Barton said he was speaking to Harper on Friday night. Harper told Barton that they were studying Austins run up to penalties and spotted a trend with his run up which indicated the side he placed the strike. Barton passed this back to Austin This is incredibly unprofessional or am i reading too much into this
It's the equivalent of what Tim Krul did at the WC for Holland. Except Harps did it in wily old sly fox kind of way.......
penalties are weird One thing the keeper wants the player to do is be predictable one thing the striker wants is the take a comfortable , reliable shot to put a comment like that in a players mind is interesting I suppose the ONE thing the keeper must still do is go the predictable way as that is (by definition) the strikers comfy safe shot if the striker is a wobbler he may alter the run up , the direction of the shot or try to look the wrong way and shonk it ! maybe looking too deep into a pen but its a neat idea to rattle em
As I was watching him he looked too straight on to the ball so it kinda ruled out a down the middle shot! But it was still a great save by macca! And also of you noticed he managed to save it and at the same time kick it out of harms way! Top keeper! We've been blessed with some good ones! Except that stupid twat from Man U
You're right, it's incredibly unprofessional of Barton to reveal on national TV that his team's penalty taker gives away in his run up which way he's going. Now every team in the league can check it out before they play QPR until he manages to remove it.
Penalty kickers should have a few different kicks in their repertoire. They should be able to blast the ball, place the ball just inside the post and be able to wait until the keeper starts to dive (with a backup plan if no dive). They should decide what they are going to do in the week before a match and then practice that during the week. It's madness to have a sloppy attitude to penalties.
McGregor said he hadn't done any homework in his post match interview. Is Hooper just winding Barton up? Either way Austin is going to have problems with his penalties form now on if he is doubt every time he takes one. I was keeping an eye on on Austin during the game and didn't see too much that made me think we had lost out by not signing him.
If it's really there he'll work on it. Until he's got comfortable doing that though it will either make him less comfortable when he's taking them if he tries to hide it, or he'll still be doing it and the opposition will be able to read it. If it's not really there he'll be making himself uncomfortable trying to hide a non existent trait, which is great mind games from Harper. I think they were saying he has but you can tell from the run up which of them he's going to use.
