Exclusive: Former Liverpool coach speaks on ‘fantastic’ duo, Champions League success and more | OneFootball

Thomas Grønnemark has already helped Liverpool end a long-winded drought for the Premier League title; now, he’s looking to do the same with Arsenal.

Born December 12, 1975, Grønnemark grew up in Denmark, where he impressed in the nation’s top U-19 league against the likes of Thomas Gravesen, before switching to athletics in the mid ‘90s. He competed for Denmark in both running and throwing, achieving a personal best of 40.47 in the 4×100 relay on June 22, 2002, in Sevilla. That same year, he entered the Danish bobsleigh team, spending four years and working alongside the German bobsled team in a partnership.

Whilst playing an indoor football match in 2004 as part of his warm-up activity, Grønnemark took a long throw-in from one end of the facility to the other, leaving everyone flabbergasted. It was then that he realized that he wanted to become the world’s first-ever throw-in coach. And after plying his trade for a number of Danish sides like FC Midtjylland and Viborg, Grønnemark finally got his first big break in 2018 after being hired as Liverpool’s throw-in specialist in 2018. When Jürgen Klopp hired him, Liverpool ranked 18th in the Premier League in possession retention after throw-ins (45.4%); within a year of Grønnemark’s arrival, they jumped to 1st (68.4%). Bolstered by this improvement, Liverpool managed to win the UEFA Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020, as well as the FA Cup and EFL Cup in 2022.

After spending his first two seasons traveling to Liverpool for a week, 4-5 times per season, Grønnemark was limited to just one preseason visit during his next two seasons as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit. Since leaving Liverpool in 2023, he’s kept busy by working with teams in Germany, Spain, England, Japan, and Denmark, and on January 11, he was announced as a part-time throw-in coach for Arsenal. As he looks to spearhead Arsenal to their first league title since 2004, Anfield Index spoke to Grønnemark about a number of topics, including:

You’ve worked with a ton of footballers over the past two decades: have there been any players who you feel like you’ve really gotten the chance to mold and shape into effective throw-in takers? I know Joe Gomez improved a lot in throw-ins, would he be that player for you?

Joe Gomez developed a crazy long throw-in: I remember him assisting a long throw-in goal in a UEFA Nations League match in November 2018, where England beat Croatia 2-1 and won their group. But for me, of course, I’ve developed players who are assisting a crazy amount of long throw-in goals. I’ve coached Midtjylland for the last five seasons, but also from 2015 to 2018, they scored 46 long throw-in goals. There are a couple of players there who almost assisted all of those 46, and of course, this gives me a lot of pride, because I think that’s great for the player, for the team, for the club, but it’s even more fun to see if the players are really good at what I call the fast and clever throw-ins. What do I mean by that? We have to remember, before I came to Liverpool, they were really bad at throw-ins; it was actually a world-class team, but extremely bad at throw-ins. They had this possession on 45.4%, but in my first season, 2018/19, they improved to 68.4%, and again, this is data from the Chief of Football, not my own. They went from #18 in the Premier League on throw-ins under pressure to #1, and of course, I’m coaching the whole team, because if the outfield player’s not creating space, it’s really hard to keep possession, create chances, and score goals on throw-ins.

Photo: IMAGO

You had the chance to work with arguably the best fullback duo in the world with Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold; what was it like being able to guide those two players?

I’ll say that the development I saw with Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold over those five years was really fantastic. They were two different types, you can say, a little bit like they would be playing inside the pitch, too. Andy Robertson was fantastic, really fast with his throw-ins when he should throw fast, and he had patience. He was really good at seeing spaces, he was really good at taking decisions, so really what I call a world-class throw-in taker, especially with the fast and clever ones. Trent was also world-class, but he was world-class in another way, and he was actually doing his throw-ins a little bit the same way that he played with his feet.

I read some years ago that Trent had one of the lowest passing percentages in football, but he was also one of the guys with the most assists. That’s because he saw a lot of spaces on the pitch with his feet that only very, very few players in the world could actually put it in, but the space he put it in, if it didn’t go well, then it would still be low-risk, high-reward.

And it was a little bit the same with his throw-ins, that he sometimes waited a little bit longer than Andy Robertson, but this was not because he didn’t know what to do, it was waiting for the right space, and that can sometimes take a little bit longer, because you don’t know if it’s the first space, or the third space, or the seventh space your team creates. If they create space, that is the best. I’ll for sure highlight those two because their throw-in personalities were also a really great sign of decision-making and creativity for both of them.

Lastly, you’ve been able to achieve 15 titles, 4 promotions, and 0 relegations since you started your coaching journey, but what has been your proudest moment? If you could relive one moment that you had the chance of living, either from the stadium or from the couch, what would it be?

I’ll say the 2019 Champions League Final, in my first season against Spurs. I was just watching it at home, and the funny thing is that when I’m at the stadium and seeing football matches, I’m not nervous. I’m more excited, but not nervous, but when I’m seeing it on the telly, if it’s one of my teams, and if it’s an important game – of course, all games are important, but if it’s especially important like this – I’m getting so nervous. We scored after two minutes, after that penalty kick, and then stood a little bit low, because Liverpool’s strength was counterattacking, and Spurs couldn’t do anything to break it down. Many people would probably say it was quite a boring Champions League Final, but I was so nervous after the first half that I couldn’t see it anymore, because it meant so much to me that we were playing for the Champions League title. So I just took a long walk, and then I said to myself, ‘Okay, you can only look at the live score every 10 minutes on the phone.’ I ended up looking at the live score every two minutes, and suddenly, Divock Origi scored, and I just ran a kilometer home and saw the last five minutes on the telly.