The art of the set-piece
Plus: Bruno Fernandes breaking records and Champions League preview
👋 Welcome…
..to The Tap-Inn. Where you can tap in to the world of soccer with me, your first-gen Irish Tap-Inn bartender, Joe.
Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day — the one day a year the whole world wants to be Irish. The Guinness is on me.
Before you paint the town green, pull up a stool. I’ve got some soccer knowledge to dispense.
🥃Set Pieces— why ‘dead balls’ are so important
📺 This Week in Soccer — Arsenal are nine points clear in the Prem’ and Champions League preview
🎽The USMNT just dropped their 2026 World Cup kits — and for once, everyone actually likes them
Ready? I thought so. Let's pour. 🍀
🥃 TOP SHELF
The importance of set-pieces in soccer
Set-piece pro, Declan Rice
I’ve got a regular called Mike, great guy, knows nothing about soccer. The type of guy I write this newsletter for but he doesn’t even bother reading the damn thing.
He grabbed me during a quiet moment last week, nodding at the screen.
"Joe. Why do all the Arsenal fans go crazy when they win a corner? It's just a corner."
Ah Mikey, I’ve still got so much to teach you. It’s not just a corner. A corner is a type of set-piece. And set-pieces are one of the most important tools in a team’s arsenal (no, I could not resist the pun).
A set piece is any situation where play is stopped and restarts from a dead ball — a corner kick, a free kick, a throw-in. The ball isn't moving, everyone gets into position, and for a brief, beautiful moment soccer starts to look like a planned sport.
Think of it like a play in American football. The offense huddles, everyone knows their assignment, and on the snap they execute. A set-piece works the same way. Teams practice for hours on the training field to create the perfect set-piece routine — who runs where, who blocks who, who peels off the back post at exactly the right moment.
"Okay Joe that’s great but Arsenal and corners, what’s the deal?!”
Soccer goes through trends. And right now, set pieces are having a moment.
Arsenal corners: Alright Mikey, I’ve made you wait long enough. Arsenal fans cheer when they win a corner because it’s their not-so-secret weapon. They’ve scored 16 goals from corners so far, the joint-most by any team in a Premier League season, and they still have 8 games left. This is no coincidence. Arsenal spend hours on the training field practicing them, and it’s paying off.
Long throw-ins: When a team uses a throw-in to directly attack the opposing team’s box. There has been a 161% increase in long throw-ins in the Premier league this season. Teams are now treating them like corners — hiring specialists, drilling routines, sending centre backs into the box.
Set-piece coaches: They have become very popular over the last few years as teams try to extract any advantage they possibly can in games. Arsenal’s Nicolas Jover is the most annoying famous of them.
⏰ TLDR: Set-pieces are any situation in soccer where play resumes after a stoppage. They account for about one third of all goals scored. So, take notes.
At a World Cup, goals are hard to come by. Set pieces are how tournaments get decided. So watch out for them this summer.
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🗞️ THIS WEEK IN SOCCER
Premier League recap
Arsenal 2–0 Everton / West Ham 1–1 Man City - The title race story of the weekend played out across two stadiums. Arsenal were patient and clinical against Everton, scoring two late goals to go nine points clear — and then, just as the final whistle blew, Man City went and dropped points at relegation-threatened West Ham.
The twist? Former Arsenal man Konstantinos Mavropanos scored the equalizer for West Ham. City manager, Pep Guardiola, on a touchline ban, could only look on from the stands.
Man Utd 3–1 Aston Villa — Bruno Fernandes pulling strings with two assists as United quietly close in on a Champions League spot. Michael Carrick's side are flying right now.
Liverpool 1–1 Tottenham — Richarlison equalizes in the 90th minute at Anfield. Liverpool's Champions League hopes take another dent. Spurs fans briefly forgot they might get relegated. They’ve a six-pointer coming up next weekend (See below).
Champions League Preview
The second legs are here. Win on aggregate, you're through. It's as simple and brutal as that. Here’s what I’m watching:
Tuesday, March 17:
Arsenal vs Leverkusen — First leg: 1-1. Wide open. Arsenal at home in Europe are a different beast — they've lost just once in their last 22 Champions League home matches. It’s hard not to back them here.
