I remember seeing an interview with Ron Atkinson when he was manager of Aston Villa on penalty shootouts.
The players who 'knew' how to take one, had taken them before under pressure and were confident, he was happy for them to step up and do it (attempt to send the keeper the wrong way, place it in the corner, etc).
However, if it fell to a player who didn't 'know' how take a penalty to take one he told them to bang it down the middle at the keeper's head...he said that three times out of five the keeper will go one way or the other giving a 60% chance of scoring, if the keeper stayed where he was and saved it the player would not be chastised for missing...he was happy with those odds as opposed to those of an inexperienced penalty taker stepping up and trying something tricksy and missing.
The players who 'knew' how to take one, had taken them before under pressure and were confident, he was happy for them to step up and do it (attempt to send the keeper the wrong way, place it in the corner, etc).
However, if it fell to a player who didn't 'know' how take a penalty to take one he told them to bang it down the middle at the keeper's head...he said that three times out of five the keeper will go one way or the other giving a 60% chance of scoring, if the keeper stayed where he was and saved it the player would not be chastised for missing...he was happy with those odds as opposed to those of an inexperienced penalty taker stepping up and trying something tricksy and missing.
