Pep Guardiola Compares Steph Curry's Impact on NBA 3-Point Shooting to Evolution of Set Pieces
Pep Guardiola believes the world of football needs to adapt to the new age of set pieces, popularized by Premier League leaders Arsenal, in the same way the NBA needed to adapt to Stephen Curry leading the NBA's three-point revolution earlier in his career.
"Set pieces have started to be an important part of strategy," the Manchester City manager told Jamie Jackson of The Guardian regarding set pieces. "It was different when I started as a manager [in 2008]. When I was a young boy in Spain we said the people in England celebrate corners and free-kicks like a goal—I remember perfectly so nothing has changed in that way. It is true Arsenal dictate a little bit how [every team] do it and it is important. Years ago, in the NBA, the three-shot point was not involved as much but the Golden State Warriors with Curry [started] to make three points more and more and everyone adapted, now so many teams do it. It is part of the evolution and part of the dynamics. You can sit and complain but you have to adapt. It's part of the game."
Arsenal have scored a staggering 24 goals from set pieces in league play, 41.3 percent of their total goals and the most in the Premier League. Manchester City's nine goals, meanwhile, are just 15.8 percent of their total tally.
That has led to folks around the game being critical of Arsenal's approach and the growing reliance on set pieces in general around the sport, with Liverpool manager Arne Slot telling reporters that "most of the games I see in the Premier League are not for me a joy to watch."
While Slot added that wasn't solely down to an increase in set pieces, it's undoubtedly been a major talking point this season.
Having a high success rate with an unorthodox strategy is often met with backlash, of course. Several factions around the NFL sought to ban the Tush Push when it was nearly an unstoppable play for the Philadelphia Eagles (though the effort has mysteriously been abandoned this offseason after Philly's lower success rate with the play in 2025).
Likewise, there has been plenty of bellyaching around the prominence of the three-point shot in the modern NBA.
Curry undoubtedly helped spark a strategic revolution—in the 2008-09 season, one year before he reached the NBA, the New York Knicks led the NBA with 27.9 three-point attempts per game. That season, the Oklahoma City Thunder were last in the NBA with just 11.6 three-point attempts per contest, a figure that feels downright quaint 17 seasons later.
This season, the Sacramento Kings are last in the NBA with 30.1 three-point attempts per game, while the Warriors lead the league with 45.4. Curry alone is averaging 11.5 attempts from three, nearly even with the entire 2008-09 Thunder team.
"For the times they are a-changin'" is true no matter when you sing it. The ongoing discussion about set pieces is just the latest example.
