LONG THROW RETURNS

As Sunderland continue their positive start to the season, the Premier League seems to be returning to old habits. Newly promoted sides coming up and competing, the league being fairly compact at the top with nobody quite yet running away with things and, incredibly, it has seen the return of a tactic many thought had been left behind in the Barclays days: the long throw.

Having spent a large portion of the last decade playing football outside the top tier, Premier League football has very much evolved in Sunderland’s absence. While we were watching scrappy games against Gillingham and Portsmouth, the top flight became almost robotic and boring. Everybody playing the same style of play. Side to side, to-me-to-you style possession football.

Watching sides like Southampton trying to pass it out from the back against teams like Man City, it was never going to work and truthfully it is the reason so many warned us about the gap between the Championship and the Premier League. This year, however, it feels slightly different. The long throw has made a surprise return from the dead and has been a tactic utilised for teams up and down the league.

In the Premier League this season there is currently an average of 3.85 long throws a game. That is over double last seasons figure, which stood at 1.52 per game. Ballboys not only need to worry about keeping on top of the multi-ball system but now when a ball goes out of play for a throw in a good area, they are running along the touchline with a towel like your dad does at the all-inclusive trying to get those day beds reserved. Jamie O’Hara blamed Arsenal for this on Sky Sports Fan Club earlier this week, with Arteta’s side having a strong focus on set pieces. Granted O’Hara is a Tottenham fan so there may be some slight bias towards that take…

Brentford have been a side who have very much capitalised on this trend, with their late equaliser against Chelsea coming from one. Sunderland themselves have begun to try their luck with them, with Nordi Mukiele’s introduction to the side providing another weapon to the Black Cats armoury. I remember back in the 2012/13 season Carlos Cuellar attempting a long throw, stopping half way through his run up and it just being absolutely abysmal, so it is quite nice to see Nordi give the long throw some justice, even if it isn’t quite on the level of ex-Mackem Rory Delap.

Although yet to score directly from one, these throws have led to chances from second balls and allow us to keep the pressure on the opposition defence. Especially with towering players like Dan Ballard and Omar Alderete getting into the box to challenge for headers. It is clearly something Le Bris’ side will continue to use.

Overall, this season has seen a significant shift from recent campaigns, with more teams playing with their own style and ditching the over-reliance on possession. Could this be a factor in why we have started so well and why the newly promoted sides are fairing so much better than the likes of Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City? Possibly, but that’s not taking away from the start they have all had.

With Sunderland about to begin a tricky run of fixtures, Mukiele’s long throws are potentially going to play an important part in getting something from them.