Africa-Press – Lesotho. “The long throw-in is back,” England boss Thomas Tuchel has declared.
For some, it never went away.
Between 2008 and 2012, Stoke City’s Rory Delap regularly hurled the ball into the penalty area from the sidelines, filling defences with dread.
“You cannot say it is football any more. It is more rugby on the goalkeepers than football,” then Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said at the time.
Delap and Stoke posed such danger during that spell that Hull goalkeeper Boaz Myhill once kicked the ball out for a corner to avoid a throw-in.
Now utilising the long throw as an attacking resource is becoming more prominent in English football.
According to Opta, on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season 11 out of 20 teams sent a long throw into the opposition’s penalty area on at least one occasion – up from just four in the same period last season.
Tuchel wants England to consider using the long throw if it is a route to success at next summer’s World Cup – and after the bland, forgettable 2-0 win over Andorra on Saturday, it might at least generate some excitement.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