Man City vs Real Madrid — First leg: 0-3. City need to overturn a three-goal deficit — something that's only happened five times in Champions League history. Erling Haaland is a doubt for Man City. With him, it's a tough ask, without him, probably impossible.
Wednesday, March 18:
Barcelona vs Newcastle — First leg: 1-1. Tie of the round. If you have to pick one match to skip work for, it’s this one. Raphinha is in the form of his life. Newcastle are no pushovers. Don’t ask me who’s going through here.
Tottenham vs Atlético Madrid — First leg: 2-5. Spurs need four goals to go through. They're also currently fighting relegation in the Premier League and their biggest rivals (Arsenal) are 9 points clear at the top of the table. Other than that, things are great at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
📝 TRIVIA ON TAP
Setting records
After getting two assists on Sunday vs Aston Villa, Bruno Fernandes now holds the record for the most assists by a Man Utd player in a Premier League season with 16 in total.
But who holds the all-time assists record in a Premier League season?
A) Cristiano Ronaldo
B) Thierry Henry
C) Kevin De Bruyne
D) Steven Gerrard
Keep scrolling for the answer.
🌎 WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN: 87 DAYS
Gillette Stadium, Foxboro - the best a man can get
We've got less than three months until the biggest tournament on the planet kicks off. There's an energy in the air I haven't felt since the last World Cup — when I was significantly younger and significantly less tired. But I've never felt more alive.
Fear not, Foxboro
Two weeks ago, I shared a story with you that a small town in Massachusetts was taking no nonsense from FIFA. Foxboro, a town about 30 miles south of Boston, was refusing to host seven World Cup games at the Gillete Stadium if they didn’t receive the $7.8m payment required for security at the tournament in advance. And they set a deadline - tomorrow, March 17th.
Thankfully, the saga is not going to run into the early hours of St. Paddy's Day. Over the weekend it was announced that “all of Foxboro’s funding concerns have been addressed”, and the games will go ahead as planned. Foxboro never relented on their position that the payment must be made in advance. My mother always told me never to mess with a Bostonian, she forgot to tell FIFA.
🔥 QUICKFIRE
Sound like a pro
Next Sunday sees a classic six-pointer between Spurs and Forest
Phrase: “Six-Pointer”
What it means: A game between two teams close together in the table, where the result is basically worth double. It’s not just the three points gained, but three points taken away from a direct rival.
Where it came from: Simple math. Beat a team right beside you in the league and the points swing is effectively six.
Use it:"Keep an eye on Spurs vs Nottingham Forest next Sunday, that's a proper six-pointer. Both teams are scrapping to stay up. Whoever loses that one is in serious trouble."
Kit of the week
The US’s 2026 home kit for the World Cup.
It had to be this one. Launched today,Nike and US Soccer just dropped the official USMNT kits for this summer's World Cup and they are something special.
Two jerseys: a Stars kit (dark navy with silver stars) and a Stripes kit (wavy red and white horizontal stripes). The backstory is the best bit. The players hated their 2022 Qatar kits so much they refused to do the photo shoot — unless Nike gave them full involvement in designing the 2026 ones. Nike obliged. Multiple sessions, player interviews, dozens of iterations later — they have their kit.
Tyler Adams summed it up: "I feel more pride. I feel this finally represents us."
Now they just have to go and make some memories in them. Check it out is here.
On This Day
The Royal Engineers, FA Cup Finalists, on this day in 1872
March 16th, 1872. Today marks the 154th birthday of the FA Cup — the oldest cup competition in soccer history. The first final was played at Kennington Oval in London, in front of around 2,000 fans. For context: this was 24 years before the first modern Olympics. The Eiffel Tower wouldn't exist for another 17 years.
It's still running. Still throwing up upsets. Still making grown adults cry in pubs on Saturday afternoons.
The next final is May 16th at Wembley. 154 years on, same competition, slightly better pitches.
📝 TRIVIA ANSWER
B & C) Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne
A trick question today. Gotta keep you on your toes.
Thierry Henry (2002/03) and Kevin De Bruyne (2019/20) jointly hold the record for the most assists in a Premier League season with 20 assists.
Can Bruno catch them this season? He’s got 8 games and needs 4 assists. I know where I’ll be putting my money.
Until next time…
Thanks for stopping by The Tap-Inn.
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I’ll be behind the bar every week, Monday and Friday, serving up soccer. Sláinte.
— Joe