I think this is about it.
Or hard & high, and not really caring whereabouts.
Training geared to not too high, obvs.
Why don't more penalty takers shoot down the middle?
- Thread starter FootballHQ
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Or hard & high, and not really caring whereabouts.
Training geared to not too high, obvs.
I always wondered why more keepers dont stand still and easily collect the ball when then striker knocks it down the middle
This penalty merchant has told the goalies he's going to continue blasting them through the middle. They've stopped jumping but he still thundercunts the pens through them. Sheer force of the strike means the GK has to react rapidly and get an extra strong connection with the ball to keep it out. Is this a flawless technique?
Surely a decent keeper keeps that out?
how did you get around the filter?!
Man this thread....I remember posting it completely unaware that Pogba had missed one by shooting down the middle about 20 minutes before! 
I still think it's the best strategy if it's last minute and player is a bit nervous about missing. The keeper will pretty much always dive unless you give a big clue in the run up so feels safe to me especially if you get a bit of height on it so keeper can't kick it away with his foot.
Gundogan did it v us the other night.
Mad thing with Deeney is he's done it for years now so keepers are barely diving and just standing still when he strikes it and they still can't save it as he varies between hitting low and high into the net.
Would've thought he'd mix it up a bit by hitting the corners but pretty much every one I've seen from this season and last has been down the middle.
Edit: Just seen my OP. I was right about the miss pretty much costing Arsenal top 4 at least.
Also seems I did post first and then Pogba missed in that manner which is a bit spooky.
I still think it's the best strategy if it's last minute and player is a bit nervous about missing. The keeper will pretty much always dive unless you give a big clue in the run up so feels safe to me especially if you get a bit of height on it so keeper can't kick it away with his foot.
Gundogan did it v us the other night.
Mad thing with Deeney is he's done it for years now so keepers are barely diving and just standing still when he strikes it and they still can't save it as he varies between hitting low and high into the net.
Would've thought he'd mix it up a bit by hitting the corners but pretty much every one I've seen from this season and last has been down the middle.
Edit: Just seen my OP. I was right about the miss pretty much costing Arsenal top 4 at least.
Also seems I did post first and then Pogba missed in that manner which is a bit spooky.Yep Lookman for Fulham got it badly wrong v West Ham. The chip was so bad Fabianski had time to stop his dive and just catch it.
Interesting with Bruno this season. He's modified his run up a bit now, less hopping and skipping given he did miss I think 3 initally earlier this season (scored two when they were retaken I think). The one he took v us was pretty much unsaveable.
Compound words maybe? Dunno.
Hit high seems to be the way to beat keepers, but I expect its technically harder to do, I remember Beckham once blasting a penalty over the bar.
I always wonder why goalkeepers don’t just wait until the ball is kicked until diving for penalties. The majority of penalties are not right in the corners and the main reason why they’re goalkeepers in the first place is their excellent reflexes. Guessing or trying to read the direction of a penalty just doesn’t make sense as a strategy.
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What do top class goalkeepers know about saving penalties anyway? Should’ve asked renandstimpyfan for advice.
Thundercunts.
EDIT: Wow I did it.
EDIT: Wow I did it.
Plenty of orthodoxies in many industries are actually illogical but people continue to do them because that’s the way things have always done. People are also afraid to look stupid doing something that goes against the grain and fails. Often industries look for outsiders to “think outside the box” to provide a perspective from outside their own bubble. Thanks for the elitist sarcasm though.
It’s not elitist to think you may not have the answer or be the first person to think of it. Every millimetre counts when it comes to making a save. Waiting may be an option at five a side, not in a real goal.
"thundercnut" is caught by the system but add an "s" to it and...
Thundercunts.
Edit: Which is weird as "cnuts" is caught as well.
Thundercunts.
Edit: Which is weird as "cnuts" is caught as well.
Because you end up looking like a right moron if you don't score, like James Maddison.
Pickford really psyched him out there nicely, was amazed Vardy didn't just take the penalty.
Interesting that Salah went down the middle yesterday after missing a couple recently.
I've always thought high and central is a good option but most of them bottle going for it. Yes there is some additional risk going high that you balloon one, but there's risk if you don't that you put it at the keepers height so is it really more risky?
