Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler has voiced strong concerns over the lack of clarity surrounding corner kick rules, suggesting Arsenal are adept at exploiting these ambiguities to their advantage.
His comments come ahead of Brighton’s Premier League clash with the Gunners on Wednesday night.
Set-pieces have been a significant factor in Arsenal’s successful campaign, with both goals in their victory over Chelsea on Sunday coming from corners.
Hurzeler believes there are too many “grey areas” in the laws concerning dead-ball situations, which he claims Mikel Arteta’s side utilise for time-wasting.
Reflecting on Liverpool head coach Arne Slot’s view that reliance on set-pieces diminishes the “joy” of Premier League matches, Hurzeler explained his own frustrations.
“I think because it disturbs the rhythm of the game and there are no clear rules any more how much time you can spend for a corner, how much time you can spend for a throw-in,” he stated.
He further highlighted inconsistencies in officiating.
“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.”
Hurzeler called for definitive guidelines to prevent excessive delays.
“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.”
The Brighton boss argued that such practices significantly reduce actual playing time.
“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.”
He concluded by emphasising the impact on supporters: “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.”
Football’s lawmaking body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), is set to empower referees with a five-second countdown for throw-ins and dead-ball goal-kicks where players are deemed to be taking too long.
However, there are currently no plans to introduce similar measures for corner kicks. IFAB director Ian Maxwell acknowledged grappling at corners during a recent press conference but noted it had not been specifically discussed.
