Mark Langdon: Premier League rollercoaster leaves me sick

There is a clear flaw in writing a column bemoaning the high volume of Premier League content when you are just adding to the noise, but the relentless nature of the coverage is having a negative impact on too many supporters.

Football fans have always moaned and the fickle nature of the sport means the halo you place around the head of your favourite manager/player/set-piece coach will become a noose at some stage. Did you ever think at the height of Arsene Wenger's success that he would be trashed by the end? At least it took a while to get there.

I remember sitting with my fellow Tottenham faithful when many were demanding Mauricio Pochettino's head just a few months after we had sat together in Madrid watching Spurs in a Champions League final. Now, I suspect he would not have even had that period of grace. The players would not have made it home before some twerp with a blue tick had stuck his mug in front of a camera demanding an immediate change.

That was in 2019, which feels a world away.

Extreme views are being pushed after every match and it's understandable to a point because you aren't going to make any money from social media by keeping a balanced head, while the third podcast of the week from the huge army of new broadcasters can't fill their 45-minute shows explaining football results as "these things happen".

You just cannot escape content and it's sending everyone a bit loopy. Win and your manager is a genius; lose and he should be sacked. Cults are being created and divides within fanbases have never been greater, so you get to a point where somebody such as Ange Postecoglou bounces around from genius to muppet.

Postecoglou was never as good as the absurd hype that surrounded his early days in England and he isn't this clueless idiot that is now having ding-dongs after a defeat at Bournemouth with the same Spurs supporters who were singing his name loud and proud following a 4-0 win at Manchester City.

Every game for every club feels like a crisis or this huge dopamine hit depending on a win or loss. Perhaps we all just need to shut up.

However, that won't get a column out so here are four other minor pet peeves that annoy me far more than whether a manager needs to be sacked in the morning:

Blocking at corners

Arsenal have taken set-pieces to a new level, scoring 22 goals from corners since the start of last season and those fine details could be the difference in an open title race. The delivery is sensational and nobody seems to have worked out a way to nullify this back-post huddle thing but since when has it been okay for any team - and Arsenal are by no means alone in this - to do the amount of blocking we currently see? It's obstruction anywhere else apart from corners.

Goalkeepers holding on to the ball for too long

On the IFAB website it clearly states at 12.2 in the fouls and misconduct section: 'An indirect free kick is awarded if a goalkeeper, inside their penalty area, controls the ball with the hand/arm for more than six seconds before releasing it.' Referees seem to allow 36 seconds, never mind six, and wouldn't it be nice if a ref had the balls to dish out a second yellow to a goalkeeper for time-wasting?

Tactical stoppages

While we are on goalkeepers, have you noticed how many of them need a sit down at various points in matches when it just so happens at that exact moment that a manager is able to bring his players in for a tactical debrief? It's a remarkable coincidence.