Our Approach to Penalties

[facaldaqui]

I am unhappy with our approach to penalties. Sigurdsson and Long have taken them recently with two of the most unreliable methods possible: the jinxy run up and down the middle. Both methods increase the odds of the goalkeeper saving it, as a documentary I saw on the subject pointed out through statistics. The fact is that we've missed two of the last four. I'm quite sure that Sigurdsson's pen against Liverpool was noted, making it more difficult for him to pull off the trick next time. The method depends on the goalie moving first; if he waits, he knows which way to go. And the next goalie Long faces will be more likely to expect it in the middle (hopefully Long is clever enough to double bluff that, but I wouldn't bet on it). As for Howard, his body language telegraphs where he's going to hit it; it's the same with his general play around the field.

The other thing that annoys me is that once again it seems we have no rigid order of penalty takers. Coppell let players pretty much fight for the right to take penalties, and maybe McDermott's the same. But I think there should be a recognised order of penalty takers, which we should stick to, barring knocks. The following BBC interview with Long gives an insight into the present approach:

Republic of Ireland international Long, 23, added that he was determined to take the penalty, after Hal Robson-Kanu was fouled in injury time.

He said: "I knew I wanted to take it. With Gylfi [Sigurdsson] out of the team there was a space open. Brian Howard and Jobi McAnuff were eager to take it as well, but I got my hands on the ball and felt confident and it was nice to slot it away.

"I've practised a lot in training with [Royals keeper] Adam Federici. He tells me which way he thinks I'm going to go.

"The straight run-up puts the keeper off and I sent him the wrong way as you saw. Practice makes perfect."

[Row Z Royal]

JUST SMASH 'EM

[facaldaqui]

JUST SMASH 'EM

Preferably to one side.

[Sun Tzu]

Surely Gylfi's technique is designed to do exactly what you are wanting.

He waits for the keeper to make a move then puts it the other way. Keepers will almost always favour one direction or the other and if you can spot them shifting their weight one way it is very hard for them to then change direction.

As to who takes the pens, I think the current way of whoever fancies it is the best in the absence of any one sure fire taker.

[facaldaqui]

Surely Gylfi's technique is designed to do exactly what you are wanting.

He waits for the keeper to make a move then puts it the other way. Keepers will almost always favour one direction or the other and if you can spot them shifting their weight one way it is very hard for them to then change direction.

As to who takes the pens, I think the current way of whoever fancies it is the best in the absence of any one sure fire taker.

No, Sigurdsson's method is not what I'm wanting. I prefer to see a hard shot to either side, preferably high. Sigurdsson's method depends on the goalie moving early: but if he doesn't, then the goalie can pick which way he's going to shoot, and the shot will have less momentum and decisiveness than with a fast run up. I now expect goalies to take this approach to Sigurdsson until he changes his method.

[cmonurz]

Of course we would all love to see 'a hard shot to either side, preferably high', but if it was just a case of pressing a button and it happening, then every single penalty you ever saw would go into a top corner. A penalty taking technique has to work for whoever is taking it. I was one of two penalty takers for my team at university, favoured 'the Gylfi method', to the extent that I generally tried to 'wait' for the keeper to commit himself, and place it in the other corner. Scored 3 of 4, but that's not a big enough sample to mean anything.

Had I tried to welly it into the top corner, I'd have skied at least 3 if not all of them, I guarantee it.

[Sun Tzu]

Surely Gylfi's technique is designed to do exactly what you are wanting.

He waits for the keeper to make a move then puts it the other way. Keepers will almost always favour one direction or the other and if you can spot them shifting their weight one way it is very hard for them to then change direction.

As to who takes the pens, I think the current way of whoever fancies it is the best in the absence of any one sure fire taker.

No, Sigurdsson's method is not what I'm wanting. I prefer to see a hard shot to either side, preferably high. Sigurdsson's method depends on the goalie moving early: but if he doesn't, then the goalie can pick which way he's going to shoot, and the shot will have less momentum and decisiveness than with a fast run up. I now expect goalies to take this approach to Sigurdsson until he changes his method.

A hard high shot to the side is pretty high risk though. Sigardsson's method doesn;t depend on the keeper moving early, he just waits until the keeper slightly favours one direction, and almost every keeper will do that becasue their best chance of saving a pen is usually to get lucky and fling themselves th same way the taker choses to kick.

Sigardsson's method relies on him having more bottle than the keeper, and if the keeper simply stays still he can just tuck the ball into one corner and a static keeper will have very little chance of reaching it.

There is no proven method, players just need to go with the method they feel comfortable with.

[cmonurz]

Was going to edit my post and add something, but ST basically beat me to it. The idea when taking a penalty is to beat the keeper - the easiest way to do this is to give yourself as much of the goal to aim at as possible, i.e. send the keeper the wrong way. That's about finesse. Trying to hit the top corner is a lower percentage shot.

[handbags_harris]

Hit them hard and high. That is the only way to take a penalty. We haven't had a ruthless penalty taker since the days of Trevor Morley who was excellent at taking them.

[facaldaqui]

Of course we would all love to see 'a hard shot to either side, preferably high', but if it was just a case of pressing a button and it happening, then every single penalty you ever saw would go into a top corner. A penalty taking technique has to work for whoever is taking it. I was one of two penalty takers for my team at university, favoured 'the Gylfi method', to the extent that I generally tried to 'wait' for the keeper to commit himself, and place it in the other corner. Scored 3 of 4, but that's not a big enough sample to mean anything.

