The Evolution Of The Throw-In

Professional football is always evolving. If you sent a modern fan back in time to watch one of the first association football matches in the late 19th century, they'd be blown away by how different the game was. Brand new tactics and formations are constantly popping up, and players are utilised in alternative ways. Meanwhile, the official Laws of the Game are also regularly being tweaked, which can have a major impact on how coaches set out their teams — for example, since defenders were allowed to stand inside their own penalty area during goal kicks, playing out from the back from every kick has become far more widespread.

One aspect of soccer that has undergone an evolution over the years is the throw-in, a simple type of set piece that occurs dozens of times during most matches and can be utilised in various different ways. In this article, we'll be focusing on how the employment of the throw-in has shifted and changed in football, charting its evolution and analysing what the role of throw-ins is in the modern day.

What Is A Throw-In In Soccer?

Soccer throw-ins are a crucial part of the game, whatever level you're playing at. At its core, a throw-in is a type of set play in which a player will re-enter the ball into the field of play using their hands, after it exits the pitch following a touch from an opposition player. throw-ins always take place on the left and right sidelines and will mostly be used simply to circulate possession and keep hold off the ball. 

However, they can also be used with more targeted attacking intent. If you consider that in an average football match, there will usually be between 40 and 50 throw-ins in total, it starts to become clear that there is a lot of potential here for creating offensive advantages. Shortly, we're going to dig into how teams have begun exploiting this area of the game to boost their attacking threat. First though, we'll spend some time charting the broader history of the soccer throw-in.

How Has The Role Of The Throw-In Changed Over The Years?

throw-ins have been part of association football ever since the Laws of the Game were first formalised by the English FA in 1863; here, the Sheffield Rules were used as a basis, and they included stipulations on re-entering the ball into the field of play via the sidelines, using both hands. There are a number of rules regarding how to take a proper throw-in, which are designed to stop players gaining an unfair advantage from this type of set piece. However, there are ways of producing huge throws without bending the rules; as the 20th century developed and the physical attributes of professional football players improved, a few pros began developing long, powerful throws that could cause serious problems in opposition penalty areas.

Chelsea's Ian Hutchinson was one of the first players to demonstrate the power of the long throw-in; a big old-fashioned English centre forward who played during the 1960s and 70s, he's most famous for a huge throw that helped Chelsea win the 1970 FA Cup. Later on, in the 1990s, fellow Englishman and EFL stalwart Andy Legg became well known across the country for his hefty throw-ins, which could cause havoc amongst opposition defenders. 

However, the team that really changed things in the modern era were Stoke City. Led by Tony Pulis, they stormed the Premier League in 2008/09 and 2009/10 with an extremely effective direct style of play that relied heavily on the use of long throw-ins taken by midfielder Rory Delap. During those two top flight campaigns, Delap's throws led to an incredible total of 24 goals, this tally helping push Stoke to two impressive mid-table finishes. For more information on Delap and some of his long-throwing cohorts, check out our guide to the five players with the longest throw-ins in soccer history.

The Data-Led Evolution of Throw-Ins In The Premier League

The efforts of players like Delap were seriously impressive, but since those days the presence of throw-ins in top-level football has developed even further. The increased importance of data in the game has had some interesting consequences when it comes to set pieces. The huge amount of money in the modern game means clubs will snap up any opportunity to gain some sort of advantage over their rivals, and hiring a specialist coach to focus on one under-utilised aspect of the game can be a great way of doing this. As a result, specialist set piece coaching has grown exponentially, and one of the main focuses of coaches employed in this area will typically be to improve goal scoring and defensive performances from throw-ins.

One of the main figures to have led the modern evolution of throw-ins is Danish coach Thomas Gronnemark, a set piece specialist who has worked with a range of clubs including Liverpool and FC Midtylland. He recognised that teams were tending to lose the ball from 50% of throw-in situations, and that this was a key area of the game in which possession retention could be improved. However, while keeping the ball from throw-ins has been identified as crucial, creating more threatening goal-scoring chances has also been area of focus for many coaches in recent years.

