its human nature.  Hopefully it doesnt extend to refs and the likes of UEFA, FIFA but it wouldnt be a surprise if it did.  

Set pieces, courtesy of Arsenal, now very fashionable.

Eventually the “playing field” will need to be levelled. FFP and PSR have made things worse. As Newcastle are proving, having money alone is not the answrer as the rules have created a “glass ceiling”.  Might need a super league to do it, but primarily falling attendances and revenues. For now the tourists and half and half scarfers fill the gaps. A culture shift has occured in our life times. Football no longer a sport for the working class but elites. All part of the widening gap in wealth.  Thx to 40 years of neo liberal policy.

*** dons Wolfie Smith beret ***