{"id":94891,"date":"2026-03-15T15:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/expansive-europeans-befuddle-premier-league-elite-as-set-piece-shtick-backfires-champions-league\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T15:40:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:40:31","slug":"expansive-europeans-befuddle-premier-league-elite-as-set-piece-shtick-backfires-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/expansive-europeans-befuddle-premier-league-elite-as-set-piece-shtick-backfires-champions-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Expansive Europeans befuddle Premier League elite as set-piece shtick backfires | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"><span style=\"color:var(--drop-cap);font-weight:300\" class=\"dcr-15rw6c2\">I<\/span>f the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. If the only tool you have is a set play, the solution to everything starts to look like a pre-programmed move based on blocking runs. And perhaps that\u2019s especially true if you\u2019re worn out, knackered by the attrition of a persistent schedule of two games a week against teams who are frustratingly well organised and physically imposing. Think? Dribble? Make a surprising run? Who has the bandwidth for that? Just sling it to the back post and get in the way of the keeper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Arne Slot had spoken in the buildup to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/10\/galatasaray-liverpool-champions-league-last-16-first-leg-match-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Liverpool\u2019s defeat by Galatasaray<\/a> on Tuesday of how difficult it is to create chances in modern football, and how set pieces are a way to circumvent the sophisticated defensive setups of most Premier League teams. He is certainly not alone in taking that approach in the Premier League. But the Champions League is not like the Premier League. The crowding of the six-yard box, the full bearhug grappling, the meat wall to block the goalkeeper \u2026 it turns out all of those are penalised by European referees, and that is a problem for Premier League teams.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"4b1044ce-0d31-4346-85cd-4033a185b210\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-47fhrn\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:2,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Crunch time: how England\u2019s battle for Champions League places is shaping up&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;4b1044ce-0d31-4346-85cd-4033a185b210&quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/13\/crunch-time-how-englands-battle-for-champions-league-places-is-shaping-up&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;design&quot;:8,&quot;display&quot;:0,&quot;theme&quot;:2}}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Those fears about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/jan\/27\/premier-league-has-power-faces-reckoning-with-european-giants\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">English domination of Europe look a little overblown<\/a> after a chastening week for Premier League clubs: played six, won none. But the pattern of English clubs being, to use Michel Platini\u2019s phrase, lions in the winter and lambs in the spring is not unfamiliar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/premierleague\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Premier League<\/a> is by some way the most demanding in Europe. English sides habitually bully mid-ranking foreign sides, or even the elite if they are not quite at their peak, but with the accumulated fatigue of three-quarters of a Premier League season they find it rather harder. That\u2019s not simply a question of the number of games, but the quality. Wolves may be bottom of the Premier League but they are the 29th-richest club in the world by revenue; they present far more of a challenge than, say, Real Oviedo or Heidenheim.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But this past week felt different. It\u2019s one round of matches in which five of the Premier League sides played away and it would be wrong to read too much into that. Each game can be analysed and specific reasons found for the result. Tottenham are going through a moment and individual errors had them 3-0 down inside 15 minutes. Chelsea matched Paris Saint-Germain until <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/12\/players-make-mistakes-liam-rosenoir-defends-filip-jorgensen-after-error\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">a goalkeeping howler<\/a> put them 3-2 down and, chasing the game, they leaked two more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Manchester City, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/11\/manchester-city-have-little-chance-of-going-through-admits-pep-guardiola\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">with a weirdly open midfield,<\/a> ran into a Real Madrid side benefiting from the absence of several of the stars who typically unbalance the side, allowing the underrated and self-sacrificing Fede Valverde to have the game of his life. Liverpool yet again conceded to their opponent\u2019s first real attack. Newcastle had the beating of Barcelona but gave away <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/10\/newcastle-barcelona-champions-league-last-16-first-leg-match-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">a daft last-minute penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"2d19dc28-55ae-4cf2-9cb5-ddbde53817c8\" data-spacefinder-role=\"showcase\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-5h0uf4\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-9ktzqp\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Real Madrid\u2019s Fede Valverde revelled in the space offered to him in midfield by Manchester City.