The original throw-in specialist analyses how Premier League teams are reaping the rewards from set pieces
‘Y
ou are always looking for a super-strength,” says Dave Challinor. The Stockport manager has a tactics board in front him at the club’s training ground, offering a potential cure to the pain he inflicted on opponents for years. Long throws are back in fashion and causing panic across the Premier League as coaches once again see the merit in chaotic scenes.
Brentford are becoming the masters of the long throw under Keith Andrews, specifically via the arms of Michael Kayode, but face stiff competition, with numbers on the rise across the top flight. Missiles are being launched from touchlines to consistently great effect, bringing with them a headache for defenders and an extra weapon for attackers. Last season there was an average of 1.5 per game in the Premier League; that has risen to 3.7 this campaign. There have already been six goals as a direct result of long throws, compared with 15 in the entirety of last season. Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Newcastle and Sunderland have joined Brentford as the most regular users of the long throw.
Wrexham’s Ben Tozer proved particularly problematic for Stockport during their battles up the leagues. Challinor moves the pieces around his tactics board and explains how he sought, and seeks, to curb the threat. “What we’ve tried to do is have a mixture of zonal markers and whether you have two zonal markers or three,” he says. “When we played against Wrexham we put a spare player – a good header – in the near-post area, a spare player in the middle zone and a spare player in the back zone; it means you’ve got three free players.
