Graeme Souness Targets Pickford Over Modern Football's Set-Piece Drift

Graeme Souness has taken aim at pickford while laying into what he sees as the state of modern football. The 73-year-old said the game has changed over the three years since he left Sky Sports, and he pointed to simulation, poor refereeing and set-piece blocking as the biggest problems.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Souness said: "The game has changed and we have to accept it’s changed. Some ways it’s changed for the better, other ways I’m not so sure." He also made his view plain on the way the sport is being played now: "My biggest fear is the simulation and the poor refereeing."

Souness on Pickford

Souness took aim at England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as part of that criticism. He did not separate the England No 1 from the wider habits he believes are becoming routine, especially when the ball is dead and the space in the box becomes crowded. His complaint was not just about one player, but about how the game is being managed and manipulated around him.

That is where his frustration sharpened. Souness said: "I think the referees have to get back to where they were with these set-pieces." He added: "Now set-pieces are important, they always have been, but it’s gone overboard."

West Ham, Arsenal and set-pieces

He used West Ham against Arsenal as an example of what he objects to. In that match, he said, blocking the goalkeeper and blocking the best headers has become a central tactic at set-pieces. Souness said: "It’s all about blocking: blocking the goalkeeper, blocking the best headers."

Arsenal recently won the Premier League title having scored 27 goals across all competitions from set-pieces, a number that shows how far the trend has moved beyond a specialist weapon and into a deciding factor. Souness said the method has crossed a line: "There’s nothing clever about it at all. I think something has to be done about it because it’s spoiling our game. One hundred per cent."

He said he does not miss the travelling, but the criticism was delivered by someone who still speaks like a man who has not drifted from the sport. "But I love football. I’ve always loved football. I’m like everyone else, do you know what I mean?"