Michael Carrick feels football has not got the balance right on policing corners

Football has not “got the balance right” on penalising holding and grappling at corner kicks, according to Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick.

Set-piece goals have become an increasing feature of the current Premier League season, with leaders Arsenal particularly effective having scored 16 goals from corners in the campaign so far.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot says some of the “joy” in watching top-flight games has been lost amid the increasing focus on set-pieces.

Interim United boss Carrick understands why Arsenal and others have focused so heavily on it, but said: “It doesn’t feel like we’ve kind of got that balance right.

“I think it’s gone too far. I think it wasn’t long ago where we were told that you couldn’t really lay a hand on anybody in the box, and it was going to be stamped out and clamped down on.

“And it’s crept in, it’s gotten stronger, I obviously think the success of set-pieces, corners in particular, probably in terms of being able to put so many bodies close together, has made more teams do it because the success rate is so high.”

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admitted the focus on set-piece play was “not dynamic, but it is part of the game”.

“You have to adapt and especially adapt in the way it is whistled and conducted in the Premier League,” he added.

“I understand completely the reason why Arne (Slot) said that and in some aspects I agree.”

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta, whose team scored both their goals in Sunday’s win against Chelsea from corners, said on Tuesday he wants to become even more lethal from set-pieces.

“I’m upset that we don’t score more, and that we concede as well,” he said.

“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 we try to do that.”

Asked if he was surprised at the criticism aimed at his side, he replied: “Part of the job.”

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler believes there is a lack of clarity around the rules at corner kicks – and that Arsenal take full advantage of that.

Hurzeler, whose Brighton team host Arsenal on Wednesday night, believes there are too many grey areas in the law where corners are concerned, and accused Arteta’s team of using them to waste time.

Hurzeler said: “I think because it disturbs the rhythm of the game and there are no clear rules anymore how much time you can spend for a corner, how much time you can spend for a throw-in.

“Some of the blocking or the way teams are blocking, I think there’s no clear rule – sometimes the referee whistles and it’s a foul, sometimes he doesn’t.

“I think that’s why we have this topic at the moment but for me the main topic is (to) make a clear rule how much time you can waste for a corner, for a throw-in, for a free-kick.

“When Arsenal has 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, because in the end we have game time of 50 minutes instead of sometimes 65 minutes. The game is changing so much. We analyse it and the difference is massive.

“I have the opinion that every supporter who pays a lot of money to go to the stadiums and watch our game should see the same game time.

“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 running.”

The game’s lawmaking body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) will give referees the power to introduce a five-second countdown for throw-ins and dead-ball goal-kicks where they think a player is taking too long over the restart.

However, there are currently no such plans to give referees the power to speed up a corner kick.

IFAB director Ian Maxwell was asked about the grappling and holding that occurs at corners at a press conference following the organisation’s annual general meeting last Saturday, but said it was not something which had been specifically discussed.