Football Daily | Royal Rumbles and low-block blues: the Premier League’s style problem

Royal Rumbles and low-block blues: the Premier League’s style problem Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! THE STYLE COUNCIL Following Liverpool’s win over Lille to qualify for the knockout stages of Bigger Cup last season, Arne Slot famously revealed that his father had been less than impressed. “There have definitely not been many games where he has said: ‘Oh I like what I saw!’” sighed Slot of his old man, who presumably views a 4-0 win with the same grim Dutch disdain one might reserve for a lukewarm stroopwafel. This past weekend it became apparent that the apple hasn’t fallen too far from the tree, as the Liverpool head coach told hacks that even he isn’t particularly impressed with the quality of football in the Premier League, although the nature of Arsenal’s attritional Six Nations win over Chelsea may have won him over. Offering the kind of ringing endorsement that will have caused the English top flight’s many cheerleaders at Sky and TNT to blanch, Slot said that “most of the games I see in the Premier League are not for me a joy to watch”, although he did quickly caveat his heretical criticism of The Best League In The World™ by pointing out: “It’s always interesting because it is so competitive and that is what makes this league great.” While some fans labelled Slot a hypocrite – given his own team’s contribution to the malaise – many more interpreted his comments as a coded swipe at Arsenal’s over-reliance on the “dark arts” of the set piece. “First of all, you have to accept it,” Slot sighed, having seen his team score the first three of the five goals they spanked past West Ham from corners. “I think it’s mainly here in the Premier League. It’s the new reality. If I watch other leagues I don’t think there’s so much emphasis on set pieces. If I watch an Eredivisie game, I see goals being disallowed and fouls on goalkeepers being given and I’m like: ‘Wow, that’s a big difference.’ Here, you can almost hit a goalkeeper in his face and the...