It seems that it’s never too early for our World Cup disappointment. Another loss on penalties for England and the overwhelming thoughts of ‘what might have been’. But of course we haven’t got out of the group stage yet. In fact, as of this writing, the World Cup is still 105 days away. But we know where this is going, don’t we?
The recent press coverage of England’s penalty woes has been fuelled by manager Roy Hodgson’s admission that he may need to employ a sports psychologist in order to help the team overcome their poor penalty record. For those wondering, England’s current record in World Cup penalty shoot-outs stands at played 3, won none. Even more remarkably England have managed to miss as many penalties as they have scored in World Cup shoot-outs, 7 each way. That’s not to mention the penalty disappointments of the European Championships.
Up until now the answer was thought to have been simply more training. Penalties taken and scored over and over again on the training ground until it becomes second nature. But it’s difficult to replicate the feeling of playing 120 minutes of world cup football first.
If it’s difficult to replicate the tiredness that the legs feel then it is nigh on impossible to replicate everything else that surrounds a shoot-out in a major competition. The pressure that comes with the spot kick, the increased heart-rate that comes from that pressure, the sound of a sell-out crowd and the knowledge that millions of people are relying on you at home.
To be fair, training shouldn’t really come into the equation anyway. Any player who is good enough to play in the world cup is good enough to find the corner of the goal from 12 yards. There are also those who claim that penalties are a lottery, that there’s probably more luck than judgement. However that theory wouldn’t account for England’s disproportionate amount of ‘bad luck’. No, it must come down to simply a mental battle. Which team can hold their nerve. For some reason England’s can’t.
We got a harrowing sneak preview of England’s penalty prospects when Manchester United went crashing out of the League Cup at the semi-final stage this season, losing on penalties to Sunderland 2-1. That's a pretty pathetic result for a penalty shoot-out between two top flight teams. But then as Englishmen we only have ourselves to blame.
Of the English players who took penalties, not one managed to find the back of the net. Misses for Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones and Adnan Januzaj (he’s English, isn’t he?) for United, while Craig Gardner missed for Sunderland. Incidentally the three scorers were from Scotland, Spain and South Korea respectively.
It would appear that as a country we have capable players and capable penalty takers, but that once we get to a shoot-out we crumble. Below is a list of English players who have taken penalties in the Premier League, there is certainly enough there to rely on,
Leighton Baines, scored 11/11. 100%
Ricky Lambert, scored 5/5. 100%
Phil Jagielka, scored 2/2. 100%
Frank Lampard, scored 43/49. 88%
James Milner, scored 4/5. 80%
Steven Gerrard, scored 23/30. 77%
Wayne Rooney, scored 15/22. 68%
Daniel Sturridge, scored 2/3. 67%
Jermain Defoe, scored 8/14. 57%
Not too bad, plenty to be confident about. It’s not perfect, of course. But isn’t that human nature? Mistakes happen for every player but they still happen more for us when we get to the big games. When we get to the penalty shoot-out.
It must be a psychological issue because quite frankly that seems to be the only explanation left. So, with that being said, it seems a no-brainer for Roy Hodgson to employ a sports psychologist as he is reportedly ‘considering’. How could he not consider it? If his England side were leaking goals left, right and centre and he didn’t currently employ a defensive coach he would be lambasted for not correcting this error.
Traditionalists will scoff at the idea of a sports psychologist but it would be a travesty to see this archaic way of thinking hinder England’s already slim chances of World Cup glory. If we care that much about tradition then surely we should take Joe Hart’s gloves off of him. After all, they didn’t wear them in the 40’s.
It’s also been in the news this week that Roy Hodgson has arranged for head of British cycling Sir Dave Brailsford to address the squad before they fly out to Brazil. It should probably be noted that Sir Dave is a keen advocate of sports psychologists and has seen them used throughout the team. You remember cycling, don’t you? It’s the sport that we actually realise our full potential at. The sport where we don’t freeze on the biggest of stages such as the Tour de France or the Olympics.
It’s time for the England football team to join their cycling equivalents in the 21st century and book the sports psychologist a flight to Brazil.
It’s still ok for us to leave Glenn Hoddle’s faith healer behind though.