Tony Pulis football is BACK says Pep Guardiola as Manchester City boss claims Premier League's set piece obsession is like playing Stoke City EVERY week

Pep Guardiola claimed that most Premier League trips are like facing Stoke City under Tony Pulis as an obsession with set pieces engulfs the top flight this season.

Almost 19 per cent of all league goals across the division have come from corners – nearly five per cent higher than any other year.

The Manchester City boss has always defended the right of managers to set up in whichever tactical style suits their team and stopped short of criticising the growing trend.

But Guardiola insisted that while he would be ‘naïve’ to ignore the impact of set plays, top scorers City – the only team to have sourced all of their goals from open play - will continue to focus on other aspects of winning games.

‘It’s true that people use every throw-in like a corner and put 10 players there in the box,’ Guardiola said. ‘We suffered when we played at Brentford , or look at Brentford against Liverpool which we saw in our hotel, every action (Michael) Kayode put in the box. And Kayode was man of the match.

‘Today set pieces are a threat. I remember a long time ago with Sean Dyche in Burnley . Burnley were an incredible threat in the long balls, second balls. Dyche is one of the best by far doing these kind of aspects.

Pep Guardiola believes that the Premier League has gone back to the age of set pieces

‘It’s not new, he did it before. Or Sam Allardyce. Or I remember when I was not here, Stoke City. Do you remember Stoke City when they made the throws? Now it’s just more and more teams doing that but back then maybe Stoke was the exception.

‘I remember when I was at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger talked about going to play at Stoke City but now it happens a lot of times.

‘Maybe it didn’t happen (much) when I arrived, maybe (just) at Burnley, but now it’s a fact. And you have to pay attention. But still I dream to play.’

There has come criticism for a perceived drop in quality throughout the Premier League, with an onus on physicality rather than technical skill. An average of 2.6 goals per game is the lowest since 2017 and the ball is in play for just over 55 minutes a match.

Matty Cash’s winner as Aston Villa beat City on Sunday came from a corner and Guardiola wants to work on improving the fundamentals of controlling matches to avoid giving up cheap dead ball situations.

‘Every manager does what they believe,’ he added. ‘I want to score from free kicks and corners – I’m not naïve to that. I want it. But I spend my time on what we have to do to play better, attack better and create chances. To score goals.

‘Of course I pay attention but I know I’m not the manager to try to… it’s what I’ve done all my career.

‘I remember at Burnley when it was tough, we conceded only one corner or maybe not even one. Why? Because we controlled the second balls. The best kind of way to defend these games is in that way.

Tony Pulis' Stoke City took the Premier League by storm in 2008 with their emphasis on set-pieces and Rory Delap's devastating long throws

‘But for that, you have to be good in a lot of aspects and we are working on it. I will, until the end, continue to work mainly on our game. And sometimes adapt, when we have to do it.

‘We did it at Brentford incredibly well. (Set piece coach) James (French) made an incredible job seducing our players into how we should defend these kind of actions. It was unbelievable, the same at Arsenal. We conceded a lot of corners against Arsenal because we didn’t control the game.’

Meanwhile, Guardiola’s first-team coach Kolo Toure will not be present when City play Swansea City in the Carabao Cup. Toure has travelled back to Ivory Coast following the death of his father, Mory.