Are long throw-ins changing soccer?
Rory Delap was apparently ahead of his time. The spirit of Stoke City’s legendary ball flinger lives on with the long throw-in enjoying a renaissance in the Premier League this season. Indeed, statistics show that the number of long throw-ins per match has more than doubled from last season, pointing to a very real and meaningful trend.
It’s a trend bemoaned by some, including Jamie Carragher, who in his punditry has taken issue with the way long throw-ins disrupt the game (the game’s lawmakers are considering taking action too). Others have different gripes, seeing long throw-ins as a low-brow, primitive shortcut to goal in violation of the spirit of the sport. If scoring is now as simple as launching the ball into the box at every opportunity, why would anyone bother coaching technical skill?
Brentford are sticking it in the mixer more than any other team in the Premier League this season. It’s a part of how the data-led West Londoners have continued to punch above their weight, but it’s not just plucky underdogs doing a Delap. Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are also using long throws.
This is part of a wider trend. For years, the best teams focused on pressing with intensity high up the field. Now to counter that, opponents are going direct quicker. Passing in the Premier League is at a 15-year low this season and long throws are an extension of the desire to get the ball forward quicker no matter the means.
So yes, long throws are changing the game. Whether it’s for the better, worse, or neutral depends on your perspective.
Is Liverpool’s title defence already over?
Arne Slot’s Liverpool have found things more difficult in his second season. Photograph: Dave Shopland/AP
Liverpool knew what they would face at the Brentford Community Stadium on Sunday. Arne Slot had highlighted his own team’s problems in combating physical, direct opponents of late, complaining that the Reds “were not able to press the opponent because the ball wasn’t on the ground, it was in the air.” Yet he seemingly had no way to stop Brentford from doing as Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, Chelsea and Manchester United had also done.
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The 3-2 loss to Brentford followed a familiar pattern this season for Liverpool, who struggled to handle the cannonballs chucked into their box, lacked organisation in defensive transition and failed to find the right balance in the attacking third. Mohamed Salah scored, but was once again a shadow of the player that set goalscoring records last season. Florian Wirtz was off too, not for the first time.
While Liverpool’s problems are well documented, Slot hasn’t yet come up with an effective plan to address them. Last week’s 5-1 away win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League came close to giving Liverpool a new framework to move forward, but that required Salah to be dropped. Alexander Isak also came off with an injury, meaning Slot couldn’t reuse the front-two system against Brentford.
Talent wise, it’s reasonable to assume Liverpool will turn their form around before too long. By then, though, Arsenal could be in an even stronger position at the top of the table. Such is the Gunners’ consistency and momentum, Liverpool’s Premier League title defence may already be over.
Is the Old Firm’s grip on Scottish soccer loosening?
Heart of Midlothian’s Lawrence Shankland (third right) celebrates after scoring his sides third goal. Photograph: Steve Welsh/PA
Tony Bloom has only been in Scottish soccer for a matter of months, but the landscape around him has already changed dramatically. The Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise owner vowed this would happen when he became Hearts minority owner in June, targeting a league title within a decade. But not even Bloom’s fabled data model could have predicted Celtic and Rangers’ implosion this season.
It would be an exaggeration to claim Hearts’ fast start is the sole explanation for the Old Firm’s sudden demise. Celtic fans want wholesale changes at executive level after years of mismanagement culminated in a catastrophic summer transfer window, while Rangers are reeling from Russell Martin’s ill-fated 123 days as manager.
Nonetheless, the sight of Hearts eight points clear at the top of the table is emblematic of the growing belief Scottish soccer has reached a turning point – one that has been a long time coming. It’s been 40 years since a non-Old Firm team won the title. That was Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen.
Hearts may not maintain their current pace, but they have already exposed just how vulnerable Celtic and Rangers are. Scottish soccer is ripe for a disrupter. This is presumably why Bloom invested in Hearts, having done something similar in the Premier League and Belgium. He spotted an opportunity.
Brendan Rodgers’ bombshell resignation and Dermot Desmond’s public evisceration of the Northern Irishman exposed just how threatened Celtic feel. Aberdeen were spoken about as potential title challengers last season after winning 10 of their opening 11 league fixtures, but what Hearts are doing is even more profound because of how they’re going about it. Forward thinking, data-driven and on the rise – they are everything the Old Firm aren’t right now.
