How to survive penalty shootouts, apparently

[osarusan]

Take a look at this from the BBC website.

I prefer the 'pick a corner and hit it hard' method myself.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/skills/5124636.stm

[CollegeTillIDie]

Well there is a theory called Muscle Memory. Which states that if you practice an action often enough in training , i.e. taking penalties, that when you have to do it in reality; The body will take over and stick it in the net without you thinking too much about it. I believe there could be something in it. Motto... PRACTICE PENALTIES! it's good for those taking them and also for your keepers who have to face the other lots spot-kicks.

[pineapple stu]

Argentina apparently practiced for 40 minutes the day before the Germany match - didn't do them much good.

Interesting watching the penalties and trying to see who'd miss and who's score. Lampard was clearly going to miss - he looked away from goal as he placed the ball almost as if he'd missed already. England's players were generally all giving off the wrong vibes.

[macdermesser]

too short or too long of a run generally miss too. Gerard was white when Lampard missed and even whiter when he stepped up to take his own penalty

[pineapple stu]

too short[...]of a run generally miss too.
Good old two-step Timofte! :D

[CraftyToePoke]

too short or too long of a run generally miss too

what about bepe signiori, the italian one stepper, class act as i recall,somehow, blasting into alternate top corners with a non-changing one step back approach.

[Jerry The Saint]

I think the best approach for penalties is to be German. Notice who the only England player to score was? :)

[dfx-]

Placing it in the top corner would stop any debate about how to mentally prepare yourself for penalties. Hamann for Liverpool against West Ham and Milan shows you don't need to blast it, you don't need to hope the keeper goes the other way, you can afford to have broken run-ups, all you've to do is hit it high and even a renowned penalty saver like Dida can't stop them.

Either that or hit the opposite way you're shaping up like you're going to hit it.

[Schumi]

Lampard was clearly going to miss - he looked away from goal as he placed the ball almost as if he'd missed already.
You didn't need to look at him in the shhot out to know he'd miss, he'd been doing it all tournament.

[NeilMcD]

The germans have only ever missed 1 penaly in World Cup Penalty shoot outs winning all 6 they have been involved in.

[pineapple stu]

I think the best approach for penalties is to be German. Notice who the only England player to score was? :)
A Canadian? ;)

[osarusan]

Does anybody believe that some players really have the ability to send the keeper the wrong way?

I often see penalties where the keeper goes the wrong way, the penalty looks perfect, and the commentator says something like "sent him the wrong way". But I always think that if the keeper had dived the other way he would have saved it easily.

Luck or skill??

If it is skill, how do they do it?

[dfx-]

Does anybody believe that some players really have the ability to send the keeper the wrong way?


I do...but it needs a very good penalty and very confident player to do it. Generally there seems to be a lot more penalties saved now as I think keepers have copped on to how/where they're shaping up to hit the ball.

It's different to the keeper just guessing wrong..which is generally intereted as sending him the wrong way.

[NeilMcD]

Look at postiga on Robinson, he sent him the wrong way. Cantona had the knack of doing it also. Just as a keeper can read a player a player can read a keeper also.

[Schumi]

It's different to the keeper just guessing wrong..which is generally intereted as sending him the wrong way.
Plenty of those are the keeper sending the player the right way, so to speak: the keeper moves early or makes it obvious which way he's going and the player puts it the other way.

[Marked Man]

The germans have only ever missed 1 penaly in World Cup Penalty shoot outs winning all 6 they have been involved in.

I thought the one v-Argentina was only their fourth ever world cup shoot out; or have I been misled yet again by ESPN's "soccer" commentators?

[Superhoops]

I thought the one v-Argentina was only their fourth ever world cup shoot out; or have I been misled yet again by ESPN's "soccer" commentators?
4 in the WC is right; 82 v France, 86 v Mexico, 90 v England , 06 v Argentina. I think they have been involved in 2 in Euro finals. 76 v Czechs (which they lost) and 96 v England.

