In the no pressure situation of training ground practice, I imagine it all goes swimmingly well. When asked to do it on cue to win a match, thats where the mind comes in...can't teach that.
He suffers from the same thing as Krancjar; A lack of pace. This is the main thing that will keep out of most starting line ups.
Sorry Notso, but I just don't buy that. It's the same thinking that says that practising penalties doesn't help. Beckham used to practice relentlessly and so do most free-kick specialists. If you practice enough, then you'll build the confidence to do it in a pressure situation. You don't think that it's going to work, you know it is.
Absolutely PNP. Great free kick takers practice relentlessly. It is all about doing things automatically so the pressure of the situation doesn't affect you. If you have put a couple of hundred balls into the top corner that week and could almost do it in your sleep, you simply zone out the wall and keeper mentally and put the ball there during a game, or at least you have a far better chance of doing so.
Not too bothered what you buy PNP, you base your argument on them not practicing. Is this an assumption? or do you attend every training session?, how do you know?, if you don't know, I'm not playing McEnroe based on that.
On the flip side, it's why they kept him in the side far too long without replacing him - his inability to convert dead balls was one of the (many) contributing factors that explain they didn't make it past the quarter finals. Ronan O'Gara can come on for the last half hour and close out the game, because he can still do what's needed.
