{"id":1080,"date":"2026-04-07T21:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:33:17","slug":"pathetic-ian-wright-slams-laughable-criticism-of-arsenals-set-piece-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=1080","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Pathetic&#8217; &#8211; Ian Wright slams &#8216;laughable&#8217; criticism of Arsenal\u2019s set-piece tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>At A Glance: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arsenal have been criticised for a supposed \u2018reliance\u2019 on set-piece goals.<\/li>\n<li>They are currently top of the Premier League with a nine-point gap on Manchester City.<\/li>\n<li>Ian Wright has jumped to the defence of his former side by labelling the criticism as \u2018pathetic\u2019 and \u2018laughable\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p>Much has been made of Arsenal\u2019s position at the top of English football and whether they are too reliant on set-piece goals \u2013 and Ian Wright has jumped to the defence of his former side, labelling the criticism \u2018pathetic\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been a growing notion that football is no longer about individual brilliance but instead how well and often goals can be scored from set-piece situations.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, midfielder-turned-pundit Graeme Souness slammed the Gunners for their divisive approach and claimed they \u2018get away with\u2019 tactics that would punished elsewhere on the football pitch. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:<\/strong> Arsenal title debate exposes Premier League narrative hypocrisy<\/p>\n<p>Ian Wright \u2013 widely regarded as one of Arsenal\u2019s greatest players of all time \u2013 has opposed the opinion of the former Liverpool man. In fact, the 62-year-old has not minced his words while defending his former side.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Wright jumps to defence of Arsenal over set-piece critics<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Nicolas Jover, Arsenal\u2019s set-piece coach, is an immortalised figure at the Emirates Stadium given they have made the most of Declan Rice and\/or Bukayo Saka delivering balls into the box.<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel Magalhaes typically towers over the opposition and heads home, which is a source for annoyance for teams up and down the country.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@GO90yt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube channel GO90,<\/a> the former England international launched a defence of Arteta\u2019s side and their ability to impact from set-piece situations \u2013 whether that be a corner or a throw-in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan I be honest? You know what\u2019s pathetic about people going on about the set-pieces? We\u2019ve seen Man City, Man City have done really well with their set-pieces,\u201d Uncle Wright said passionately. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact is, it\u2019s laughable because set-pieces are being able to do set-pieces \u2013 it\u2019s part of the game. In 1999, David Beckham, after Manchester United got hammered in that Champions League final (against Bayern Munich) put two corners in the exact same place so they could score.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmelXOiwfMJ-1024x683.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-134187\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmelXOiwfMJ-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmelXOiwfMJ-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmelXOiwfMJ-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmelXOiwfMJ.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAre you saying that we should give Manchester Untied stick for being able to have a player that has trained, practiced nearly all his life about putting a ball in the right area?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He then insinuated that it would be unwise Arsenal to not utilise their obvious threat \u2013 Gabriel\u2019s aerial prowess particularly \u2013 from such situations. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeclan Rice, when he\u2019s putting the ball in,\u00a0Bukayo Saka\u00a0when he\u2019s putting the ball in\u2026 do you think that\u2019s easy? People are using as much as they can in respects of the margins that it\u2019s costing to try and win games now that set-pieces have become a big part of the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt might not be a big part of the game years ago but when you\u2019ve now got players who are capable of putting the ball into areas where somebody else can take advantage, like\u00a0Gabriel Magalhaes\u00a0for\u00a0Arsenal, then you\u2019re going to do it because it\u2019s a way of scoring a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ian Wright claims that Arsenal\u2019s set-piece superpower takes plenty of skill<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Wright then went one step further and claimed that fans \u2018underestimate\u2019 the work and effort that Arsenal put in to be masters of set-piece goals. \u201cRemember the skill element,\u201d he claimed before adding:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGabriel Magalhaes has got to lose a man, Declan Rice or Bukayo Saka have got to put it (in the right area). People underestimate the amount of work that goes into trying to get these set-pieces right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt means so much to win games, win points in this league, that you will take any margin to get it done,\u201d the former English striker concluded.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p>\n          <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ian Wright Didn\u2019t Hold Back\u2026 Our First Interview\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QOzv9zj2VOg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Moving forward, Arsenal are going to continue using the guidance of Jover to score goals from corners and free-kicks \u2013 especially given they are currently in a spot of bother.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, they lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City and were knocked out of the FA Cup at the hands of Southampton. A trip to Lisbon is upcoming before they face Bournemouth in the league.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At A Glance: Arsenal have been criticised for a supposed \u2018reliance\u2019 on set-piece goals. They<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}