“Be Stronger” – Ex-Premier League Boss Laughs Off Cries About Arsenal’s Aggressive Corners

By The Editor
on 13th December 2024

Slaven Bilic doesn’t buy the ‘Arsenal are fouling’ narrative…

Former Premier League manager Slaven Bilic has laughed off claims from those in the industry that Arsenal are potent from set-pieces because they break the law and are too aggressive.

After scoring from yet another corner last week to level the game against Fulham and almost snatch all three points minutes later as Thomas Partey fluffed his lines, Arsenal’s set-pieces continue to dominate the discourse.

As expected, instead of praising our set-up, former players in their broadcasting booths have attempted to create a narrative that we’re behaving illegally in the box and almost dog-whistling for the PGMOL to take action.

Speaking on Premier League Production’s show The Final Word, Bilic joined host Michael Owen to analyse our corners and the Croatian was in awe.

Bilic praised Declan Rice’s and Bukayo Saka’s consistency in our deliveries while also naming set-piece coach Nicolas Jover for his attention to detail.

When Owen attempted to raise his thoughts about our aggression again, Bilic instantly shut him down.

“That’s not a foul,” Bilic affirmed while watching Jakub Kiwior and Sander Berge battle in the box.

“You’ve gotta be stronger. Sander Berge has to be stronger than Kiwior here, it’s not a foul.

“It’s a contact sport, it’s not basketball. In basketball, this is a foul, but this is football – come on!

“Be stronger than him…I would tell my players, ‘Listen, be stronger than him.'”

The dismay on Bilic’s face as Owen continued to reach for reasons why he believes our corners should be called as fouls is a sight to behold.

Considering the era both former players played in, it’s quite bizarre that the former Liverpool man is crying about a bit of contact in the box.

Ultimately, Owen – and those like him – are being disingenuous and are not really outraged by our potency from set-pieces. They’re pretending to be in order to create a narrative that will eventually place referees under pressure and force them to act.

Just like the ‘delaying the restart’ rule which has disappeared since Arsenal were given two red cards for it, they’re attempting to pressure PGMOL to act in a manner that would solely designed to affect our corners.