Former Liverpool coach Thomas Gronnemark has hit out at Arne Slot, Mikel Arteta and other Premier League managers over their “really ugly” strategy.
Gronnemark is famed for working under Jurgen Klopp between 2018 and 2023 and has imparted his expertise on a number of top clubs and national teams as the world’s only professional throw-in coach.
The 49-year-old used to hold the world record for the longest throw-in, at 51.33 metres and has spent 21 years carving throw-in niche for himself, but isn’t impressed by the standard of them in the Premier League this season as we see a huge uptick in the number of long throws.
He claims “the level from Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle is really low” in what is a “really ugly” part of the game thanks to the poor strategy.
“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,” Gronnemark told Mirror.
“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.
“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,” he explains. “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.”
Gronnemark has been working with Brentford this season and they stand out as a team benefitting from their use, having put 23 into the opponents’ penalty area this season, resulting in one goal, 11 shots and 1.29 xG.
“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,” he added. “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.
“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.”