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Liverpool throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark has put Danny Murphy in his place after the former midfielder was critical of specialist coaches.

Murphy, 44, who played for Liverpool between 1997 and 2004, was critical of Aston Villa’s decision to bring in a new set-piece coach this season.

Villa boss Dean Smith drafted in former Hearts assistant coach Austin MacPhee at the start of the month. And already MacPhee’s work has started to pay off after Danny Ings scored from a Matty Cash throw against Newcastle.

Ings’ brilliant overhead kick came after Tyron Mings had flicked on Cash’s long throw in what was a well-worked training-ground move.

“I brought a set piece coach in in the summer and he’ll be taking plenty of kudos for that goal as well,” Smith told BBC’s Match of the Day. “It was a great finish from Danny Ings and a set-piece routine we have actually worked on in pre-season.

“Matt Cash has got a long throw and why not utilise it?”

Murphy though said he could not see why specialist coaches were needed.

Speaking on talkSPORT, he insisted he was “all for attention to detail” and “trying to get marginal gains from anything,” but argued that “every club I’ve been at, one of the coaches does the set-pieces”.

“What a could a set piece coach [do]? You’ve already got a manager & his coaches! These are basics!”

“If you’ve got two coaches & a manager, why is someone telling you how to work on throw ins?

Danny Murphy doesn’t understand why top #PL clubs bring in specialist coaches pic.twitter.com/6rE824D7TO

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) August 23, 2021

Murphy said that Phil Thompson covered set-pieces while he was playing for Gerard Houllier at Liverpool.

And he specifically criticised a throw-in coach as “beyond” him.

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‘It’s pretty simple’

Murphy claimed that Gronnemark’s role should be covered by the coaches already at Anfield.

“My belief is that if you’ve got two very good coaches in the building. And yourself the manager, who is paid to be a coach and a manager of the team. Why are you needing somebody else to tell you how to work on throw-ins?” Murphy added.

Liverpool’s specialist coach Gronnemark, who was appointed by Jurgen Klopp in 2018, has though explained exactly why he and his peers are so valuable.

“It’s pretty simple,” he responded on Twitter.

“If the specialist coach has been researching his/her subject for 17 years…every day, like I have, then an assistant coach will never have a single chance to have the same knowledge around that subject.

“They are more generalists. That’s why they bring me in.”

READ MORE: Liverpool hold interest in defender that was subject of laughable Everton offer

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