Former Liverpool off-bound coach Thomas Glennemark was interviewed and he sharply criticized the Premier League's strong out-bound level, pointing out that although this season's average of more than twice the number of off-bound balls in th...
Former Liverpool off-bound coach Thomas Glennemark was interviewed and he sharply criticized the Premier League's strong out-bound level, pointing out that although this season's average of more than twice the number of off-bound balls in the Premier League this season is more than twice that of the past decade, it is a low-quality blind follow-up trend.
The powerful extra-ball tactics are becoming a new trend in the Premier League. How do you view this phenomenon?
You can say that there are indeed many more powerful out-of-bounds in the Premier League now. But you ask me, ‘Is this a good thing? ’No, not at all! Too many teams throw low-quality power balls. Some balls are not thrown far enough so they are no threat, and sometimes they are a problem with the tactics themselves.
Why are you not completely satisfied with this trend?
This is also related to the fans' viewing experience. One might think that an out-of-bounds coach certainly wants to see a lot of powerful out-of-bounds. But actually, I don't want to. I don't want to see every team throw 10 power balls per game because that would cause too many interruptions to the game. The problem is that a lot of teams just look at the top teams and say ‘Their numbers are very successful, so we have to do that too’. But they forgot that there was a lot of effort, even years, needed to be done behind this. You have to do space creation training around the opponent's penalty area.
So what do you think is the level of out-of-bounds for most teams in the Premier League at present?
To be honest, for most teams, out-of-bounds balls are a very "ugly" link, because the quality is too low, and the balls are always thrown into high-pressure areas with fierce competition. There are too many chaotic out-of-bounds in the Premier League: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle are really low.
You worked at Liverpool from 2018 to 2023. What do you think of their current situation?
When I was at Liverpool, the quality of the team's out-of-bounds ball improved, but now it's starting to decline again. I think one of the reasons is that they only train one or two routines in each area. Yes, this may work, but your players must learn to think about how to deal with outbound balls.
What do you think are the problems with the set piece coaches of many teams dealing with outbound balls now?
There are many set-piece coaches now, and many of them treat out-of-bounds balls as corners or free kicks. So they will say ‘We just need to prepare one or two routines in each area’. But the challenge is that the opponent's defensive formation will focus on these routines from the beginning, and the players will face huge challenges. Even the biggest teams in the Premier League, you can see that if their first tactical running doesn't work, players don't know what to do - they will become confused and frustrated because they don't have a high "outside ball quotation."
Can you share some cases that you think are successful?
(I have been working with Brentford) They are the Premier League's out-of-bounds kings, having thrown 23 out-of-bounds into opponents' penalty area this season, and translated into 1 goal, 11 shots and an expected goal value of 1.29. But this is my most successful case. Compared with the Danish team, Jutland is still a big deal. They have six world-class outsourcing players who scored 11 outsourcing goals last season under my guidance, and they scored a total of 35 between 2015 and 2018.
How powerful can a well-trained outbound ball have?
If you are a world-class outbound player, throwing the ball accurately to the position you want with your hands is much easier than kicking a corner kick with your feet. Think about how many corner kicks are directly kicked on the first defensive player? It is difficult to control kicking with your feet. If you have mastered the right technique, throwing it with your hands is much easier.
