Bukayo Saka

We needed players with composure at that time. Maybe Southgate's judgement was he was the best in that scenario based off what he had seen previously (i.e. training)? That's the logical reason anyhow.

You live and die by your decisions though and unfortunately Southgate got it wrong on the evening.

comment by Jed Maxwell (U1449)
posted 53 minutes ago
comment by Anne Ziety (U22412)
posted 1 second ago
comment by Jed Maxwell (U1449)
posted 23 minutes ago
penalties are a lottery
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The biggest myth ever.
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Well it’s not, if the keeper guesses the right way, even if you hit it well it gets saved, if he guesses wrong it goes in, or if you hit it down the middle you may still score, or not
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Right so you think takers and keepers do no research on the players they will face? Some keepers are good at working out where the taker is going to go and vice versa, some keepers are clueless at it and get easily conned by the taker.

If it was a "lottery" most players and keepers records would be similar due to the law of averages but there's a reason keepers like Donnaruma save 1 in 3 and De Gea has saved like 2 in the last 10 years.

I am by no means an Arsenal fan, but I love Saka. He's got an amazing future ahead of him, injuries permitting.

That being said, he should have been nowhere near that pitch yesterday.

He's not as good a player as Sancho or Rashford yet and absolutely nowhere near as able to handle extreme pressure situations as they are. Southgate brought him on because he banked on fearless self belief of youth, but it backfired horribly and the poor boy never looked like he was mentally in the game at all. Here's hoping he comes back from this but I say he was let down terribly by his manager.

The 3 lads who missed penalties, unfortunately it happens. None of them were good penalties and though I'm sure all 3 scored their last 10 in training, they each need to rewatch their individual efforts and then go kick a ball into an empty net for a few minutes to exercise some emotions.

However you dissect last night's game, the result you'll come out with is that

1) Southgate engineered his teams failure through a rigid commitment to his approach, despite it not working.
2) Not being able to change things in time because he was too focused on what ifs and defensive solidarity. No attempt to compete in midfield and fight to get up the pitch when we were pinned back and the entire nation was screaming for Grealish's technique and Rashford's pace and strength to force the Italians deeper and let us breath.
3) Going with Saka and his perceived disciplined attitude over Sancho and his god given talent and swagger. Saka is great, but he's no Sterling or Grealish yet. And he's still a boy. Shouldn't have been brought on at all, let alone given the decisive spot kick.

I was surprised Saka took one, and he never looked like scoring it. However, he was one of the freshest on the pitch and if he showed confidence in training and a willingness to take one when it came to it, I see little issue in a 19 year old taking a key penalty. Many have in the past.

Looking at the others, Sterling scored one in the Nations League 3rd place play off against Switzerland. However, he has also missed all 3 he has taken for Man City in the last 2 seasons.

Luke Shaw scored for United in the Europa final, so he maybe was another option. But he had played 120 minutes in the demanding wing back role. Maybe he wasn't physically or mentally the best choice.

Jordan Pickford was another scorer against the Swiss. Big call to put your 'keeper in the top 5, although he is rumoured to have been 6th up. Maybe they wanted him concentrating on saving them.

Jordan Henderson obviously missed against Colombia, ironically the only senior penalty he has scored was against the same keeper. That miss and the one against Romania probably did not give much confidence and saw him withdrawn.

John Stones scored a paneka against Juve in a friendly once, but along with Walker and Phillips, I cannot find evidence of him taking a competitive penalty (the records don't have pen shoot-outs though).

I think Southgate (like everyone else) got caught up in the fairy tale of his breaking through this tournament and wanted to escalate him to national hero status. Could you imagine if he had scored the winnign penalty? Thats what I think Southgate was thinking.

comment by The Wonky Kronke (U16927)
posted 3 hours, 21 minutes ago
I think Southgate (like everyone else) got caught up in the fairy tale of his breaking through this tournament and wanted to escalate him to national hero status. Could you imagine if he had scored the winnign penalty? Thats what I think Southgate was thinking.
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No.