[el punter]

Argentina apparently practiced for 40 minutes the day before the Germany match - didn't do them much good.

I expect the Germans also practiced. Practicing doesn't guarantee success, it just makes it more likely.

I don't understand the "it's a lottery, no point in practicing" school of thought. Alan Shearer is a staunch subscriber to the lottery philosophy which I found very surprising considering the methodical way he seemed to dispatch penalties.

[CraftyToePoke]

Look at postiga on Robinson, he sent him the wrong way. Cantona had the knack of doing it also. Just as a keeper can read a player a player can read a keeper also.

remember Fashanu's 'trickler' pens for wimbledon some years back, that style depended 100% on fooling the keeper into going the wrong way.

[pineapple stu]

I expect the Germans also practiced. Practicing doesn't guarantee success, it just makes it more likely.
Practicing should at least guarantee that your penalties are someway decent.

Which is where my argument falls down, as I just realised I listened to the shoot out on radio and don't know if the Argies' misses were bad misses or good saves...:o

[drinkfeckarse]

Placing it in the top corner would stop any debate about how to mentally prepare yourself for penalties. Hamann for Liverpool against West Ham and Milan shows you don't need to blast it, you don't need to hope the keeper goes the other way, you can afford to have broken run-ups, all you've to do is hit it high and even a renowned penalty saver like Dida can't stop them.

Either that or hit the opposite way you're shaping up like you're going to hit it.

That's all well and good but any good coach will tell you to hit it low into the corner though. I'm a left footer and I take the penalties for my team and that's my method. I would say I've about a 90% success rate because keepers generally can't get down quick enough to them. As soon as you put it in the air you're giving the keeper a better chance.

[osarusan]

That's all well and good but any good coach will tell you to hit it low into the corner though. I'm a left footer and I take the penalties for my team and that's my method. I would say I've about a 90% success rate because keepers generally can't get down quick enough to them. As soon as you put it in the air you're giving the keeper a better chance.


it is difficult for keepers to get down, but I agree that putting it high, and by that I mean just inside the angle of crossbar and post, and simple gravity will stop the keeper from reaching it. The problem is that a little high, low or wide and you've missed it.

[CraftyToePoke]

That's all well and good but any good coach will tell you to hit it low into the corner though. I'm a left footer and I take the penalties for my team and that's my method. I would say I've about a 90% success rate because keepers generally can't get down quick enough to them. As soon as you put it in the air you're giving the keeper a better chance.

but would you say its less or more difficult technically, to take them in your way as opposed to clipping a ball high into the net? i reckon its a more difficult skill to get over it and hit it low,hard and accurate than it is to place it high up.

[drinkfeckarse]

Nah I think it's more difficult to put it into the top corner. Yes you can aim there but the chance of it going precisely into the small gap that would guarantee the keeper couldn't reach it (legally) all the time are slim. Admittedly practice would better your results.

At least if you keep it low you can sometimes afford it to be a foot inside the post because if it's hit with pace (and by that I mean general pace, not having to smash it thus losing control) he won't get down in time. That's what I think anyway and what seems to work for me most of the time...

[Stuttgart88]

As a former keeper I'd say a well placed low penalty is hard to save unless the keeper guesses correctly. Even he does guess correctly a keeper simply can't cover the last 12-18 inches inside the post unless he's a giant. In fact sometimes even a penalty only a few feet from centre, but hard & low, is hard to save even if you guess right. It can easily go under your body if you don't get your hands down in time.

Hard & low & to the corner:

Keeper could guess wrong & a poor kick will still go in

If you hit it too high you could still be lucky if you hit it near enough to the post.

But if you aim high I think you could easily put it over, or at a height which a keeper likes. A high penalty to the corner is impossible to save but it's harder for the taker to be accurate. You've a far higher margin for error. It's much easier to get both line & trajectory right if you aim low. It's much harder to get the trajectory right if you aim high. I've taken a few in my time too & that's what I think!

Waist high kicks are easiest to save by far.

