As a country however, we diluted our own failings as a team
and overestimated the few strengths we had. We threw caution to the wind in a
way only expectant England
fans can, and dismissed the Italians as an ageing group of players lacking
creativity, typical defensive solidity and a predatory strike force. However
for 120 minutes in Kiev ,
none of this mattered. England
were knocked out of Euro 2012 by the majesty of Andrea Pirlo and the ‘lottery’
of the penalty shootout.
Pirlo epitomised everything a deep lying centre midfielder
should be. His metronomic passing was mesmeric to watch with the 33 year old at
times appeared to glide across the pitch spraying passes at will and stretching
the brittle England team to near breaking point. His ease and comfort when in
possession of the ball exuded a gracefulness that all too starkly exposed the
ugly and unsightly game plan England
had adopted throughout the tournament. The personification of everything Pirlo
had demonstrated in the last 2 weeks could be seen in the way he exquisitely
executed a deft chip during the penalty shootout. There are few players in
world football who would even dream about such an audacious move let alone
execute it at the highest level on the biggest stage.
Pirlo’s penalty while being superb to watch is revealing
about an English mentality surrounding penalty shootouts compared to their
European counterparts. We feel the burden of history more than any other nation
when it comes to shootouts, and this leads to a self perpetuating spiral of
shootout misery. Hodgson has described the tournament as a learning curve for
himself and the players, and if they take nothing else from it, it should be
that the success of 1966 will never be replicated until England learn
how to win a penalty shootout.
There is a myth amongst footballers and analysts alike that
penalties are a 'lottery' that cannot be prepared for; that the pressure of
taking a penalty in a knockout shootout cannot be replicated. While the latter
may be true, the former is certainly not, and England ’s future success in major
tournaments depends on their ability to recognise this fact. There are tactics
that can be adopted and methods that can be used to win a shootout, and while
the following is certainly not an exhaustive list, it would certainly help England
overcome their penalty shootout curse…
1) Never change your mind. This is hardly
the Trequartistas revealing an inventive new mindset to change the course of
penalty taking history, but all good penalty takers say the same thing. Be
decisive, be confident and know exactly what you want to do with the penalty.
2) Choose the takers and order wisely. A
low proportion of penalty shootouts go the distance and involve all 5 penalty
takers. Therefore it does not make sense to save your best penalty taker for
the fifth penalty. The top penalty takers should go first as a
winning start can heap enormous pressure on the opposition, and fourth as this
is statistically likely to be the decisive penalty in a shootout. Coupled with
this is the need to choose penalty takers who if possible regularly take them
at club level. They are used to the pressure of a spot kick, often practise
them in training and have a clearer idea of where they will put their kick.
Against Italy
only Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney out of the penalty takers take penalties
for their clubs, and thus Hodgson should have placed them first and fourth
rather than first and second.
3) The goalkeeper should take a penalty.
It is widely reported that Joe Hart offered himself to Hodgson as a penalty
taker but was dismissed. There seems little sense in this. Goalkeepers spend a
proportionately higher amount of time firing shots at each other for warm-ups
and practice from in and around the 18 yard box in training than any other
player in the squad. Couple this with the fact that a goalkeeper taking a
penalty would no precisely where his opposite number would least like to dive
and suddenly the goalkeeper becomes a more suitable candidate than any other in
the squad to take a penalty. Joe Hart in the Under 21 European Championship in
2009 and Ricardo for Portugal
in 2004 are clear demonstrations of well executed penalties by goalkeepers in
pressure situations.
4) Hitting the ball down the middle should not
be dismissed. How often in a penalty shootout does the keeper stand in the
middle of the goal? While Ashley Young decided to hit the ball hard down the
middle he unnecessarily opted for all out power. A penalty hit down the middle
should not be along the ground as it runs the risk of being saved by a
goalkeepers trailing leg, however one placed in the very centre of the goal
would unlikely be saved no matter how hard it is hit. Obviously if every player
on the England
team decided to hit the ball down the centre of the goal, we would have a
problem, but if this tactic was used appropriately, statistics show it would
likely reap high rewards.
5) Practice makes perfect. Despite their
agonisingly good record at penalty shootouts, the Germans still practice them
during major tournaments. They develop psychological methods to aid the takers
and most importantly they implement these during the shootout situation. All
the practice in the world would go to waste unless it was implemented in a
shootout. England
need to adopt what the Germans do so well and practice practice practice.
While many of these methods may seem obvious to those used
to watching other European nations dispatch spot kicks with consummate ease
against England , there
adoption is vital if England
are to achieve success at the world cup in 2014. Too often the hopes of this
nation are dashed by a seemingly simple kick from 12 yards, and too often the
professionals within the English game dismiss them as a lottery. A lottery
suggests a random 50/50 chance of winning, yet England ’s dismal record of losing
the last 5 penalty shootouts they have taken part in, suggests this is far from
the truth.
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