Jamie Carragher has described moments in the Premier League as like watching rugby after a marked change in style this season.
The former Liverpool defender has been a critic of how many teams have employed such an emphasis on setpieces and congested numbers in the box.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning ahead of The Overlap coming to Dublin later in March, Carragher revealed he finds the game more boring this campaign.
"I've been banging this drum all season," he said. "Not so much about corners because corners have always been corners. People have always tried to score from it. It is just that teams are taking to the absolute maximum amount getting everything they can out of corner.
"I can't have a go at people for that really. But the nonsense about everybody in the six-yard box.
"At times you've got sort of 17, 18 players in there. And we used to complain that goalkeepers were too protected. Now they don't actually get enough protection.
"And when you're watching it, it feels like you're watching a rugby game. I think the only way to stop it is the referee to blow for fouls. As soon as the ball comes in, it's blow for a foul on the goalkeeper.
"And what we'll get is less people in the six-yard box and less wrestling and throwing each other to the floor. I don't think that's a great look for Premier League. And I think something needs to be done about that."
Carragher is also bemused at some of the stronger sides in the league putting such effort on long throw-ins.
Arsenal have been hugely successful with setpieces as they sit top of the Premier League and are chasing a quadruple.
Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister scored from first-half corners for Liverpool in a recent game with West Ham in another example.
But the throw-ins are something which has irked the Sky Sports pundit.
"The thing that has annoyed me, and again you can't stop anybody doing it, is long throws.
"When I see teams at the bottom of the league putting in a long throw against the top team, I get it, because maybe you haven't got the quality players to get the ball into the box to score a goal.
"But when I see almost every team in the league employing a long throw, I think of the money spent on these players to come to our country and play. They’re technical players. For me, throw-ins are about getting the ball and back onto the pitch as quick as you can and get the ball to someone's feet. That's why it's called football, not handball.
"You can't really stop it. I remember first seeing a long throw when Wimbledon come up the First Division. That was in the late 1980s. That was almost frowned upon then.
"That was when the game was really direct. But now when it's so technical to see every team on a long throw, I wish it would stop."
Carragher is hoping to see Liverpool bring in more players this summer after a disappointing season under Arne Slot.
He puts their struggles down to a variety of reasons, including the shift in patterns in games.
"It doesn't seem like Arne Slot has got the answers so far this season, so it's a little bit difficult for me. I think there's a number of things with Liverpool.
"We go back to the start of the season and obviously the tragic situation around Diogo Jota, how that affected everybody at the club.
"It meant Liverpool had to go into the market a little bit more as well. There is always a worry with change. Even though Liverpool won the league, it was Jurgen Klopp's team. Arne Slot hadn't really put his own stamp on it really.
"And there's a lot of change in there, and I just feel like the players they've brought in, I think they're all good players actually. I think they're starting to show that now, the longer the season's going on.
"But they're probably a lot more technical, and I think the team has become more technical and probably less power and less pace in the team.
"At the same time the Premier League's actually become more powerful. It's about setpieces, and it looks like Liverpool's team isn’t actually set up for the Premier League.
"It looks more suited to the Champions League, and hence why they're doing OK in the Champions League. They beat Real Madrid, they beat Inter Milan away from home, they've had some big scalps in Europe. So that hasn't quite happened in the Premier League, and I think they'll have to adjust that in the summer."
Watch Real Madrid v Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday from 7.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