Had I tried to welly it into the top corner, I'd have skied at least 3 if not all of them, I guarantee it.

Well, I was a penalty taker, too, and I can't remember missing any (we didn't get many). I was also a rugby kicker. Surely it's more reliable to have a tried and tested method, where you shoot in almost the same style every time (varied to right and left), than to rely on last-second mind games and a slower run up and shot. You will never sky a penalty if you work out exactly where your head is positioned when you connect.

[Maguire]

I've taken a few in my time and not missed. Never worried about what the keeper was doing, just decided where to put it, NEVER CHANGED MY MIND, and tried to give away as little as possible in the run up.

Not changing your mind is really important IMHO, just take a few steps and bury it. If the keeper goes the right way and goes early then, well, there's not a lot you can do about that.

[facaldaqui]

Was going to edit my post and add something, but ST basically beat me to it. The idea when taking a penalty is to beat the keeper - the easiest way to do this is to give yourself as much of the goal to aim at as possible, i.e. send the keeper the wrong way. That's about finesse. Trying to hit the top corner is a lower percentage shot.

You are assuming that it is. But according to the documentary I saw, it is the shot with the highest percentage success rate. It is not high risk if you are good at it: the best penalty takers, like that bloke from Burnley, do it that way. The method with the lowest success rate is down the middle, followed by the dinked run up, which has potential disaster written all over it.

[facaldaqui]

I've taken a few in my time and not missed. Never worried about what the keeper was doing, just decided where to put it, NEVER CHANGED MY MIND, and tried to give away as little as possible in the run up.

Not changing your mind is really important IMHO, just take a few steps and bury it. If the keeper goes the right way and goes early then, well, there's not a lot you can do about that.

I agree. Except that if you hit it hard enough high the keeper won't save it even if he goes the right way.

[JR]

JUST SMASH 'EM

Preferably to one side.

I disagree.

How many penalties smashed down the middle at height have you ever seen saved? Bet you can't find more than a few.

[JR]

I am unhappy with our approach to penalties. Sigurdsson and Long have taken them recently with two of the most unreliable methods possible: the jinxy run up and down the middle. Both methods increase the odds of the goalkeeper saving it, as a documentary I saw on the subject pointed out through statistics. The fact is that we've missed two of the last four. I'm quite sure that Sigurdsson's pen against Liverpool was noted, making it more difficult for him to pull off the trick next time. The method depends on the goalie moving first; if he waits, he knows which way to go. And the next goalie Long faces will be more likely to expect it in the middle (hopefully Long is clever enough to double bluff that, but I wouldn't bet on it). As for Howard, his body language telegraphs where he's going to hit it; it's the same with his general play around the field.

The other thing that annoys me is that once again it seems we have no rigid order of penalty takers. Coppell let players pretty much fight for the right to take penalties, and maybe McDermott's the same. But I think there should be a recognised order of penalty takers, which we should stick to, barring knocks. The following BBC interview with Long gives an insight into the present approach:

Republic of Ireland international Long, 23, added that he was determined to take the penalty, after Hal Robson-Kanu was fouled in injury time.

He said: "I knew I wanted to take it. With Gylfi [Sigurdsson] out of the team there was a space open. Brian Howard and Jobi McAnuff were eager to take it as well, but I got my hands on the ball and felt confident and it was nice to slot it away.

"I've practised a lot in training with [Royals keeper] Adam Federici. He tells me which way he thinks I'm going to go.

"The straight run-up puts the keeper off and I sent him the wrong way as you saw. Practice makes perfect."

What I saw was that the goalkeeper went the right way and almost saved it, though Long did force him to to take a step the other way. Risky.

Good post - I have been very unhappy and uncomfortable with our approach over the last 4-5 years.

I never understand why players play it low/mid-height to one side or the other. This is exactly what Hunt and Doyle used to do and means you are effectively saying that the keeper has a 50:50 chance of saving it.

The two ways to take a penalty are:

- Smash straight down the middle with some height
- Stick in the top corner (more difficult but unsaveable)

Given our level I would suggest the down the middle approach

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Every penalty I take I always aim for the bottom left hand corner. This is because I find it a lot easier to place down there. The other week I took one and for the first time ever it was saved, despite being dead in the corner, it was admitedly a fantastic save. Forunately there was an opposition player in the box so got to take it again. Went for the same corner, but a bit harder, and it crept in. What I'm trying to say is, there's room for power and placement.

[FiNeRaIn]

Penalties for me is about technique. I have never seen a keeper save a pen that was going right into the top corner with a lot of pace, you simply can't move quick enough to get there.

[Thaumagurist*]

.

[facaldaqui]

Sigardsson's method doesn;t depend on the keeper moving early, he just waits until the keeper slightly favours one direction, and almost every keeper will do that becasue their best chance of saving a pen is usually to get lucky and fling themselves th same way the taker choses to kick.

Sigardsson's method relies on him having more bottle than the keeper, and if the keeper simply stays still he can just tuck the ball into one corner and a static keeper will have very little chance of reaching it.

I can't agree with this analysis. Do you remember Ronaldo's penalty in the Champions' League final? Cech chose to stay still, because he knew Ronaldo liked to do the jink. When Ronaldo did the jink and Cech did not move, he froze, and Cech saved his shot to the right. This was because the advantage switched to Cech who could wait to see which way Ronaldo was going to put it. That the goalie is more static in those circumstances is counteracted by the reduced pace in the shot that follows the jinked run up.

[facaldaqui]

Really, they shouldn't say too much about how they do their penalties. Other goalkeepers will be reading those comments.

Agreed.