Modern football includes coaching and training methods unheard of even a decade or two ago, with emphasis on every aspect of the game, including training, strict and detailed diet and various other tactics.
English football club Liverpool are hoping to train their players to improve one aspect of the game that has been neglected - throw-ins. The club has appointed Danish throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark, on a part-time basis, to improve throw-ins in high-pressure situations.
42-year-old Gronnemark is a former sprinter and even represented Denmark in bobsleigh. The throw-in coach has previously worked with Danish clubs AC Horsens and FC Midtjylland and has also worked with several German and English clubs. He holds the record for the longest throw at 51.33m.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said that he wanted to meet the Danish coach when he heard of him: "To be honest, I'd never heard about a throw-in coach. When I heard about Thomas, it was clear to me I wanted to meet him; when I met him, it was 100% per cent clear I wanted to employ him."
Gronnemark trains players to employ different throw-ins, like the quick throw or the long throw, and said that it can help build pressure and lead to other set-pieces: "A focus on throw-ins can save the life of small clubs, as a technique to survive. But at the top of the league, it can help with a more fluent style of play. No matter what position in the league, throw-ins are an advantage," the Danish coach said.
Apart from training players on throw-ins, he also analyses each game and gives players feedback on where they are going wrong and what they could have done better.
Rival fans and pundits have mocked Liverpool and Klopp for the appointment of a throw-in coach but the Danish coach says that the standards expected in throw-ins are so low that it's an often neglected aspect of the game and isn't criticised by pundits and fans.
