Liverpool have a history of amazing managers but often the coaches often aren’t given enough credit, though one man has the evidence to back up his impact.
Speaking on ‘The Football Historian Podcast’, our former throw-in coach shared details about his instant improvement in one player at the club.
Thomas Gronnemark said: “The first session I had in Liverpool, Joel Matip improved from 21m 90cm to 30m, so 8m 10cm.
“So that was only with a little bit more efficient technique but again in Liverpool we didn’t focus too much on that [long throw-ins].”
The Dane shared how it wasn’t the tactic under Jurgen Klopp to use a long throw-ins, rather educating the players on space creation and the art of a quick and clever throw-in instead.
Joel Matip saw instant improvement on his throw-ins for Liverpool
The 49-year-old shared how he often faced ridicule for his job from those who had never worked with him, though these numbers show how quickly certain improvements could be made.
Andy Robertson also spoke out in defence of the world record throw-in taker, meaning that both the numbers and the players verify the improvements he could provide.
For there to be a 27% increase in throw-in distance in one session, imagine over several years working on improving this area of the game how much difference could be made.
It’s even reported on thomasgronnemark.com: ‘Liverpool FC went from 18th in the Premier League at throw-in possession under pressure (45,4% in 2017/18) to 1st (68,4% in 2018/19).
‘The 2018/19 season was Thomas Gronnemark´s first season in the club.’
Praise should then be given to our former boss to be able to highlight a weakness in our game and turn it into a strength during one of our most dominant periods in recent history.
You can watch Gronnemark’s comments on Matip (from 23:17) via The Football Historian Podcast on YouTube:
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