The Premier League team that has led the charge here is Brentford. Football analyst Tiago Estêvão identified that during the 2021/22 campaign (the Bees' first-ever in the Premier League), Brentford averaged 0.95 shots per 90 minutes from throw-ins, while every other team in the division managed only 1.09 shots per 90 from throw-ins combined. Brentford's xG from throw-ins has also consistently been higher than the majority of Premier League teams, and defending against the aerial ability of players like Ivan Toney or Ethan Pinnock has been a major problem for teams playing against the west London club. How is it that they've managed to become so effective from throw-ins?

How Have Brentford Been So Successful From Throw-ins?

Brentford have consistently employed renowned tacticians and innovators as set piece coaches, focusing a huge amount of time, effort and money into ensuring they have one of the best set piece coaching set ups in Europe. Their first-ever set piece coach was the widely respected Italian Gianni Vio, who helped guide Italy to Euro 2020 glory alongside Roberto Mancini. He was at the club way back in 2015/16, long before most English teams embraced dedicated set piece coaching as a key part of the game. 

After Vio, the Bees employed French coach Nicolas Jover, whose success caused him to be poached by Manchester City and now Arsenal, where he works closely with Mikel Arteta. Andreas Georgson was next in the door, and his work in establishing Brentford as a strong set piece side in the Premier League led to multiple high-profile coaching jobs; recently, he was appointed to Manchester United's coaching staff. Georgson once said of his role at Brentford, "it was easy for me to step in and do the detailed work I wanted, because the foundations were in place. If you're a smaller club, you're left more alone. If you don't have people questioning every little decision you make, then it's also easier to make brave, innovative, risky decisions on how to do things." This explains Brentford's set piece success to an extent, although their ability to consistently pin point coaching talents like Georgson is evidently another massive factor.

Most recently, Brentford decided to turn to former Premier League midfielder Keith Andrews for their set piece coaching. Andrews was previously First Team Coach at Sheffield United, but he has been trusted to transition into a set piece specialist role by Brentford Director of Football Phil Giles, who said "focusing on set pieces as a specialism is something which we think he has the qualities to do extremely well, and I'm sure that our staff can help him develop as a coach too." To find out more about what Brentford have done to make themselves the Premier League's certified throw-in specialists, check out our guide to the club's data-led approach to set pieces.

The Role Of The Set Piece Analyst

Last season, the most dangerous team in the Premier League from set pieces was Arsenal, who scored 20 goals from set plays, outperforming an xG of 14.45. Manchester City boasted the toughest defensive record from set pieces, conceding only two goals from set plays all season. The fact that the top two teams in the league were the best attacking and best defensive sides from set pieces is a pretty good indication of how crucial this aspect of the game is. 

This ultimately explains why teams are relying more and more on having talented set piece specialists in their backroom staff. From Andreas Georgson to Nicolas Jover, Keith Andrews to Bernardo Cueva — who recently joined Chelsea in a lucrative move that shows the value of talented set piece specialists — there are a number of quality coaches who know their stuff when it comes to set pieces. But given that this is still a fairly recent development in the world of football, many people are still unsure about exactly what a typical set piece coach or analyst role might entail at a professional club. 

The responsibilities of a set piece analyst or coach can vary depending on the club. Regardless, a huge part of the set piece analyst role comes down to studying data and video footage relating to set pieces and turning this evidence into bitesize chunks that they can present and feedback to the coaching team. Analysts will look to spot strengths and weaknesses relating to their team's set piece performance, and they'll try to find strategies of boosting effectiveness in this aspect of the game.

They need to be able to effectively present their findings to coaches both through visual presentations and spoken conversations. They will also analyse opposition teams and try to prepare for each match individually, pinpointing their opponents' weaknesses and targeting areas to exploit when taking set pieces against them. Figuring out zonal or man-marking strategies is key, as is ensuring each individual player knows what their job is both in an attacking and a defensive sense.

To find out more about why set piece coaches and analysts are so important, check out our in-depth article on the role of the set piece analyst.