Michael Carrick is generally a calm and composed figure, but even he thinks that a Premier League trend has gone too far, with Mark Clattenburg already advocating for a strong punishment.
It has been a weird season of the Premier League, as nobody has managed to run away with the title, and the picture beyond the title is also closely packed.
It has allowed Michael Carrick to engineer a remarkable turnaround, as a run of 19 points from 21 has seen them jump from seventh at the time of Ruben Amorim’s sacking to third now.
However, even he has had enough of a Premier League trend that he has already had to tackle twice, with former referee Mark Clattenburg being staunchly against it on both occasions.
Senne Lammens clears the ball during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2026 in Liverpool, England.
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Michael Carrick celebrates after the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2026 in Liverpool, England.
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Michael Carrick agrees with Mark Clattenburg on corner antics
If there was one word to define the current Premier League season, it’s likely that more than half the people would go with “set-pieces”.
Started and pioneered by Arsenal, the corner antics of teams across the league have reached a breaking point this season.
United were at the end of it against Arsenal, which Mark Clattenburg called out at the time, but it happened again, to a greater extent, against Everton.
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Clattenburg called for ‘strongly punishing’ such corner antics where the sole focus is to unsettle the goalkeeper and steal a goal in the process.
Carrick has now sided with Clattenburg on this debate, saying it has gone “too far”.
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He said: “I think it has gone too far, it wasn’t too long ago you could not put a hand on anyone. It has crept in. Putting so many bodies in together has made more teams do it. As a game, it doesn’t feel like we have got the balance right. In the meantime, you have to deal with what is in front of you.”
Authorities aren’t doing enough to stamp it out
As the corner antics have become worse and worse, it is baffling to see that the people in charge of enforcing rules are turning a blind eye to it.
Not only is it leading to a worse product in terms of watchability, but it is also introducing a metric of randomness and luck in a game that should be dictated by skill.
It recently emerged that FIFA have no plans to address this wrestling/grappling on corners, with the IFAB (International Football Association Board) refusing to admit that the issue is getting worse.
It’s hard to side with that sentiment, when the people involved in that issue are openly admitting that it has gone too far.
This will only press the “good ones” to move with the times and start doing it as well, leading to an even worse product.
If that’s the direction FIFA want to go in, then more power to them, but it won’t end well for anyone.
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