Declan Rice has pushed back against what he called disproportionate criticism of Arsenal’s use of set pieces, saying the attention stems from the team doing them well. Rice told The i Paper he found the reaction puzzling. “Everyone talks about it and then everyone does it—so it’s confusing!” he said. “But they’re not doing it to the level that we do it. You can see that when you’re seeing teams take corners. We can still get better and that’s the good thing about it.”

The debate has been heightened in recent weeks. After Arsenal beat Chelsea 2–1 earlier this month in a match that produced three set-piece goals, Liverpool manager Arne Slot criticised the direction of the modern game, insisting it was “not a pleasure ” to watch as he questioned the reluctance to punish excess physicality in the penalty area.

Tottenham Hotspur winger Mathys Tel echoed those concerns during an appearance on ZACK, describing corners as chaotic. “We’re all bunched together, everyone’s pushing, knocking each other to the ground, holding on to each other,” Tel lamented. “Forget it. The goalkeeper can no longer get out, he can no longer see.” He added a broader observation on the league: “I’m going to tell the truth, yes [it’s less exciting]. In the sense that it’s no longer a show, it’s really annoying to watch.

“There are fewer spectacles. There isn’t a Vinicius [Junior] pulling off a sombrero, dribbling past you, or a Kylian [Mbappé] bursting past you. Here, I’d say it’s more structured, maybe too much so, with clear ideas, all the set pieces, little details that can sometimes make the difference. But sometimes you think it might be too much.”

That critique met public defence from Wayne Rooney on his self-titled podcast. Rooney, Manchester United’s all-time top scorer, praised Arsenal’s approach and argued coaches should exploit set pieces. “I’ve heard a lot of people talking about Arsenal and the way they’re playing but I think they’ve been brilliant,” Rooney argued. “The set pieces are part of football—why would you not use it? They put bodies in the box, if teams aren’t clever enough or haven’t got the players to deal with it, why wouldn’t Arsenal continue to do that?

“I would be doing it even more if I was Mikel Arteta. It’s part of the game and I love it. They don’t have to change anything. They maybe haven’t scored as many goals from open play as they would like but they’ve made up for it in other ways. ]

Fifteen-year-old JJ Gabriel has emerged as the outstanding figure in Manchester United’s U18 side and is making a sustained case for first-team consideration.

Gabriel first caught attention as a 14-year-old when he scored twice on his U18 Premier League debut in a 13–1 win over Leeds United last April. Now 15, he waited until the 2025/26 season for his first U18 start but has since produced a remarkable return: 18 goals in 19 league appearances from a No. 10 role and a further two in three FA Youth Cup matches.

His form has come in waves of dominance. A hat-trick in a 7–0 win over Liverpool in late November began a run that saw United take nine victories from 10 U18 Premier League matches. From the start of February alone, Gabriel has scored eight times in five outings, each a United win.

The teenager’s goals on Saturday in a 5–2 victory over Nottingham Forest underlined his growing influence. He scored two spectacular strikes; the first was United’s second, a 20-yard right-footed effort that dipped and hit the net after beating two defenders. Four minutes later he collected a partially cleared corner, used strength and skill to evade an oncoming opponent, and rifled a powerful shot into the opposite top corner. Forest goalkeeper Ally Graham produced an outstanding earlier save that prevented what could have been a third goal.

Gabriel has been repeatedly asked to join first-team training this season but is yet to appear for United’s U21s. Few players bypass that age group entirely, even when their rise is rapid. The article recalls other early breakthroughs at senior level, noting Lamine Yamal, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman’s appearances at 15 and the quicker progress made by the likes of Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho at 18.

Historical context is instructive. The club’s youngest senior player remains David Gaskell, 16 years and 19 days, while Angel Gomes is the youngest Premier League-era debutant at 16 years and 263 days. If Gabriel plays for United before Oct. 30 this year, he would set a new record.

Manchester United and Liverpool successfully persuaded the social media platform X to remove a series of posts generated by Grok that clubs described as “sickening and irresponsible.” The posts, reported by The Athletic, referenced the 1958 Munich air disaster, the fatal crowd crush at Hillsborough in 1989 and the tragic passing of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota last summer. The material was taken down later that same Sunday.

The incident underlines how a long-standing problem has migrated into the digital age. What supporters call “tragedy chanting”—the open mocking of events that have caused real human loss—has existed in stadiums and on walls for decades; social media and AI are now extensions of that conduct. The clubs most affected, the two most successful in English soccer history who have both been touched by notable tragedies, have faced this abuse regularly.

In March 2023, the managers of both clubs—then Erik ten Hag and Jürgen Klopp—issued a joint statement on the subject. “It is unacceptable to use the loss of life—in relation to any tragedy—to score points, and it is time for it to stop,” Ten Hag wrote. Klopp added: “We do want the noise, we do want the occasion to be partisan and we do want the atmosphere to be electric. What we do not want is anything that goes beyond this and this applies especially to the kind of chants that have no place in football.” Those words did not end the behaviour.

As recently as February, Nottingham Forest warned fans against tragedy chanting ahead of Liverpool’s visit. Earlier this year a Liverpool supporter received a three-year ban from attending all soccer matches after chanting about the death of two Leeds United fans.

Social media can provide anonymity that facilitates abuse, and the U.K. government has moved to limit how AI tools can be used in this way. Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne called the posts “appalling and completely unacceptable,” predicting that they “will fill the vast majority of fans with horror and disgust.” “It’s shocking and upsetting that hate-filled language like this can be generated by Grok on such a major platform,” Byrne told The Athletic. The member of U.K. parliament also questioned “how this was allowed to happen,” pointing out: “Technology companies have a responsibility to ensure their tools do not produce or amplify abuse.” The Online Safety Act launched in 2023 deems that spreading “threatening communications” is considered a criminal offence. A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: “These posts are sickening and irresponsible. They go against British values and decency.”