How could you affect a team’s long throw? Give them less space for a run-up perhaps? That is exactly what Sunderland did when Arsenal visited the Stadium of Light.
Many teams also used it as a tactic against Pulis’ Stoke.
Sunderland have form for this, having brought the boards closer to the pitch for the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final against Coventry in May, which they drew on the night to win on aggregate.
But, while Arsenal have a richly deserved set-piece reputation, they have not scored from a throw-in routine this season.
At the Stadium of Light, the average length of throws into the final third increased game by game – from 8.3m when West Ham visited on the opening weekend to 24.9m and 27.4m respectively by the time Wolves and Everton made the trip before the international break.
Mykolenko’s 33.2m throw was the longest of the season at the ground, so maybe it was his delivery which made Sunderland react before Arsenal’s visit.
While a team cannot change their pitch dimensions during a season, there is nothing within Premier League regulations which forbids advertising boards being moved around depending upon who you are playing. The only stipulation is in the laws of the game, which state that upright advertising must be at least one metre from the touchlines.
“Changing the placement of the advertising boards is in the grey zone, like not watering the pitch if you’re playing a really good technical team,” specialist throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark told BBC Sport.
Gronnemark, now at Danish club FC Midtjylland, has worked with many clubs, including Brentford and Liverpool. He helped Jensen hone his long-throw craft and coached Sunderland’s Mukiele at RB Leipzig in 2018.
“We’ve seen the same in Denmark some years ago, where FC Copenhagen put their advertising boards also only a couple of metres from the sidelines because they played FC Midtjylland,” Gronnemark said.
“People can have different approaches. As long as the laws don’t say exactly what to do, but only recommend what to do, then you can’t do anything about it.”