It's fairly easy to punt a ball straight with some loft, there should be more margin for error than finding a top corner as well because anywhere along the roof of the net is a goal. It's basically an unsavable option. If Maddison went for that instead of just generally straight he wouldn't have had the same problem.
It's fairly easy to punt a ball straight with some loft, there should be more margin for error than finding a top corner as well because anywhere along the roof of the net is a goal. It's basically an unsavable option. If Maddison went for that instead of just generally straight he wouldn't have had the same problem.
Berba tried it once in a Cup and saved; and i still remember it to this day. Probably the reason SAF sold him too.
Giuseppi Signori. The original penalty maestro with no backlift of leg when he just stroked the ball into the middle and making GKs look like fools, haha.
Recall King Eric could do it right down the middle too.
Probably need supreme confidence, which many strikers & pen takers lack nowadays? Pressure of missing and having social media replaying it countless times (making you look like a fool), like for Maddison's case, haha.
Recall King Eric could do it right down the middle too.
Probably need supreme confidence, which many strikers & pen takers lack nowadays? Pressure of missing and having social media replaying it countless times (making you look like a fool), like for Maddison's case, haha.
Not a good week for the Shoot Down The Middle Society.
Never in my life will I understand how professional footballers could be dumb enough to try pulling what Casemiro and Bernardo have tried to pull this week.
Hit the ball with power into a corner, preferably the upper 90s. The laws of physics dictate that it's nearly mathematically impossible for the keeper to make a save on a penalty if the ball is hit into one of the top corners.
Hit the ball with power into a corner, preferably the upper 90s. The laws of physics dictate that it's nearly mathematically impossible for the keeper to make a save on a penalty if the ball is hit into one of the top corners.
Brad Collins had that technique today. Just stood his ground and worked for Casemiro but couldn't get near Hojlund one.
Silva and Casemiro were comical ones, half hearted chips so if the keeper isn't diving early they can quickly stop and just catch it.
Troy Deeney was the master at shooting down the middle. Would leather the ball pretty high. In the end keepers weren't even diving for his penalties and they still wouldn't get near saving it.
I don't think Bernado's penalty is that bad to be honest, he got the necessary height on it to ensure the keeper can't save it if the keeper dives.
Casemiro's was far worse, looked like the keeper could have saved it with his legs even if he'd dived.
The majority of pens are bad penalties if the keeper goes the right way. All penalties that are just rolled "sent the keeper the wrong way" type pens which are always praised as good penalties, yet they look awful when the keeper goes the right way. Same with pens down the middle. If the keeper dives it's a good pen, if the keeper stays it's a bad pen.
Casemiro's was far worse, looked like the keeper could have saved it with his legs even if he'd dived.
The majority of pens are bad penalties if the keeper goes the right way. All penalties that are just rolled "sent the keeper the wrong way" type pens which are always praised as good penalties, yet they look awful when the keeper goes the right way. Same with pens down the middle. If the keeper dives it's a good pen, if the keeper stays it's a bad pen.
My theory is that the higher pressure the penalty, the more likely the taker will hit it down the middle or hit it hard but in a reachable place.
So for low pressure penalties keepers should anticipate the penalty that taker favours , high pressure stand up and wait.
So for low pressure penalties keepers should anticipate the penalty that taker favours , high pressure stand up and wait.
A lot of the problem with the Silva and Casemiro ones was that they weren't really chips and there was no disguise to make the keeper second-guess. They both went with an open side-foot and if the keeper spots that he knows it won't have much power and he can hedge his bets on waiting as long as possible.Brad Collins had that technique today. Just stood his ground and worked for Casemiro but couldn't get near Hojlund one.
Silva and Casemiro were comical ones, half hearted chips so if the keeper isn't diving early they can quickly stop and just catch it.
Troy Deeney was the master at shooting down the middle. Would leather the ball pretty high. In the end keepers weren't even diving for his penalties and they still wouldn't get near saving it.
Agree on the Hojlund penalty, it was very saveable had he not waited to see where it was going.
Shilton in the 1990 World Cup semi-final shootout is a good example of this approach not being particularly effective, especially when the penalty-takers cotton on to what you are doing.