Premier League manager makes ‘clear rules’ demand to stop Arsenal corner tactic

Fabian Hurzeler has called for a crackdown on time-wasting at corners and cited Arsenal as beneficiaries of the current rules.

The Gunners have scored 16 Premier League goals from corners so far this season, which equals the record total for a single campaign.

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Both strikes in their 2-1 win over Chelsea were scored in such a fashion, but Hurzeler has taken issue with their pre-corner preparations.

Speaking before their clash against Arsenal on Wednesday night, the Brighton boss was asked why set-pieces get a negative reputation.

Why is Fabian Hurzeler unhappy with Arsenal?

“I think because it disturbs the rhythm of the game and there are no clear rules any more how much time you can spend for a corner, how much time you can spend for a throw-in,” Hurzeler said.

“Some of the blocking or the way teams are blocking, I think there’s no clear rule – sometimes the referee whistles and it’s a foul, sometimes he doesn’t.

“I think that’s why we have this topic at the moment but for me the main topic is (to) make a clear rule how much time you can waste for a corner, for a throw-in, for a free-kick.

“When Arsenal has a corner and they are leading, sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner.

“Therefore, I think we just have to make clear rules, because in the end we have game time of 50 minutes instead of sometimes 65 minutes.

“The game is changing so much. We analyse it and the difference is massive.

“I have the opinion that every supporter who pays a lot of money to go to the stadiums and watch our game should see the same game time.

“They want to see a football event and they don’t want to see maybe 50 minutes the ball is in the game and 40 minutes the game is not running.”

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Could corners have time constraints?

Football’s lawmakers have already taken steps to cut down on time-wasting in matches with the introduction of countdowns.

Goalkeepers cannot hold the ball for longer than eight seconds, and if they do, a corner is awarded to the opposition.

The International Football Association Board [IFAB] recently announced that throw-ins and goal-kicks will face similar restrictions.

Opposition teams will be awarded a throw-in or corner for each scenario respectively if players exceed the five-second limit.

Substitutions will also experience change under the new rules with a ten-second cap.

A player can still go off if they run over time, but the substitute will not be able to come on until the first stoppage after a minute of play.

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However, as things stand, there are no plans in place for corner kicks to have similar time restrictions.

In statistics provided by Opta via the BBC, Arsenal take the longest time to restart play from corners with an average of 44.4 seconds.

Sunderland are next with 41.4 and Tottenham Hotspur are third on 39.4, whilst Chelsea are the quickest side with 30.8.