Football in the Premier League in 2025-26 has become an increasingly unpleasant, negative slog of an affair with open play goals and how much time the ball actually gets kicked about the pitch taking a significant hit while set-piece goals tick up and the pantomime routines surrounding them become increasingly time consuming acts.
If you enjoy tricks and flicks and tackles and screamers you’re out of luck. If on the other you’re more of a surly, Lego-haired manager of a Canon club who to seems to derive
his only joy in life by watching players feign injury and grapple with the opposition goalkeeper while the referees look the other way then buddy, English football circa current hell year is for you.
“You have to accept it,” was Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s take on things this week, with it fair to say the shift hasn’t sparked joy for the Reds’ Dutch tactician. “I think it’s mainly here in the Premier League. If I watch other leagues I don’t think there’s so much emphasis on set-pieces. If I watch an Eredivisie game I see goals disallowed and fouls on goalkeepers given.
“So I think, wow, that’s a big difference! But here, you can hit a goalkeeper in his face and the referee still will say to just play on. Do I like it? My football heart doesn’t like it. So if you ask me about football, I will still think about Barcelona from 10-15 years ago and how every Sunday evening you would be hoping they would play.
“Now, most of the games I see in the Premier League are not for me a joy to watch but it’s always interesting because it’s so competitive. That is what makes this league great, so much competitiveness. That everyone can win against everyone. But set-pieces are the new reality I think of the Premier League and we aren’t going to change it.”
With Liverpool in the midst of a disappointing season that saw their title defence hopes implode early and since be replaced with a fight for Champions League qualification, it would be easy to suggest Slot simply isn’t enjoying things because Liverpool are, well, a bit shit at the moment. The only problem with that is that he’s 100% right.
Football in the Premier League in 2025-26 for the most part simply isn’t very much fun. As a headlining example, Arsenal’s recent 2-1 win over Chelsea saw all three goals scored from set-pieces. By comparison, in every meeting between Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, just three of 46 non-penalty goals came from set-pieces.
Arsenal fans, at least when they’re done trying to gaslight the universe into believing their current iteration don’t play a brand of dogshit anti-football that’d leave Jose Mourinho embarrassed, would say it’s up to the rest of the league to beat them. Which, you know, fair. Hopefully, then, we’ll see London’s mega-spending slog merchants second again in the final table.
