“The 2020s are proving to be the decade of set pieces. With corner goals back in vogue and rugby-style kick-offs becoming fashionable again, throw-in tactics have been going the same way: longer, and into the box. In the first six matchdays of the 2025-26 season, an average of slightly over one in four throw-ins from the attacking third of the pitch were sent into the penalty area. That frequency is double the proportion of long throws from last season — though this might well prove to be an early-season trend that cools down — and a continuation of a six-year trend. …”
NY Times/The Athletic