Is criticism of Arsenal tactics fair?
- Published
Chief football writer Phil McNulty has been answering your questions on all things Premier League.
Eli asked: I feel there is an air of criticism around Arsenal scoring so many from set pieces, but I think it's a real skill. What are your thoughts?
Phil answered: No problem with this at all. Arsenal may not be as easy on the eye as they have been in the past, but look at the Premier League table.
They are superb at set pieces. It brings them lots of goals, and unless something has changed, the object of the exercise is to score goals.
If goals from set pieces, allied to strong defence, finally helps Arsenal to win the league then you will not find any of their fans complaining.
I saw a lot of Stoke City under Tony Pulis - who has done his first BBC Sport column on Wednesday on this very subject - and never felt the need to criticise them.
I was at Brentford on Saturday and they tormented Liverpool with long throws, but there was a lot more to their strategy than that and the same applies to lots of other teams.