you take three penalties......

Originally Posted by violater™

why would you do that.

he will only ever put the ball in the same place and a player with such a poor record in one on one situations should never take penalties.

Scored 2/3, also took them for Fulham, do not know his record. He has went the same side 3 times, the fact is that we all thought that Ronaldo would take them after WC, 2 ice cool pens in shoot outs, but Saha must have shown something in training to be given the responsibility.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Scored 2/3, also took them for Fulham, do not know his record. He has went the same side 3 times, the fact is that we all thought that Ronaldo would take them after WC, 2 ice cool pens in shoot outs, but Saha must have shown something in training to be given the responsibility.

no what i meant was in ONE on ONES in general.

saha and giggs are the two players i dont think will score a basic 1 on 1 agaisnt a keeper

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Saha must have shown something in training to be given the responsibility.

Let's hope not. Penalties in training have zero relevance to penalties in matches.

saha is dreadful at one on ones

Originally Posted by Grimson

Let's hope not. Penalties in training have zero relevance to penalties in matches.

jamie carragher springs to mind....

Originally Posted by violater™

no what i meant was in ONE on ONES in general.

saha and giggs are the two players i dont think will score a basic 1 on 1 agaisnt a keeper

They are both shite on 1v1 attempts, remember the Barnet fa cup tie at home last year, Saha made a total hash of 3 of them, never looked like he was going to score.

Giggs from a pen would still look for a way to pass or let the ball run, never seems to want to shoot.

If Saha gives them up Ronaldo should take them.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

They are both shite on 1v1 attempts, remember the Barnet fa cup tie at home last year, Saha made a total hash of 3 of them, never looked like he was going to score.

Giggs from a pen would still look for a way to pass or let the ball run, never seems to want to shoot.

If Saha gives them up Ronaldo should take them.

remember some old bloke at ot telling me never to stand up when giggs is through on a 1 on 1

Originally Posted by violater™

remember some old bloke at ot telling me never to stand up when giggs is through on a 1 on 1

Its a knack that players have. Look at Ole, if he gets a one v one you just expect him to score. Cole missed his fair share of them as well.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Scored 2/3, also took them for Fulham, do not know his record. He has went the same side 3 times, the fact is that we all thought that Ronaldo would take them after WC, 2 ice cool pens in shoot outs, but Saha must have shown something in training to be given the responsibility.

I think they give them to Saha because they know he's a confidence player, and given that we're £#%&!ed without him - it's best to keep him scoring goals and feeling an important part of the side.

He was always missing that, tonight. It's strange but I didn't get excited at all when I saw he was taking it - I was certain he'd miss.

There should be no doubt now that Ronaldo is the penalty taker.

Did anyone feel he was going to score? Everyone, and I mean everyone, in the pub I was in said he was going to miss it.

I don't think Ronaldo's the answer too by the way. The way he strikes a ball doesn't fill me with confidence. Experience is the way to go, which means Giggs or Scholes. Next choice would be Rooney.

Originally Posted by Ether

I don't think Ronaldo's the answer too by the way. The way he strikes a ball doesn't fill me with confidence.

But he's confident in himself. That's the most important thing, as the fundamental technique is dead easy and should result in a goal 85% of the time.

Originally Posted by Ether

Did anyone feel he was going to score? Everyone, and I mean everyone, in the pub I was in said he was going to miss it.

I don't think Ronaldo's the answer too by the way. The way he strikes a ball doesn't fill me with confidence. Experience is the way to go, which means Giggs or Scholes. Next choice would be Rooney.

rooney has already missed a penalty and sven said he was one of the players who hated taking penalties etc...

ronaldo has the balls to put it away.

It was a terrible penalty. His positioning for the run-up was appalling and he put it at the wrong height. Surely as a professional football player it can't be that hard to know where you're supposed to stand and where to place the ball?

Personally, I think this whole "you can't practice penalties" thing is rubbish. You can practice the correct technique until it becomes instinctive. You can still £#%&!-up but at least you've done everything possible to maximise your chance of success. IMHO either Saha forgot what he was supposed to be doing or he's not practicing/being taught properly.

Confidence is the most important thing? I'd dispute that, that sounds like ignorant pundit talk to me. A lot of the great penalty takers have relied upon 'kidding' the goalkeeper, and Ronaldo has shown absolutely no talent for that aspect of fooball during his time at United. The rest of them have relied upon having a very accurate shot, and I'd question whether Ronnie is really up to standard there too.

Originally Posted by Ether

Confidence is the most important thing? I'd dispute that, that sounds like ignorant pundit talk to me. A lot of the great penalty takers have relied upon 'kidding' the goalkeeper, and Ronaldo has shown absolutely no talent for that aspect of fooball during his time at United. The rest of them have relied upon having a very accurate shot, and I'd question whether Ronnie is really up to standard there too.

Well of course confidence isn't the most important thing. I was assuming that the technical proficiency to strike a ball 12 yards was a given.

It's nice to trick the goalkeeper but far from neccessary. How can you say Ronaldo hasn't "shown that ability" during his time at United? How many pens has he taken? Did he not send Robinson the wrong way in Germany?

Originally Posted by violater™

rooney has already missed a penalty and sven said he was one of the players who hated taking penalties etc...

ronaldo has the balls to put it away.

It's not about balls though. David Batty had balls for £#%&!s sake. If you can name me any regularly successful penalty taker that relied on 'balls' rather than technique then I'll doff my cap in your direction.

I've seen Ronaldo take four or five penalties in his career - and he's scored every one comfortably.

The most important thing, though, is that he scored in the Euro 2004 Quarter-Final shootout with England, the FA Cup final shootout against Arsenal and then the World Cup Quarter-Final shootout with England.

Incidentally, the first one I saw him score was around the time we signed him, and was to knock the England under-19s out of a tournament, too.

He's got form. I reckon 90% of penalty taking is concentration and confidence. He's the man for the job, imo.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

He's got form. I reckon 90% of penalty taking is concentration and confidence. He's the man for the job, imo.

Definitely, he wouldn;t miss many

Originally Posted by Grimson

It's nice to trick the goalkeeper but far from neccessary. How can you say Ronaldo hasn't "shown that ability" during his time at United? How many pens has he taken? Did he not send Robinson the wrong way in Germany?

I wasn't talking just about pens. When has he ever, when faced with a goalscoring opportunity, tried to trick the keeper? He relies on hitting it hard.

Originally Posted by Ether

I wasn't talking just about pens. When has he ever, when faced with a goalscoring opportunity, tried to trick the keeper? He relies on hitting it hard.

I'd agree with that, but when he has taken penalties for some reason he does exactly that (trick the keeper). I haven't seen any keeper get near his penalties, he either puts them the wrong way or puts it high into a top corner