Hit the ball hard into one of the four corners....score every time

comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 6 hours, 47 minutes ago
2 keepers could not have stopped Maguires.

It dispels theory you have to be a regular taker to score one.

Experience no doubt helps but even some of the biggest stars have missed them. MBappe earlier in the comp.

Bottle and a clear head along with technique.

Saka's was probably the best of the missed ones, but still a bad height and not in the corner enough if not hitting with Kane-like power.

Rashfords aggravated me. A stupid and convoluted technique when we were leading in the shootout and just needed the next one to get banged in!
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Yep, I'm convinced Saka only missed because he messed his approach copying the very start of Rashford's with the stupid spot running. He was way too close to the ball and as a result couldn't get any power at all as he kicked it. But he didn't try to take a muppet pen like the other two did. Rashford annoyed me and then Sancho stepping up straight after and trying the same thing, well that was boiling point infuriating.

But overall, this one mostly on Southgate, he has more enough experience, personal painful memories and intelligence to not have stitched his own players up like he did. I can't believe that every player in the squad wasn't made to practice taking them using a set routine. This should be standard practice for any manager these days but especially one who has missed a pen himself through lack of squad prep.

MBappe too missed his pen due to lack of a penalty taking routine. Just walked up all Cpt swagger thinking he'd knock it in no probs then promptly fecked up. That's exactly what the best pen takers have a routine to avoid. The routine makes it second nature which in turn takes away a lot of the pressure of the kick because you just focus on carrying out your routine since if you do and you execute correctly, the rest takes care of itself. I was the team kicker when I played rugby and it makes a big difference to kicking stats once you adopt a routine. Same principle applies to footy pens, a set routine WILL make a player better/more reliable at taking them.

comment by WB2 {Tackle Like Tierney} (U8276)
posted 7 hours, 39 minutes ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 6 hours, 47 minutes ago
2 keepers could not have stopped Maguires.

It dispels theory you have to be a regular taker to score one.

Experience no doubt helps but even some of the biggest stars have missed them. MBappe earlier in the comp.

Bottle and a clear head along with technique.

Saka's was probably the best of the missed ones, but still a bad height and not in the corner enough if not hitting with Kane-like power.

Rashfords aggravated me. A stupid and convoluted technique when we were leading in the shootout and just needed the next one to get banged in!
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Yep, I'm convinced Saka only missed because he messed his approach copying the very start of Rashford's with the stupid spot running. He was way too close to the ball and as a result couldn't get any power at all as he kicked it. But he didn't try to take a muppet pen like the other two did. Rashford annoyed me and then Sancho stepping up straight after and trying the same thing, well that was boiling point infuriating.

But overall, this one mostly on Southgate, he has more enough experience, personal painful memories and intelligence to not have stitched his own players up like he did. I can't believe that every player in the squad wasn't made to practice taking them using a set routine. This should be standard practice for any manager these days but especially one who has missed a pen himself through lack of squad prep.

MBappe too missed his pen due to lack of a penalty taking routine. Just walked up all Cpt swagger thinking he'd knock it in no probs then promptly fecked up. That's exactly what the best pen takers have a routine to avoid. The routine makes it second nature which in turn takes away a lot of the pressure of the kick because you just focus on carrying out your routine since if you do and you execute correctly, the rest takes care of itself. I was the team kicker when I played rugby and it makes a big difference to kicking stats once you adopt a routine. Same principle applies to footy pens, a set routine WILL make a player better/more reliable at taking them.
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Tribal muppet.

comment by Jed Maxwell (U1449)
posted 20 hours, 28 minutes ago
Why was Maguire taking a penalty?

Not a regular penalty taker but got up and took one, penalties are a lottery
Jorginho is a master at them yet missed his
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Maguire frequently took penalties for Leicester I may be wrong, but I can't recall him missing one