Bold claim: Premier League corners have turned into a chaos-filled spectacle, and it's time the rulebook caught up with the action. In recent matches, holding, wrestling, and pushing inside the six-yard box have become commonplace, and while more goals are being scored, the grappling has sometimes looked ridiculous. Defenders grab at attackers; attackers tug at defenders; the outcome is a constant tug-of-war that referee teams struggle to manage. Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann told BBC Sport that this is an epidemic that must be addressed, noting that as many as 16 players can crowd the goal area during a single corner and that policing this has become an almost impossible task. He urges a clear solution to curb the growing problem.
Who should fix the behavior: referees, players, or coaches? Or does the fix require a change in the laws themselves? Managers have spent countless press conferences lamenting grappling, and frustration appears to be rising. Everton’s David Moyes, for example, says referees must bear more responsibility and criticizes the lack of decisive action as “poor.” The controversy spilled over after last week’s Everton versus Manchester United game, when Toffees players stood on the goalkeeper and a push from James Tarkowski sent Leny Yoro into the net, followed by involvement from Harry Maguire. Moyes contends that referees seem reluctant to intervene, describing the situation as a missed opportunity to clamp down on the behavior.
With set-pieces increasing in importance, teams are elevating their distraction tactics. Cann explains that attackers crowd the goalkeeper to disrupt movement, while defenders try to blunt attackers’ runs and often appear more focused on their opponent than the ball. Moyes points to Arsenal as pioneers of these “dark arts” of defending, praising their effectiveness—if not their style.
This trend was evident in Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea, where multiple Arsenal players clung to the marking players during a corner, contributing to Chelsea’s two conceded goals in a 2-1 loss at the Emirates. Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior says he is taking control of coaching set-piece defending in response. Some observers worry that the game’s image is suffering as players are repeatedly thrown to the ground.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot laments that the Premier League is producing less enjoyable football, suggesting that fouls would be called more readily in other leagues and that England’s product tolerates them instead. Yet the Premier League continues to lead in set-piece goals, accounting for 27% of such goals this season—the highest share among Europe’s top five leagues. Serie A is second with 24%, followed by the Bundesliga (22%), La Liga (19%), and Ligue 1 (17%).
The league maintains that its current threshold for fouls and VAR intervention remains broadly supported by coaches, captains, referees, and pundits surveyed at the season’s start. There is a stronger emphasis on limiting holding to the clearest instances. Seven penalties have been awarded for holding this season, four of them after VAR involvement. PGMO argues that the media spotlight tends to amplify the issue only when high-profile cases arise, while social feeds frequently show incidents of holding without VAR intervention.
Fans often feel VAR penalizes tiny offsides yet misses what they perceive as clear fouls in other areas. Officials don’t walk into matches blindly, either: they receive dossiers from PGMO detailing each team’s set-piece tendencies to stay ahead of the curve on grappling and blocking. Still, given the Premier League’s high foul threshold, much holding passes unchecked. Fans vent about retaken corners, but Cann argues that grappling often begins before the ball is played and thus isn’t always flagged because the ball isn’t in play yet.
Could a change be on the horizon? Cann suggests a provocative idea: once the referee blows the whistle to restart play, they could penalize any subsequent misconduct, removing the need to wait until the ball is in play to award a foul. He also proposes a reform where attackers start outside the six-yard box before the corner is taken, which would reduce congestion around the goalkeeper and make defending easier to manage.
Ifab’s recent meeting in Wales focused on law changes for next season, though Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell downplayed the topic of grappling, noting that behavior shifts can occur gradually over a season and aren’t necessarily worsening. The debate lingers: is this a universal footballing problem, or a specifically Premier League issue calling for targeted law changes? Either way, the core question remains: should the laws adapt to modern tactics, or should players and coaches recalibrate their approach to keep the game fair and entertaining? Would you support a legal tweak that penalizes post-whistle misconduct or a structural change that reshapes how corners are taken? Share your take in the comments.
