Barnsley head coach Conor Hourihane has given his verdict on the current state of Premier League football, including Arsenal’s style of play.
The Tykes last graced the top-flight of English football in 1998, but have struggled in their quests to escape from League One in recent years.
Problematic
There has been much debate surrounding Arsenal this season, given their abilities from set-pieces. The Gunners are also one of the best sides from open play, but have utilised set-pieces to storm to the top of the Premier League standings this term. That has drawn much criticism from the national media and rival supporters, with comparisons drawn to the Rory Delap Stoke City side, who caused chaos in the penalty area from long throws.
Hourihane was a spectator at Villa Park on Wednesday evening, watching Aston Villa lose heavily against fellow Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa. VAR, as it so often does, dominated the discourse around that fixture, but the Barnsley boss was also focused on the Blues’ London rivals and current top-flight leaders Arsenal.
“I admire Arsenal for winning constantly, first and foremost,” he said. “However they win, it’s unbelievable – the amount of clean sheets they keep, the amount of games they win. I don’t think Mikel Arteta will care what I think but it’s a very interesting topic.
“Do I like to see the game played the way that they are doing? No, is my opinion. It’s a difficult watch. The amount of ball-in-play time, it’s not as exciting as it was maybe a couple of years ago at the top level.It’s becoming a little bit ugly at the minute where I’m more of a free-flowing-football type of guy.”
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Preparing For Tough Period
A lot of top-flight managers are quick to jump on the bandwagon of complaining about playing too many games. But Hourihane will see his side play five times in the next fortnight, before the March international break. While that break doesn’t automatically cause third-tier games to be postponed, the Tykes are likely to hit the three-player threshold for call-ups, so their fixture at Northampton Town could be postponed.
Before their scheduled trip to the Cobblers, Barnsley have the advantage of playing four of their next five matches at home. The South Yorkshire outfit have some winnable fixtures on paper, facing the sides in and around the relegation zone. They have a meeting with local rivals Doncaster Rovers at the end of that min-run, while the Tykes welcome League One leaders Cardiff City to Oakwell on Tuesday evening. Patrick Kelly, Josh Earl and Tawanda Chirewa are the only senior players currently absent from their squad ahead of this chaotic period for Hourihane to manage.