He’s the man that Pep Guardiola has described as ‘inspirational’ to the Premier League’s current obsession with set piece specialism. And he’s also the man who, indirectly, could help Arsenal to a first EPL title since 2003/04. But Tony Pulis was branded a ‘dinosaur’ for his direct football and fondness for set pieces as manager of Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion.
Now the Welshman is being lauded for his work in creating an edge for his teams, who often overachieved relative to their budget, via the use of creative corner and free kick routines, as well as devilish long throws into the penalty area from his chief architect, Rory Delap.
At the age of 67, Pulis hasn’t had a managerial job since leaving Sheffield Wednesday in 2020. But he might just find his services in demand once more given the kind words foisted upon him by no less a judge than Guardiola.
Pulis the Architect
Do you remember Stoke City when they made the throws? It happened in that time. Now it’s just more and more teams doing that, but then maybe Stoke was the exception. I remember when I was at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Arsène Wenger talked about going to play at Stoke City but now it happens a lot of times.
Although an indirect compliment, Pep – a student of football around the world – has recognised where the seeds of the Premier League’s current fashion for set piece supremacy were sown.
It’s somewhat ironic that Arsenal, whose former boss Arsène Wenger once described Pulis’ style as more akin to rugby, have also adopted his tactics of stout defensive organisation and focus on innovative routines when attacking corners and free kicks.
The Gunners scored 69 goals in the Premier League during the 2024/25 campaign, with 15 of them – some 22% of them – coming from set pieces. Nottingham Forest, one of that season’s great over-achievers, netted 29% of their total goal haul from free kicks and corners during the same season, while Crystal Palace bagged 31% of their goals from set pieces.
After nine rounds of games during the 2025/26 season, Arsenal – the odds-on favourites to win the Premier League title, at the time of writing – have scored nine of their 16 goals from set pieces (56%). Pulis, writing in his BBC column in October 2025, commented:
Wenger is probably shaking his head about what Arsenal are doing, but I know Arteta sees the Stoke comparisons as a compliment… and so do the other Premier League managers who are doing the same.
They [Arsenal] are taking corners and the crowd is up before the ball is even played. The expectation, and the pressure they put on the opposition, is amazing. There is still criticism, of course, but all the praise Arteta is getting is fully deserved.
José Mourinho, who knows a thing or two about football management, went against the grain back in 2015 when he praised Pulis’ work. “It’s simple. If I own an English club, I’d sign Tony Pulis. It’s as simple as that. It’s a guarantee to achieve what the club wants.”
It’s interesting that increasing numbers of modern thinkers about the beautiful game are waking up to Pulis’ influence too, more than a decade after he established Stoke City as the Premier League’s great over-achievers.
Set Pieces Are Back in Fashion
🔴⚪️ Arteta on comparisons with Tony Pulis’ Stoke City on set pieces: “We take it as a big compliment because Stoke were so good at it”. pic.twitter.com/aBqQatGR95
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 6, 2024
According to football data experts OPTA, between 2,000 and 3,000 individual ‘interactions’ are recorded in every Premier League game. And yet, the most decisive one – goals – account for a tiny percentage of that. And the stats suggest that they are becoming even more rare, too. At the time of writing, the Premier League has witnessed an average of just 2.6 goals per game during the 2025/26 season – the lowest rate in nearly a decade.
That scarcity suggests that scoring once or twice per game has a higher probability of creating a win than in years gone by, which perhaps explains why set pieces have – once again – come back into fashion. The percentage of all goals scored from set plays has reached 27.8%, which is more than 6% higher than a decade ago. That has largely been facilitated by goals scored from corners, rather than shots from direct free kicks.
Indeed, there has been a 6.6% increase in the number of goals scored from corners in 2025/26 than there was in 2024/25; the total, 18.7% of all goals, is the highest in Premier League history. And since the start of the 2023/24 season, Arsenal – inspired by their old adversaries in Pulis’ Stoke City – have scored more goals from corners than any other team in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues.
More and more teams are employing specialist set pieces in a bid to gain an edge in both penalty areas. Once upon a time, focusing on set plays was considered agricultural, old hat and evidence of a team lacking skill in open play. But now, even progressive thinkers like Pep and Arteta are switched on the ideas brought to the table by Pulis and his peers more than a decade ago.
Long Throws En Vogue
Another of Pulis’ competitive edge-finding strategies was the humble long throw. Although long throws, which see a player hurl the ball into the penalty area, had been used before, it was Pulis – via his catalyst Rory Delap – that mastered the art, with Stoke players involved in choreographed movements to maximise the danger of the aerial attack.
Brentford, headed by Keith Andrews in his first managerial job, have revisited Pulis’ unique form of bombardment – to great effect. Andrews has utilised the strength of Michael Kayode as his long throw merchant, and it was from one Kayode missile that ultimately saw Dango Outtara score for the Bees against Liverpool in October 2025.
Brentford won that game 3-2, so the long throw goal was vital… and could yet prove pivotal to the club’s hopes of avoiding relegation. It’s one of several goals that Brentford have scored from long throws in recent seasons, and given that the odd goal here and there can be the difference between zero, one or three points from a game, it’s no wonder that the London club – and, increasingly, their peers, are leaning into the tactic.
According to OPTA, the 2025/26 season to date has witnessed an average of four long throws – defined as a delivery of 20m or more – per game, which is more than double that of any other season on record. After a physically demanding 1-0 win for Manchester City at Brentford, Erling Haaland commented that it was a ‘a tough game and reminded me of Stoke City with Rory Delap 15 years ago.’ There’s that man Pulis, the dinosaur, again…
