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Joleon Lescott, the former Manchester City defender, has offered a solution to the long throw-in tactic that's causing problems for top Premier League sides.
The strategy, which was famously used by Rory Delap at Stoke City more than a decade ago, is back in fashion and being employed by several top-flight teams, including Brentford, who used it effectively in the team's recent 3-2 victory over Liverpool.
Sunderland also caused Chelsea some trouble with its long throws during its surprising 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge. Lescott, recalling a tactical approach from his time at Everton under David Moyes, believes he has a way to counter this threat.
Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, Lescott revealed: "David Moyes had a great solution for dealing with long throw-ins to be fair.
"When Delap was playing in the league and I was at Everton we didn't mark traditionally. You see Liverpool marking from them on the weekend and everyone's doing it traditionally.
"We were put on the goal-line and would run out. Rather than anyone getting a touch and it still being in the mixer, if you're running out your clearance will probably head out the box. Hopefully someone adopts that."
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Lescott also insisted that no other sides could replicate Stoke and Delap's throw-ins, purely because they were unable to achieve the correct trajectory or distance.
He added: "No one could [emulate Delap]. No one could. It just wasn't a thing. Most people can reach the box, but it's all to do with the trajectory of the ball.
"It's the trajectory. It can't be loopy, it has to be like a cross. He used to drill it in like back stick. He'd be ranging it up, and you couldn't just load the front half of the goal.
"Because most long throw-ins, it would be going in front of the goal, but he was going, 'No, we're going into the middle of the five-yard box.' It was mad."
Liverpool boss Arne Slot even conceded that, following his team's loss to Brentford, his players had trained specifically to counter long throws, but were simply unable to neutralise them.
"I think they took the game with long throw-ins, set-pieces and other moments where they were just really good," said Slot. "It's the only thing we did yesterday on the training pitch, preparing for that [long throws]."
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