Enzo Maresca, a student of Pep Guardiola’s coaching philosophy, has rarely prioritized the long throw during his managerial rise. However, as Chelsea prepare to face Lincoln on Tuesday, Maresca will encounter a side whose boss, Michael Skubala, has revived the technique with impressive results. This season has seen Premier League teams increasingly adopt long throws, a trend underlined in Chelsea’s recent 2-2 draw with Brentford, where they conceded a late goal after failing to defend Kevin Schade’s powerful throw.
Lincoln’s young manager, Skubala, has paid close attention to these developments. Despite operating on one of the smallest budgets in League One, Skubala has steered his side to third in the table by embracing innovation, including the use of artificial intelligence. “For the last two seasons, we have been working on a specific type of long throw,” Skubala told Daily Mail Sport. “My coaching team and sports scientists have been involved in the process and we’ve used AI to inform our decisions too.”
Skubala emphasized that Lincoln were ahead of the curve. “Now all of a sudden, it’s coming back at the highest level – but we brought it back two seasons ago. There is a strong rationale behind where and why we do it,” he explained, highlighting that approaches to scoring must vary across leagues like the Premier League, Under-21 football, and League One.
He also addressed the assumptions sometimes made about lower-league football. “There is sometimes a ‘level bias’ when owners and sporting directors are looking at coaching appointments. But if you dig deeper, the coaching in League One is better than ever before, which is why you find teams relegated from the Championship don’t have it all their own way,” Skubala observed. He believes adaptability is crucial, noting the widespread influence of Guardiola’s style but also its limitations for clubs without top resources.
“For a while in football, it felt as though everyone was expected to copy a certain way of playing – and that was Pep Guardiola’s way,” Skubala continued. “But at the time he had the biggest budget and the best players, so teams playing the same way were generally going to come off worse. Pep has always adapted, too, which is sometimes overlooked.”
Skubala sees the game evolving away from rigid positional play. “Maybe now the game is not so much about position and possession. It’s about efficiency, entries into the box, and there is more physicality and athleticism. Crystal Palace have shown that the game doesn’t have to be played in one way,” he said.
While long throws are a notable weapon, Lincoln’s preparations are more sophisticated. Skubala and his staff use AI to catalogue thousands of set pieces, integrating this data into their training regimes. The 42-year-old made his coaching debut with Leeds United at Old Trafford, where his team secured a notable draw against Manchester United, quickly making his mark in senior management.
Now in his second year at Lincoln, Skubala has positioned the club just two points off the top of the table, sparking attention from Championship sides. Despite this, his immediate focus is on Chelsea, who under Maresca have enjoyed success in the Club World Cup and Europa Conference League. Maresca has consistently fielded strong lineups in the Carabao Cup, eschewing the common EFL practice of rotating for youth, which has energized Lincoln’s supporters ahead of the tie.
“For a club of our size, playing a strong team in these games can be a huge benefit – as big as developing younger players. In the early stages of the season, legs are fresher and you can do it,” Skubala remarked. “It’s different for a club like Chelsea, who are involved in the Champions League. But this is a great opportunity for us.”
