Tuchel’s desire for England long balls and throw-ins good news for Liam Delap and…Darnell Furlong?
“I told you – the long throw-in is back,” says Thomas Tuchel. A direct approach is the plan for England at next year’s World Cup. We have our country back.
England head coach Tuchel has been discussing the re-emergence of long throw-ins after they became a regular feature in the opening weeks of the Premier League.
There’s also been an uptick in long free-kicks lumped into the box, rather than taken short by teams trying to break down their opposition in open play.
It’s taken a while, but managers have finally cottoned on to the fact that you’ve got a higher chance of scoring if the ball is actually in the box.
It doesn’t look pretty, but it doesn’t have to. Second balls and rebounds count the same as scorpion kicks and tiki-taka, one-touch football goals.
Tuchel knows this, and is ready for England to adopt a more direct approach with long balls and throw-ins at the 2026 World Cup. If they qualify, of course. The Three Lions only need one point from their remaining four fixtures (Serbia a, Latvia a, Serbia h, Albania a). Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
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“I told you – the long throw-in is back,” Tuchel said. “But we do not have a lot of time.
“But once we arrive at the World Cup, all these things matter, so we will also talk about long throw-ins, we will talk about long kicks from the goalkeeper and not only playing short.”
The German added: “But we cannot put everything into four days of training. But these things will matter. And let’s see.
“I need to reflect now with my assistant coaches. All these patterns are back and crosses are back as well.”
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Intriguingly, Tuchel’s assistant Anthony Barry has actually written a dissertation on throw-ins in the Premier League. Anthony Barry? He’s got two first names.
He analysed all 16,380 throw-ins from the 2018/19 Premier League season. That’s over 60 hours of footage. Bet he’s a riot at parties.
One of his thrilling conclusions was that throwing the ball “laterally or backwards can increase throw-in success rates in comparison to throwing the ball forwards.”
Does this tactical approach open the door for some unlikely England call-ups? Could it drag a few periphery players into Tuchel’s plans?
Six English players have the Long Throw+ playstyle in EA Sports FC 25, but we can’t see Spennymoor Town’s 30-year-old defender Daniel Jones receiving a call-up. Sorry, Dan.
Ipswich Town’s Darnell Furlong, on the other hand? Still no. But more vaguely plausible. The standout is Archie Brown, a 23-year-old wing-back at Fenerbahce.
He cost the Turkish giants around £7m when they signed him from Gent in the summer and has already scored a Super Lig goal, plus chipped in with a goal and two assists against Feyenoord in a Champions League qualifier.
Brown looks the best bet of Jones, Furlong, Marlon Pack, Tom Hamer and Marc Roberts – but that’s not the same as actually being likely.
A player who really could benefit from a more direct England is Liam Delap, who joined Chelsea from Ipswich Town for £30m in the summer. The irony of Rory Delap’s son thriving off thunderous throw-ins is fun.
It’s a shame Rory has been retired for 12 years. Even more of a shame he’s Irish.
Delap loves to get in behind defences, but he’s also absurdly strong, with a frame that makes it impossible for defenders to wriggle through and nick the ball away.
His hold-up play and aerial ability, combined with a willingness to run in behind, would make him a nightmare for opposition defenders if leading the line for a more direct Three Lions team.
England captain Harry Kane is undroppable, of course. His hold-up play is world-class, too. But why not go 4-4-2 while we’re at it, Thomas? Kane loves dropping into the pocket to spray passes, which doesn’t exactly suit the long-ball plan, unless he’s doing it as a sweeper.
Ivan Toney is another who could thrive, but we really, really like the idea of Delap leading the line for England.
Moving away from the centre-forward position, centre-back Dan Burn is obviously licking his lips. That guy eats first-post flick-ons for breakfast.
Tuchel’s comments, John Stones’ injury-proneness, and Levi Colwill’s current ACL injury really play into the big Newcastle United defender’s hands.
Now it’s down to Myles Lewis-Skelly and Trent Alexander-Arnold to practice long throw-ins as the first and last thing they do every day for the next nine months.
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