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’s especially true if you’re 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.
Arne Slot had spoken in the buildup to Liverpool’s defeat by Galatasaray 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 … it turns out all of those are penalised by European referees, and that is a problem for Premier League teams.
