Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko has admitted they are working on becoming better at long throws.
[Sport.ua have comments](https://sport.ua/uk/news/814678-mikolenko-proti-frantsii-budemo-grati-na-svoih-silnih-yakostyah) from the Everton defender today ahead of the international break. He was part of a press conference for the Ukrainian national side.
The subject of long-throws was put to him. They’ve grown in importance in the Premier League this season, with every team in the league having adopted them.
They’ve had an impact too. As of the last round of fixtures, 11 goals have been scored directly from long throws this season. This is a significant increase given only 14 were scored across the entirety of last season.
It’s a notable tactical trend, with teams appearing to have decided that long throws are now a set piece tactic they need to employ.
Everton are the same as everyone else. in fact, they scored from a long-throw in the 2-0 win over Fulham before the international break. That came in the second phase of play following a long throw from Mykolenko.
And he admits the tactic is something that they are working on. It hasn’t, though, been discussed by Ukraine as yet.
_“We haven’t talked about it in the national team yet,”_ he said.
_“But now there is such a tendency, at least in the Premier League, that there are a lot of long throw-ins. I have such an option, I can throw in the penalty area. So far without goals, but we are trying to throw in from a distance.”_
The defender recently [talked up the likelihood](https://sportwitness.co.uk/complete-lie-everton-player-dismisses-insider-claims/) of an Everton renewal, explaining talks are on the horizon.