I posted this "theory" before but if a guy takes a diagonal run up, like Zidane last night or Timofte, I'd always dive the way Ricardo or Bonner did, i.e., to the side the taker started his run from.

Why? A well placed penalty will nearly always beat the keeper. But a less accurate penalty opens the door for the keeper. In my opinion, it's harder to get the ball just inside the post if you try and pull the ball back from where you ran from. But putting it straight in the direction your run is pointing makes it easier to put just inside the post. Any thoughts on this drinkfeckarse?

When I played LSL we actually won both the Liam Hyland Cup QF and SF on penalties. Like the look on Lampard & Gerrard's faces, the guy who missed in our SF just looked like a lamb to the slaughter on his walk up. I knew I had him!

I saw on TV a few years ago that sports psychologists recommend that the best penalty takers go later in the rota as that's when the pressure is highest.

[drinkfeckarse]

I posted this "theory" before but if a guy takes a diagonal run up, like Zidane last night or Timofte, I'd always dive the way Ricardo or Bonner did, i.e., to the side the taker started his run from.

Why? A well placed penalty will nearly always beat the keeper. But a less accurate penalty opens the door for the keeper. In my opinion, it's harder to get the ball just inside the post if you try and pull the ball back from where you ran from. But putting it straight in the direction your run is pointing makes it easier to put just inside the post. Any thoughts on this drinkfeckarse?


I'm not sure if I agree with you Stuttgart on a personal level but I understand your point and that would be the natural thing for a lot of people I think.

More often than not I put it the Zidane way as it feels more comfortable for me that way than aiming it in the straight line of my run. I'm a left footer as I mentioned and I prefer to tuck into the keepers left hand corner, it just seems easier for me.

I have put it to the keepers right before with success too but I found it more difficult to keep it as low and accurate with the same amount of pace I'd use for the other side although by rights it should be more natural to put it that way probably. It comes down to the individual I suppose and practice also.

I just feel more in control of it by putting it to his left but I always make sure I'm glancing to his right just to try and confuse him;) :D

[Lionel Ritchie]

I think it's possible we're all over analysing -so in that spirit...

Penalty shoot outs are random scenarios - a "lottery" so to speak -but we are not random creatures. We are creatures of habit.

Perhaps the way for a non random creature to endure or survive a random situation is to increase the creatures own random behaviour. Example - the first penalty taker is told which way to shoot by another squad member. this removes the burden of decision from the taker and shares the burden of guilt should his shot be unsuccessful, the first takers final duty is to tell the second which way to shoot and so on it goes ....

as a penalty taking science goes -it's no more hogwash than anyone elses ...I tend to agree with Big Jack -"don't try to place -blast 'em" ...again encouraging random behaviour.

[eirebhoy]

For anyone that wants to know how the take penalties, watch the FA cup final between Arsenal and Man Utd. Arsenal took the best 5 penalties I've ever seen. All 5 were in the top corner where it's impossible for the keeper to get them. Wenger said they didn't practise but that was a blatent lie. :)

[Schumi]

Wenger said they didn't practise but that was a blatent lie. :)
He probably just didn't see them practice.

[Wiseguy]

I always took the penalties for whatever team i played for and i never missed.I came close on a couple of occasions but that was it.I always had my mind made up where i would put it even before i placed the ball.Lots of pace and just inside either post always done the trick and people who say that you can't practice penalties are talking crap.I practiced after every training session for 30 mins and i built up a good technique.The two things i focused on was the Ref and the ball.I never looked at another player or anyone else and i never delayed taking it.

[Stuttgart88]

8 of the 9 last night were emphatic. But I think both ZZ (in normal time) and Trezeguet's kicks exemplified my thoughts on high kicks: it's not as easy as it looks to get the trajectory right. ZZ clearly hit his higher than he wanted to but got lucky. Trezeguet didn't. As far as I'm concerned yes, a well hit high penalty is impossible to save but you're increasing your chances of missing the target too.

[dfx-]

De Rossi's penalty was a prime example of how to survive a penalty shoot out, specialist keeper or not.