Arsenal hire another set-piece coach who savaged them for ‘chaotic’ throw-ins | OneFootball

Arsenal already put a lot of weight into set pieces and have recently had throw-in specialist Thomas Gronnemark consulting to give them an edge in that area.

The Gunners are the top club in the Premier League and have curated a team to play to their strengths. There’s a lot of height, with all of their regular back four, bar Jurrien Timber, over six feet.

The likes of Declan Rice, Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyokeres are also tall men, so it’s no surprise that Arsenal have the most set-piece goals in the Premier League this season, with 14, while they’ve only conceded five.

Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover has become something of a cult hero in north London, but they’re not content with having just one specialist in that area in their ranks, and have brought in another.

According to The Times, they have turned to the world’s leading throw-in coach, and former world-record holder in that area, Gronnemark, to elevate them in that area.

Gronnemark, who worked with Liverpool when they had success under Jurgen Klopp, has been working with Arsenal as a consultant, visiting the training ground to share his knowledge and techniques.

The decision for the Gunners to bring Gronnemark onboard comes just a few months after he savaged the throw-ins taken in the Premier League this season – naming Arsenal in that – following the rebirth of the long throw.

He said: “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.

“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.

“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.”