When Danny Ings scored with a scissor kick on his home debut for Aston Villa two weeks ago, analysis of his effort sparked a debate that revealed a sharp divide on one aspect of modern coaching.
While Dean Smith paid tribute to Ings, the Villa manager was also quick to credit the work of his new set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, who had apparently worked on the long throw-in and flick-on that led to the goal.
In the Match of the Day studio, while admitting that this particular set-piece appeared not the most complex, Gary Lineker and Jermaine Jenas agreed that the recruitment of specialist coaches could only benefit a side seeking the marginal improvements crucial to success.
Dean Smith praised Austin MacPhee after Danny Ings' goal for Aston Villa against Newcastle
MacPhee (above) is Villa's new set-piece coach and designed the move from which Ings scored
Danny Murphy, however, said any good coach should be capable of preparing a good set-piece.
Further to that, with teams employing specialists in areas from ball-striking to throw-ins and now even substitutions, our columnist wondered what work it left for established coaching staff. He goes further in today's Mail on Sunday, writing, 'it smells like a box-ticking exercise'.
So is there a need for the specialists? Does a carefully schooled Premier League player really require advice on how to kick a football?
What can elite coaches learn about free-kicks that years of experience has not taught them? Well, quite a lot, if you were to listen to the arguments of the experts in question.
Take, for example, Thomas Gronnemark, the Danish throw-in coach who has trained Liverpool since 2018. 'I worked with my first professional team in 2004,' he says. 'For the last 17 years I have been concentrating on throw-ins every day. No assistant coach has a chance of getting near this knowledge.
'I'm not saying every team should have 10 specialist coaches. The best way to do it is to call in a specialist coach for one visit and see.
Brentford also used a long throw from Mads Bech Sorensen (right) to score against Arsenal
'One comment on social media said, "We already have surgeons, do we then need a brain surgeon?" It's true. Yes, a surgeon can do anything, but who would you prefer if you're the one lying there? It's just the way forward.'
Gronnemark played youth football to a high level before embarking on an unlikely sporting career in which he represented Denmark as a track sprinter before finding his way on to the national bobsleigh team.
Towards the end of his time as an athlete, he discovered an ability to perform unusually long throw-ins while playing a friendly game, which provided the spark for his current career.
Combining in-person training with video analysis, today he claims to increase the typical distance of a player's throw-in by between five and 15metres.
Not only that but, according to research by Tifo Football, Gronnemark increased the percentage of throw-ins from which Liverpool retained possession after pressurised throw-ins from 45.4 per cent to 68.4 per cent in just one season, which at the time gave them the second-highest ratio in Europe behind Midtjylland.
Last season, meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp's side ranked among the top four Premier League clubs for both accurate throw-ins and throw-ins that led to successful passages of play.
Throw-in specialist Thomas Gronnemark (right) is highly regarded by Jurgen Klopp
The Dane is now in his fourth season with the club after arriving from FC Midtjylland in 2018
They also had comfortably the highest number of quick throws. Gronnemark says a lot of his work goes unnoticed because it involves working on the subtleties of creating space when awarded an attacking throw-in and closing it down when defending one.
But as our graphic (below) should illustrate, two good examples of the impact of his contribution can be seen in winning goals for Liverpool against Wolves and
