Liverpool throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark has summed up why Jurgen Klopp was right to hire him, and why Andy Gray’s views on the matter were so wrong.
Gronnemark arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2018, extending his stay later on in the year.
It wasn’t a decision that was roundly lauded throughout the footballing community, with Gray the most vocal critic.
The Scot was once a prominent part of Sky Sports’ football coverage, but is now on beIN Sports, alongside Richard Keys.
Gray ridiculed Klopp’s decision to hire the Dane, mockingly saying that he wanted to be a kick-off coach.
Speaking to These Football Times, however, Gronnemark has revealed how successful he has been at Liverpool:
This season, we also scored 13 goals from throw-in situations all around the pitch. And it’s not the long throw-ins towards the opponents’ goal because we’re not doing that at Liverpool.
We could also easily score ten goals in Liverpool with the long throw-ins because Joe Gomez has a really world-class throw-in – we saw that in the match between England and Croatia a little more than a year ago.
But, if you want to score ten goals from long throw-ins in the Premier League, you also have to take ten long throw-ins in every game, and do we want to see that at Anfield or on other pitches we’re playing at? No, because it’s not Liverpool’s style.
This is proof that this has been a successful implementation, with the little things sometimes making all the difference.
Liverpool are 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League for a reason and coming up with unique methods may have played a key part in that.
Klopp has thought outside the box when it comes to bringing in Gronnemark, and as the 13 goals show, it has paid dividends. Gray’s comments felt lacking in insight and forward-thinking, with his opinion very much outdated.
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