Part Two: Exclusive Interview With Ex-Liverpool Throw-In Coach Thomas Grønnemark On Throw-In Defence & Coaching

Welcome to part three of Total Football Analysis throw-in series and the second part of the interview with the renowned throw-in coach, Thomas Grønnemark.

In the previous throw-in tactics and analysis, we discussed throw-in techniques and their impact on tactics, examining Grønnemarks theory of long, fast, and clever throw-ins.

We then discussed the differences between set-piece routines and his strategy for throw-ins, with Grønnemark detailing his throw-in time-complexity model.

In this tactical analysis, we will discuss the throw-in coaching specialists defensive strategies, defensive handling against various attacking throw-in tactics, the coaching aspect, and how he deals with the head coachs demands.

Finally, we will discuss Grønnemarks tenure at Liverpool with Jürgen Klopp, the extent of development seen in some players, and the different roles of standout players like Mohamed Salah.

Defensive Types And Systems

TFA:

Before getting into the main systems, lets talk about fluidity.

Defensively, in other set-pieces, teams usually have time to implement a defensive system, which is completely different from open play.

This is not guaranteed in throw-ins, as the opponent can play quickly before we can reorganise ourselves.

Therefore, we dont always have enough time, which requires a lot of fluidity between the defensive strategy used in open play and the defensive plan against throw-ins.

How do you achieve that?

Grønnemark:

To achieve that, you should have two important factors:

1- Make your players have defensive throw-in intelligence, so they can know when to press and when not, which is called pressure risk

2- They also have to know different types of defending and do them perfectly.

For example, sometimes you need to do a sandwich, like having two-against-one situations or three-against-two situations.

You may need to mark the thrower sometimes, while you should mark the mini switch in other cases (to prevent the opponent from switching the play).

There are nearly seven of these types of defending and you have to be able to do them well to teach your players.

After analysing the opponent, you have to be really good at the type of defending you choose, but you also have to be able to switch this type during the game because the opponent may suddenly be good at something while your defining type doesnt work, so you should change it.

For example, if you decide to mark the thrower to make it harder for the opponent to do a return pass (wall pass) with a good distance, but you miss this player elsewhere. 

So we can say that if you can teach your players to be intelligent in pressure risk and to be able to carry out different types of defending, you will defend with good fluidity.

TFA:

What is your preferred main system, zonal or man-marking?

Grønnemark:

There is no best way to play football.

Zonal marking gives you the ability to cover quite a big area to confine the opponent and decently press your opponent; the challenge is that you cant apply the same intense pressure as man-marking.

I see some teams defend with a zonal marking system, and its quite easy to play against them if you have a good, precise thrower, passes, and throw-in.

The man-marking system enables you to apply more tight pressure, but its weakness is that it is easy to drag the markers anywhere to create space.

As I have mentioned before, there is no better type, but do every type well with good pressure and pressure risk.

Coaching Tactics

TFA:

What do you do if, for example, the coach prefers man-to-man pressure in the midfield on the opponent’s midfield trio in a mid-block, while you prefer a more zonal type of defence in this case? 

Grønnemark:

I dont prefer any kind of thinking that it is the best defending way, as I told you.

Of course, I talk with the head coach, and if he prefers something, I will try to educate him so that I can im