Ranking every Premier League club by how many long goal kicks they take | OneFootball

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The Premier League is an ever-evolving division in terms of tactics and styles of play implemented, with the importance of being competent at playing out from the back growing in recent times. Goalkeepers are expected to be willing and capable of playing short passes to their defenders rather than simply booting the ball as far as possible, as was the case in previous years and decades. While this is the case, team do still sometimes have no choice but to go long and hope to not give up possession when the opposition marks all short options.

One team in the league have taken zero long goal kicks according to statistics from xvalue stats, which is a remarkable feat given the fact that teams are more clued-up than ever on this approach to games. The side in question also scored a brilliant team goal over the weekend that all stemmed from taking a short goal kick and working their way up the field.

Other teams are still more than likely to kick the ball long, with one side controversially being told by the referee to kick long in order to stop wasting too much time. This came after the opposition had caught on to the short kicks and marked all options available.

So, here are all the Premier League clubs' percentage of goal-kicks that have been played long this season.

Brighton have taken zero long goal kicks this season

As already mentioned, one side scored a great team goal that all came from a goal kick being played short, and that team was Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton side. The Seagulls played Manchester United off the park in a 3-1 win at Old Trafford on Saturday, with Pascal Gross scoring the second goal after a long move consisting of many passes.

Jason Steele and Bart Verbruggen are competing for the number one shirt at the club having both made appearances to this point in the league. The similarities between the pair are there for all to see however, as both Steele and Verbruggen are both extremely comfortable with the ball at their feet which helps enormously in playing out from the back.

As both shot-stoppers show this willingness to find players in proximity from goal kicks, it is clear that the manager demands this from his team and as a result, must find a way to make it possible at all times. From their five games, de Zerbi's men have still yet to register a single long kick from a goal kick which is a lot less than any other side in the entire league.

Brighton's opponents at the weekend - Manchester United - let go of David de Gea in the summer window to bring in Andre Onana, who is known to be a lot more comfortable at playing the ball out from the back. This looked to be the enxt step in the evolution of Erik ten Hag's side, but it has not quite panned out that way thus far. While the Red Devils are second on the list for least goal kicks taken long, with 20%, their fortunes have still be vastly different to the side that handed them a humbling defeat on Saturday.

How do other teams compare to Brighton's goal kicks?

There could be an argument that variety could be a better way to go with some top clubs such as Chelsea and Liverpool going long for more than a third of the goal kicks. This is even with Robert Sanchez and Alisson between the posts for these sides, who are considered to be very good at distributing the ball from the back. Newcastle United finished in the top four in 2022/23, but still kick long from goal kicks more than half of the time with Nick Pope doing so 59% of the time this season.

While the league campaign is only five games old currently, it can be presumed that these stats are already forming a pattern that is likely to last for the entire season, with two newly promoted sides in the form of Sheffield United and Luton Town leaning towards the approach of going long from these situations to take the pressure off where possible. Nottingham Forest are actually the side to have played long the most however, with Steve Copper's side doing so a massive 84.8% of the time in order to play to the strengths of Taiwo Awoniyi up front.

One of the previously mentioned sides had a difficult time from goal kicks at the weekend with the referee even alleged to have got involved.

Paul Heckingbottom claims referee told Sheffield United to take long goal kicks

Sheffield United suffered a dramatic 2-1 loss against Tottenham on Saturday despite being in the lead until deep into stoppage time. The game went past the 100 minute mark due in part to the speed at which Wes Foderingham was taking goal kicks for his side.

The Blades' boss, Heckingbottom, revealed his frustration around the situation during his post-match press conference as he said: "The focus is on time-wasting, so the referees are dictating how we play. We set up to play out from the back, and we get out a couple of times so Spurs change and Wes has to make another decision."

Stressing a desire for his team to play out from the back, the 46-year-old manager went on to claim: "But no, we're just told to 'play long'. The answer back to me was 'well kick long then'. We work all week on how we want to play, and the refs are dictating to us how we play the game. It can't happen, but it's happening."

This will have an obvious impact on the statistics around Sheffield United's long goal kicks, but perhaps could be the case with a number of other sides. It is not always possible for a team to play short and work their way up the field in a controlled manner, other than in Brighton's case clearly.