<\/span> Photograph: Juanjo Martin\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">What was striking, though, was how their opponents\u2019 expansiveness seemed to befuddle English sides, as though Premier League teams have become so used to the crabbed nature of the modern domestic game, all intense pressing and intricate marking structures, that the idea of players running at pace, rapid flurries of passes or forwards performing tricks no longer computes, as though stop-start, disjointed football has become the default, that fluency seems like some devastating alien invention. What works against the very good turns out to be inadequate against the very best.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trying to second-guess the psychology of referees is a pursuit probably as futile as the league phase. But certainly the impression in Istanbul was that the Spanish referee, Jes\u00fas Gil Manzano, was very aware of the practices of Premier League clubs at set plays and was primed to look for offences \u2013 which, of course, he found, because they are there at every set play. Slot, not unreasonably, queried how Gil had missed Virgil van Dijk being dragged down at the near post, but that\u2019s the problem with being from a league that has become notorious for wrestling at set pieces; referees are primed to see your fault.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">If this is some directive to prevent the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/championsleague\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Champions League<\/a> going the way of the Premier League \u2013 the directive being nothing more sinister than to enforce the laws \u2013 it\u2019s probably overdue. English football has got itself into a situation in which playing for set pieces probably is the most profitable approach largely because grappling is now permitted, seen most egregiously in the way Declan Rice got away with a handball against Chelsea because he was engaged in wrapping his arms around Jarel Hato, that now considered such a normal position that it could not possibly be penalised.<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><gu-island name=\"EmailSignUpWrapper\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"visible\" props=\"{&quot;index&quot;:11,&quot;listId&quot;:4163,&quot;identityName&quot;:&quot;the-fiver&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Football Daily&quot;,&quot;frequency&quot;:&quot;Every weekday&quot;,&quot;successDescription&quot;:&quot;We'll send you Football Daily every weekday&quot;,&quot;theme&quot;:&quot;sport&quot;,&quot;idApiUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/idapi.theguardian.com&quot;,&quot;hideNewsletterSignupComponentForSubscribers&quot;:true}\"\/><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"6b96d8bd-3683-48bd-98f4-c9dd489b42d9\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Arsenal\u2019s Declan Rice wraps his arms around Jorrel Hato in the Premier League match against Chelsea.<\/span> Photograph: Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But the question then is why, if it is, as Slot says, so hard to create chances in the modern game, so many foreign teams seemed to find it so easy against Premier League sides this week. None of the six English sides kept a clean sheet, two of them let in five and one let in three. Can it really just be that the set-piece obsession has reached such a pitch that an opponents deviating from that model causes synapses to short-circuit? Or that teams have convinced themselves that set plays are the only way to attack?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">It feels as though the Premier League has, en masse, become subject to some invidious group-think. Perhaps, stranded on the darkling plain in these confused days after faith in Guardiola-style passing football has waned, any light looks like a beacon to be followed. In the wilderness, any path is a good path, wherever it might be going. Perhaps there is even some comfort to be found for English football in plunging back into familiar tropes from the 1980s; could it be perhaps that we were right all along? But a herd mentality is not necessarily correct just because lots of people follow it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The emperor has been promenading naked around his technical area, initials somehow stencilled on his chest, brandishing an iPad and directing set-piece moves and everybody has accepted his great wisdom, until the impudent child of a Champions League last-16 opponent has pointed scornfully and blurted: \u201cBut that\u2019s just over-liberal refereeing at an inswinging corner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Scales should have fallen from eyes this week, for the whole of English football culture. The question, then, is how it responds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/14\/european-clubs-befuddle-premier-league-set-piece-champions-league\">Fonte do Artigo <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. If the only tool you have is a set play, the solution to everything starts to look like a pre-programmed move based on blocking runs. And perhaps that\u2019s especially true if you\u2019re worn out, knackered by the attrition of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow2JLhCw:productID":"","_gspb_post_css":"","maa_idioma":"","maa_pais":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[22808,22805,3695,13682,19607,22804,3091,3090,22806,22807],"class_list":["post-94891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brasil","tag-backfires","tag-befuddle","tag-champions","tag-elite","tag-europeans","tag-expansive","tag-league","tag-premier","tag-setpiece","tag-shtick"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Expansive Europeans befuddle Premier League elite as set-piece shtick backfires | Champions League - Ubirat\u00e3 Online Not\u00edcias - A realidade ao seu alcance!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. 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