Brighton and Hove Albion manager Fabian Hurzeler has criticised Arsenal's tactics while speaking to the press ahead of their Premier League meeting. In particular, he took issue with the club's time-wasting over corner kicks.
The Seagulls will host the Gunners on Wednesday evening, having won their past two matches to end a prior run of six games without a win in all competitions. Mikel Arteta's men have also picked up three points in their last two outings, beating rivals Tottenham and Chelsea.
In the 2-1 victory over the Blues on the weekend, Arsenal scored twice from corners, while also conceding a goal from a corner. As such, set-pieces have become a thorny issue in the media and amongst fans of late, and Hurzeler has now weighed in with his own thoughts.
Fabian Hurzeler Slams Mikel Arteta Tactics
mikel arteta
Offering some fairly remarkable comments in his pre-game press conference, the young German coach was not afraid to call out Arsenal. While admitting they are "the best in world at set-pieces", he suggested they deliberately waste time over corners, saying:
"Sometimes they spend one minute to take a corner if they are leading. The main topic is to make a clear rule on how much time you can waste for a corner, for a throw-in, for a free-kick.
“I think no-one recognises it, but when Arsenal have 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.
He added: "The game is changing so much. I have the opinion that every supporter who pays a lot of money to go to the stadiums and watch our games should see the same net-to-game time because they pay a lot of money.
"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. Therefore, that's how I see it, but I think we won't change these rules immediately.”
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Unsurprisingly, his comments have caused a huge stir online, with many rushing to respond on social media. Some fans have sided with the Brighton boss, claiming he is right to feel frustrated with the way Arsenal are alleged to play. A recent Opta stat suggests Hurzeler may have a point.
In late February, they reported that the north London side have taken a league-high total of 117 minutes to restart games from corners in the Premier League this season. On top of that, they also have the longest average delay of restart from corners (44 seconds).
Others, however, have stuck up for the Gunners. In defence of Arsenal, there is data to show that they are far from the worst when it comes to overall time spent on restarts per match. Stats page Devils Club reported that the Gunners rank as the 12th slowest in the league overall on that front.
The data says, as of late February, they spent an average of 15.43 minutes on restarts per match. Everton are the lowest with 17.56 minutes taken, while Brighton are the third quickest with 13.33 minutes. The same data shows that Arsenal take about 1 minute and 20 seconds longer over corners than the Seagulls.
Whatever side of the argument one might fall on, it's certainly true that Arteta's men are the set-piece kings this term. Indeed, they lead the league with 22 goals scored in total.