Everton manager David Moyes has been asked about changes styles of football in the Premier League and the rise of set-pieces
Everton manager David Moyes has been discussing the current Premier League trend for set-pieces, but he reckons there is another factor that is just as in vogue. The Blues were the last team in the English top flight to concede from a dead ball situation this season before both of the first goals from Tottenham Hotspur came from corner-kicks to inflict a 3-0 defeat on Moyes’ men last Sunday in what was their first loss in a competitive match at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
A record 19% of all Premier League goals this season have been scored from corners (45 of 241), the highest share in the competition’s history, while 67 goals have been scored from set-pieces (excluding penalties) at a share of 28%, the second highest seen in the Premier League and a significant increase on any season over the past decade.
Asked about the upsurge by Sky Sports, Moyes, who has now managed more Premier League games than any manager other than serial title winners Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal, said: “I don’t think it’s ever gone away if you ask me. I think it’s always been there.
“Over my years, we always took care of trying to do well at set-pieces, whether that was defending from them or whether that was scoring from them. I actually believe that all the managers do that as well.
“I think there’s just a big fashion at the moment with Arsenal doing so good. Declan Rice’s delivery is fantastic and so is Bukayo Saka, and they’ve also got two or three brilliant headers of the ball as well.
“I think the long throws are probably the thing where people have gone ‘wow, we’re talking more about that.’ I don’t know if the Premier League this year has thrown up more corner-kicks than any other years, I wouldn’t expect much different, but they’re certainly coming up with more long throws, that’s for sure.”
The 62-year-old believes that a variety of play is good for the game and explained how Everton are trying to develop their style now with Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish in the team.
Moyes said: “I think football will always keep evolving. I don’t think it’s one way or the other, I think teams will still continue to play out from the back and they do and I think there will be teams that go longer because maybe they have a target man or a goalkeeper who can kick it far enough to get in behind much quicker.
“I think generally if you’re a real football supporter, you don’t want it all one way. We want it mixed, we want to see variations.
“It would be boring if everyone was going to play the same. I think we’ve come through a period where a lot of the football we’ve watched recently, you could say ‘I’m going to turn this off, I’m not going to watch it.’
“I think it’s quite exciting at the moment. There’s a lot of teams trying to change their style and vary what we do, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that at all.
“I think the best teams have all got good, attacking players, people who are creative and can go one-v-one when required. I don’t think we’re just putting all big players in and kicking it up the pitch, I don’t think we’re anywhere near that at all, in fact I think we’re a long, long way from that.”
Everton now go to newly promoted Sunderland who have picked up six more points than them so far. With a lack of Premier League experience in the group, Black Cats head coach Regis Le Bris has supplemented his squad by adding Swiss national team captain Grant Xhaka who also used to skipper Arsenal, and handing the 33-year-old the armband.
Asked whether he felt there was influential figures like that among his group, Moyes said: “We’ve got one going back there, Jordan (Pickford), and Tarky, we’ve got a few, and Seamus Coleman is a great leader within the club here. I think that’s as much in fashion at the moment as set-pieces are if you ask me.
“Managers are now looking for leaders. They’ll want people who can take responsibility.
“As you say, Xhaka, and Jordan Henderson at Brentford. There’s a certain type of player that knows the levels and the standards that constitute being good and the levels you need to be at and the standards the players need to train at, whether that’s playing or discipline, and a lot of these players have seen what it’s like at the big clubs.”