Liverpool haven’t yet chucked in the towel in their pursuit of a Champions League place but if they do qualify they’ll have to tackle continental competition without the man who turned them into the Premier League’s throw-in kings.
Thomas Gronnemark, a former sprinter and member of the Danish bobsleigh team, spent five years as a freelance throw-in coach at Anfield, but hasn’t had his contract extended beyond the end of the season. The split is entirely amicable.
Gronnemark, meanwhile, will continue his work at fellow Premier League side, Brentford, and a host of other top clubs around the world, including Toulouse in France and Dutch giants Ajax.
A Guinness World Record holder for the longest throw-in – he hurled the ball 51.33 metres in 2010 – Gronnemark tells i of his pride at turning Liverpool from throw-in dunces to a team at the top of the Premier League class.
“The season before I came to now, Liverpool went from being 18th to number one,” he says.
“I wanted more visits than I’d had in the last three years, which were affected by Covid. The club didn’t want to continue but that’s fine with me. I’d rather stop than not have enough time to help the players.
“I had five fantastic years at Liverpool, I really enjoyed it but there are a lot of clubs all around the world.
“This season I worked with Brentford, this is my third season with them. I work as a freelancer, so I don’t have exclusive contracts. I wouldn’t want to work (with clubs who are) direct rivals in the top leagues. I could but I won’t.
“I don’t think anyone expected Brentford to be so good this season, you can never predict that at the start of a season but you always kind of know which teams will be at the top of the league.”
Gronnemark says that throw-ins are about far more than the individual taking them. Liverpool’s five-year transformation is an illustration of this.
“I don’t really look so much at the throw-in taker because if you want to have success you need cooperation between the thrower and the team on the pitch,” he says. “Of course, I don’t know all the teams in the world but Liverpool have probably been the best team in the world from throw-ins for the past five years.
“I’m primarily working with base creation, looking at how you can create space, keep the ball and create chances from a throw-in situation. And when the opponents have the ball, you’re looking to make the pitch as small as possible so you can take the ball from them and regain possession.”
Before Rory Delap arrived on the scene with his Exocets for Stoke City, the humble throw-in wasn’t viewed as a particularly valuable part of any side’s attacking arsenal.
But not even the Potters’ not-so-secret weapon could throw the ball as far as a coach who played alongside Thomas Gravesen and Martin Jorgensen in Danish youth football.
“I’d say I started six or seven years before Rory Delap made his breakthrough,” he says. “Maybe there were not many people who thought about it in England.”
They are now. Bringing in Gronnemark was a long shot from Liverpool. But one that paid off.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/8JtBIyL
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