ColinMorrisWalksOnWater
Assistant Head Coach⭐⭐
I'm in the Paul Clark camp here, the keeper completely mugged Powell off. Showed him 2/3 of the goal, just before the kick moved back to the centre then dived to the side he's shown Powell the bigger part of the goal. If Powell had put his foot through the ball he'd probably still beaten the keeper, but placing it, went straight for the set up the keeper was hoping for.But he took it properly, the others should learn. Weymouths keeper had a good game and read most of the situations well, Powell should have realised that.
Best penalty taker I have ever seen was Ray Stewart at West Ham (unfortunately), closely followed by Alan Moody! (Those of us that were there, how much pressure was there on that penalty @ Vicarage Road?!) Both of those two mentioned were defenders.
Doesn't always have to be a striker taking them, but penalty taking IS a special skill and we need a player PLUS a regular stand-in if the main man is off the pitch.
It's more about the strike on the ball whatever the technique. Stewart put his laces through the ball and took the keeper in the net if he went the right way, but knew how to keep the ball low, so never did a Chris Waddle. Moody was a side footer, but with power as well, and the speed on the ball is the secret for me.
Probably worth 5-8 goals a season depending how much penetration a team has into an opponents penalty area.
Easily worth half a dozen points over a season for a competent penalty taker. Cost us another two yesterday, luckily the season was over for us, but if we were playing for a play off place then could be costly, so it must be sorted.
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