Tony Pulis column: ‘I was seen as a dinosaur but I don’t see many managers moaning about set-pieces now’
Hello and welcome to my new BBC Sport column, Going Direct.
From tactics to man management, each week I’ll cover a different aspect of the modern game and compare old-school ideas to new trends.
There’s only one place to start, and that’s with the rise of set pieces, which is probably the story of the season so far.
At Stoke City when we won promotion to the Premier League in 2008 I was seen as a dinosaur for my focus on dead ball situations and long throws, but I can’t say I was right as they are the current fashion because I knew how important they were at the time.
No matter whose manager I was, my job was to get results. Yes, I was pragmatic, but I was also determined. I worked on my core beliefs about being effective in helping my club win games.
The most important areas of the field are both ends, not the middle. By hook or crook, you must keep the ball out at one end and put it into the net at the other end.
Attacking and defensive set plays are becoming more common this season under the leadership of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side, but it is not a new concept.
Long before Arteta’s time, there were young coaches and managers who were fully aware of the benefits that clubs are reaping the rewards of today.
