It was slightly jarring at Wolves recently when Manchester City — via Josko Gvardiol — scored their seventh goal of the season from outside the penalty area, a number which at that point represented 25 per cent of the 20-team Premier League ’s total for the 2024-25 campaign. And people generally love to see long-range goals. The past couple of international breaks have seen a concerted pining for the good old days, when midfielders and defenders were emboldened to push forward and smash a shot from 40 yards into the top corner.
Advertisement One strand of this nostalgic thinking is not just that modern football has changed for the worse but that Guardiola and City are specifically to blame; that long-range shots are ‘banned’ by the Catalan and most contemporary managers simply copy his approach. This was so prevalent during the summer that City’s social media admin took the opportunity to post a video compilation of all of their league goals from outside the box last season — with 15 of them, they had more than any other club in the division (three more than next-best Liverpool , with 10 by Aston Villa and Burnley being third-most). A @premierleague best 1️⃣5️⃣ goals from outside the box in 2023/24! 🚀 Here they all are! 👇 pic.
twitter.com/k0Zzpkwwz1 — Manchester City (@ManCity) June 19, 2024 Even so, long-range goals do seem to go against Guardiola’s logic. In recent weeks, he has been preaching the importance of ‘patience’ more than ever wh.
