'Is this man ruining football?' - Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover sensationally targeted by foreign newspaper over football's 'corner-kick hype'

Swiss outlet Blick ran an article on Monday, both in their newspaper and online, with the headline, "Is this man ruining football?", alongside a picture of Jover. The piece features a series of stats and figures explaining the Premier League's "corner-kick hype", including a competition-high of 27.5 percent of goals off of dead balls this season.

The article then accuses Jover, who reportedly receives a bonus every time Arsenal score from a set piece, of masterminding "one seemingly simple tactic." It continues: "Players close down the goalkeeper in the six-yard box so that he has virtually no chance of reaching the sharply delivered cross, which is either flicked on at the near post or headed back into the middle at the far post. Not particularly attractive, but highly effective."

To back up the article's main point, recent quotes from Liverpool head coach Arne Slot over the Premier League's lack of enjoyable matches were cited. Slot said: "First of all, you have to accept it. I think it's mainly here in the Premier League. 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 referee still says, 'Just go on'. Do I like it? My football heart doesn't like it. If you ask me, thinking about football I think about the Barcelona team from 10 to 15 years ago. Every Sunday evening you were hoping they would play.

"Now, most of the games I see in the Premier League are not a joy to watch, but it's always interesting because it's so competitive and that is what makes this league great because there is so much competitiveness. Everyone can win against everyone. But just as someone who loves to watch football without being interested in winning or losing, just to be enjoyed, I think there's a big difference between now and three or four years ago in the Premier League."

Despite their reputation, Arteta has claimed he is not satisfied with how many goals his side are scoring from set plays, while he also wants his team to tighten up when defending them too.

Speaking days on from their 2-1 win against Chelsea, a match in which all three goals came from set pieces, Arteta said: "I'm upset that we don't score more (from set pieces). And that we concede as well. So we want to be the best and the most dominant team in every aspect of the game. And that's the trajectory and the aim of this team. And as a club we want to be the same. So let's try to do that.

"I don't know how you celebrate one goal different to another one. Maybe for YouTube it’s nicer one over another. I don't know, but the reality of football depends a lot."

Arsenal return to action on Wednesday night away at Brighton & Hove Albion. On Tuesday, Seagulls head coach Fabian Hurzeler bemoaned how the Gunners 'waste time' and try to obstruct defenders with their set-piece routines.

"Some of the blockings or the way teams are blocking, there is no clear rule. Sometimes the referee whistles and it's a foul, sometimes he doesn’t whistle. I think that's why we have this topic at the moment, but for me the main topic is make a clear rule for how much time you can waste for a corner, for a throw-in, for a free kick," Hurzeler said.

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