'Too chaotic! – Arsenal, Liverpool & Man Utd under fire from throw-in guru over use of rejuvenated set piece
A former Liverpool coach says Premier League sides' use of the long throw is currently "too chaotic". Teams such as Arsenal, Liverpool, Brentford and Manchester United have been using this rejuvenated tactic this season as clubs seeks to take it to the opposition. But a long throw-in expert believes the quality of those deliveries have dropped off this term.
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Tuchel talks up return of long throws
Earlier this month, England manager Thomas Tuchel declared that long throws are "back" and he sees the tactic as an important weapon in a team's arsenal as the Three Lions try and win the 2026 World Cup.
The former Chelsea boss said: "I told you: the long throw-in is back. But we do not have a lot of time. But once we arrive at the World Cup, all these things matter, so we will also talk about long throw-ins, we will talk about long kicks from the goalkeeper and not only playing short. But we cannot put everything into four days of training. But these things will matter. And let's see. I need to reflect now with my assistant coaches. All these patterns are back and crosses are back as well."
Ex-Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce was known as a strong proponent of utilising this approach, as was former Stoke City boss Tony Pulis. Like many things, football goes in cycles.
Allardyce told : "We got heavily criticised at the time. But we were ahead of the game, and lots of people, particularly at the bigger clubs, or even the press, were not too complimentary. Corners and free-kicks are extremely important. Long throws must be used. If a player's not comfortable, you don't use it. But if they are, you do. There's more and more set-play coaches than ever before. Arsenal have done very well on that. They've changed slightly this year because everybody's had to spend a lot of time trying to stop them against that particular corner."
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Throw-in expert calls out 'ugly' part of football
Thomas Gronnemark, who worked with Liverpool for five years under Jurgen Klopp and has been helping out at Brentford recently, has developed a reputation as a long throw-in expert. Indeed, he used to hold the world record for the longest throw-in at 51.33 metres. But he thinks English sides are using them poorly at present.
He told the: "You can say there are many more long throw-ins in the Premier League. You can say, 'Isn't that good?' No, not necessarily! There are far too many teams taking low-quality long throw-ins. Some of the throw-ins are just not long enough, so they're not dangerous, and sometimes it's about the strategy.
"To be honest, for most teams, throw-ins are a really ugly part because the quality is so low, the ball is being thrown into high-pressure situations where there are duels. There are too many chaotic throw-ins in the Premier League: the level from Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Newcastle is really low. Possession rates are at around 25 to 33 per cent on throw-ins under pressure. The standard is really low.
"When I was at Liverpool, the quality went up, but it's started to go down again. I think one of the reasons is that they're only training one or two routines in each zone. Yeah, it can work but your players have to learn to think throw-ins."
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Brentford the most potent exponents of long throw
The report adds that Brentford have put 23 long throws into an opponent's penalty box this season, resulting in one goal, 11 shots, and an Expected Goals tally of 1.29 – the best in the division. While Gronnemark knows how important this tactic can be, it isn't always a fan's cup of tea.
He added, "It's also about entertainment for the fans. People might think that a guy who coaches long throw-ins wants a lot of them. Actually, I don't. I don't want to see every team take 10 long throw-ins in every game because then we have too much start and stop. People just look at the best teams and say 'they're having real success data-wise, so we'll do the same'. But they are forgetting that there's a lot of work, many years' worth, behind it. You have to do space creation around the opponents' penalty area."
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Coach calls out Premier League set-piece staff
Gronnemark also believes that more preparation on the training ground needs to happen before long throws are used in games.
"If you're a world-class throw-in taker, it's much easier to put the ball where you want with a throw-in than with a corner kick. How many corners hit the first man? It's hard to kick with your foot. It's much easier to throw with your hands if you have the right technique," he said.
"There are a lot of set-piece coaches now, and a lot of them treat the throw-in like a corner or a free-kick. So they say 'we can have one or two routines in each zone’' But the challenge is that the opponents' defending pattern will already mark this from the start then the players have a big challenge. Even with the biggest teams in the Premier League, you can see that if they make one move and it doesn't work then the players don’t know what to do – they're getting confused, frustrated because they don't have a high throw-in intelligence."
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