Anjishnu Roy 31/10/2025 comments  |  Jump to last

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford believes set pieces have always been crucial in football. The Blues suffered a 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, with the match being decided by two corner-kicks.

Spurs defender Micky Van de Ven proved a handful to deal with as he rose high to head home two first-half goals for Thomas Frank’s side at Hill Dickinson Stadium. While Jake O’Brien also scored the equaliser for the hosts from a corner-kick, the goal was ruled out after Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish strayed behind the goalkeeper’s line and were offside.

“Set pieces have always been in the game, it’s just people reinventing them again,” Pickford told Sky Sports News.

“Tony Pulis and Big Sam (Sam Allardyce) didn’t have them (set piece coaches), they just coached it themselves.”

Tottenham’s goals on the weekend revitalised the debate about the growing importance of set-pieces in English football. 

Several top teams, most notably Arsenal, have relied on set pieces as important situations to take advantage of and this is underlined by the fact that 19% of the goals scored in the league...