Chelsea just won on penalties with Gonzalo Higuain not taking one. Higuain is a damn site better footballer than Charlie Wyke and Wyke got some pelters on here. Maybe some players just aren’t penalty takers eh?
Why did he not take one though? Can he not score goals from inside the box under pressure? Doesn't explain anything.
My suggestion to any striker too lacking in confidence to take a penalty would be to practice kicking the ball into the net from the spot until you feel ready to take responsibility for your role in the team, and don't let technically poor at shooting players take responsibility for your own shortcomings.
Maybe. Some players are good fir penalties but to slag one off who doesn’t take one is assuming all are the same. Higuain has had a lot more experience than Wyke if high pressure situations yet Azpilicuetta and Luiz took them.
I know it’s not that easy though even from kids football. We have 14 year olds who are scared if nothing. Give them a pressure pen to take and they fall to pieces. My son scored 33 this season but wouldn’t take a penalty. Give him a 25 yard free kick and he has no problem though!! It seems really easy from our standpoint but there’s far more to it than the confidence
In that example though Chelsea as a team are so technically gifted that most of their players could probably take a great penalty and if Higuain isn't super keen then it's neither here nor there, with us in the cup it was more like scrabbling around for anyone to take one and Wyke was hiding. I know it's not easy but when you're a fully grown man, it's your job and you get handsomely paid for it, if you're not even going to try doing it then I don't respect that. Practice until you're confident and can earn your wage.
Put it this way, imagine if instead of a penalty shootout the attacker dribbled from the halfway line and the defensive player was allowed one attempt at a tackle, I'd be unimpressed if Cattermole sat it out and let Wyke have a crack at it.
Maybe the whole squad practice penalties in training and the best 5 are picked for the matches. Maybe its just as simple as Higuain and Wyke not being in the best 5? I remember when I was a kid when I played Sunday football. We had a centre forward, top scorer, lethal in front of goal, was quickly discovered to be pretty mediocre at penalties. Our left back was better, dont think he ever missed.
Don't really get your point. Still the same. Maybe they're both just bottlers? I was a striker, and I took penalties. If you're a goal scorer you should back yourself to score from 12 yards and should be (in theory) in the top 5 on the pitch!
I've said this before. There are plenty of centre forwards of Charlie Wyke's type who don't hit a dead ball well. Niall Quinn, Alan Smith (of the Arsenal variety), Steve Bull (and some others) never took penalties. Doesn't make them bottlers. Just because you're a **** hot centre forward doesn't automatically make you good at striking a dead ball.
Maybe on the training ground it has already been established that they are just **** at penalties? Say Charlie Wyke, for some reason cant hit a barn door with a blunderbus from 12 yards on the training ground isnt gonna push a team mate aside and step forward with a 'dont worry lads Ive got this'......and misses. Unless you know what happens behind close doors its impossible to judge him. Maybe he was asked to take one and bottled it on the day? Maybe hes poor at pens and is not under consideration to take one?
Im not a great fan of Higuain, like many top rated continental strikers Benzema comes directly to mind, apart from the odd worldy every now and again,they are pretty anonymous most of the time, we could have one here, although admittedly on a different level. Harry Cane and Troy Deeney are my idea of center forwards and they don't hide when push comes to shove.
I'm sure all that's right and in which case it's time to practice them, and shooting in general by the sounds of it. After all you are being paid well to score goals. If Wyke was like O'Nien he'd be staying late every training session practicing shooting over and over.
I have to say, I was always **** at pens and I strike the ball pretty well generally, I just never quite got there with pens. On that basis I’m never arsed about folk not taking them.
Problem with penalties is that the player has time to think. Some strikers would probably score less goals if all of their chances came with time to think.
That’s me, moving ball etc, I’m fine, but thinking about it I never hit them clean. I just never got it. I am/ was always sound with corners and free kicks, but could I **** master a pen.
