How England Became Good At Penalties 

If we lose on shootouts this tournament, I'm holding you personally responsible

I found it that every England player had a 'buddy' that walked with them to the spot and met them half way on the way back. Futhermore, for the first 2 England kicks, Pickford would also meet the player at the edge of the box before he was warned by the referee to stop interfering. In all of our other shootouts the penalty taker has been isolated to take the kick alone and walk back alone - something that was particularly clear when they missed. It's a small thing but I imagine that it is important for the players to ease that anxiety when taking the penalty.

The idea of penalty buddies, someone assigned to celebrate with - or console - the penalty taker and idea of Pickford of walking into the box with the taker. These are subtle things but do so much for psychology and confidence in the players

This is exactly the sort of video the people need to see to understand the cultural shift and phenomenal job that Southgate has done. These subtleties drive success but people still attribute it to luck and don't give him enough credit that they're probably in the semi-final again because of him.

It's definitely a major improvement from the 1990s and the early to mid 2000s when England were almost guaranteed to be knocked out if the game went to a penalty shootout.

"that England fans love but would despise if he played for any other nation" this is why your commentary is the best mate

You had to do it didn’t you Alfie. You couldn’t have just waited one week when the tournament was over before uploading this video. If we do lose on pens vs the Netherlands, I am holding you solely responsible for the loss 🧐

Top drawer Alfie! 😄 Penalties: historically the England football DNA test lol ...This vid was brilliant, a trip down memory lane, including the good, the bad & the absolutely horrific 🙄, yet culminating in one of those paradoxical, yet accurate appraisals of life under Southgate, wherein the most successful tenure as England boss, since '66, is also the most maligned 🤔...Cheers Mr. Potts Harmer. COME ON ENGLAND! ⚽🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🍻

Alfie matchday vlog for the 230 Euro cabaret in Paris when?

0:24 Alfie said look but didn't show Luke Shaw's image- bro fell off.

The penalty partner idea is kinda cool. Makes sense as usually at freekicks they have at least 2 chatting about it.

Probably traumas they had from the last time

Insightful stuff 👏🏿

The Athletic has a couple really excellent articles about this subject. Highly recommend reading.

Alfie, you are the best RU-vid Football Journalist hands down. Also, please pardon me if RU-vid Football Journalist is not the preferred nomenclature.

HITC you may have just given England the kiss of death 💋💋💋

Oblak saved a penalty to win us the league in 2021, he was quite poor at penalties early in his career which brings his stats down a lot but last five years he’s been sublime

I was not nervous watching the penalties until Trent. It was weird

Now watch England get to the final, play out a 0-0 draw and then lose on penalities with 1 shot saved and another into the stratosphere Baggio-style

Top 7 English penalty taker's of all time.

That semi in 96 was unfortunate; buried all 5 before it went to sudden death

No, i wasnt thinking that Alfie, i was thinking, how is this going to be a half hour video? Very interesting though!

Thanks for the jinx Alfie

Just a question, in this video you say, like Kyle Walker, that beating teams by several goals isn't modern football, albeit you meant at least once penalties would likely feature, and he meant that it isn't the reality of football for that to happen at all. Is that actually true, though? Many teams have steamrolled others at recent tournaments, and whilst they may have a penalty shootout, it will more be in the fashion which you mentioned, rather than frequent slow and low-scoring performances being the norm. England scored 6 against Iran at just the last World Cup, where Spain scored 7 against Costa Rica, France 4 against Australia, Portugal 6 against Switzerland (who England struggled against), Germany scored 5 against Scotland at this tournament, so was Walker just trying to avoid being negative?

I’ve just watched Saka’s pen v Italy, then his pen v Switzerland. They’re almost the same. The difference is the Swiss goalkeeper choosing to dive right, instead of to his left. Had he guessed the right way, he would likely have saved it, given the lack of power.

How are they a lottery? They are about composure and technical ability which both make up a good player. Kick a resting ball exact and strong enough and the goalie will have no chance.

Cold Palmer

We have taken 4 shootouts with Southgate and we have won 3/4

Pickford is going to mess around and get a Major League Baseball style pitch count implemented if he keeps pysching people out.

Could you do a video on : why is Gareth Southgate so disliked in England? I mean based on results in tournaments he has been the most successful England manager since 1966. but every English football RU-vidr (except you) seems to want him sacked immediately basically since he was appointed. I just wondered why. Hope your having a great day.

We Swiss should have buried our chances in extra time or defended the Saka goal better, because the truth is that the penalty lineup of England just is better. You have the main penalty takers for Chelsea, Arsenal and Brentford, Liverpools main free kick taker and one of the biggest talents in the world against the main penalty taker of Chicago Fire, a guy who took 1 pen for Burnley and 2 defenders, who only take penalties during shootouts. And we even got lucky that Bayerns main taker was subbed off Plus we have won 1 penalty shootout in our history, where only Mbappe missed

Poker is a game of short-term luck and long-term skill.

When Lady Luck closes the door on you, climb through the window.

These narratives are crazy. The sample sizes of shootouts are tiny and span decades. You get different takers, keepers, contexts, fans. Yet still nations need to talk about whether they're good or bad. Some country was always going to get a complex after losing a few important ones. You'd think France would have the biggest complex given they've lost two world cup finals on pens. Christ imagine if that were England. But there seems to be more acceptance of how random it is. Good takers often miss. Sometimes keepers make great saves. Huge amounts come down to which way they guess. England took 5 good pens, but on another day one of those is saved. Or the opposition also score 5 and then there's added pressure for the 6th and 7th. When a team loses 6-5 it's never praising the penalties they scored. I remember man utd losing 11-10 and then people saying they're rubbish at pens. Literally scoring every one except for the keepers. So often a team wins a shootout in a tournament then loses their next shootout. You go insane working out who is GOOD at them. Portugal were good at then v Slovenia and then not good at then a few days later v France. Last Euros Switzerland beat France on pens and then lose to Spain on pens who then lose to Italy on pens who then beat England on pens. So are Italy good at pens? Well they won, but the quality of that final shootout was pretty low. The real trick, and sign of a quality side is to not get yourself in loads of penalty shootouts! England have terrific attackers. Yet for 6 years of it, they've gone out scoring 1 goal. It will lead to a lot of draws when you're that cautious. Other teams are doing it too. Its happening in the Copa now. At what point will people get bored of each tournament just being endless pens and people trying to retrospectively add narrative to it?

I knew Ivan Toney's sister at school way back in the day, she mentioned how good her little brother was at Football a few times, cut to 20 odd years later and he is scoring penalties at the euros it's mad lol

One spring doesn't make a summer

Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 654) I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored. If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.

Alfie is going to jinx us now😅

ok that's cool and all but something way more interesting to talk about is the Welsh premier league.

All the penalties were fantastic. felt like a different country. Haha

England were excellent but i still don't think we should be getting to high on ourselves... infact I'd rather not go to pens at all...we haven't come here for quarter final win on pens...we need to drastically improve if we want to get our hands on the trophy

There's definitely factors you can train - actually placing it well, hitting it with enough power, not being nervous and not giving it away. But it's still heavily chance, especially from the keeper's side. I think it was Oliver Kahn who said, as a keeper, you can't really lose on a penalty. The taker has to put it in, the keeper just picks a corner and commits. It's not like you can grow 20 cm taller - as we saw with Sommer, who is a great keeper in a game, but way too small to be good on penalties. Honestly, that's why I don't like penalties, it contains to much chance for a skill-based game. But football is massively resistant to change, so it's not going anywhere, even though exploring better options to decide games would do the game a big service.

A game of rock paper scissors is a perfect example of a skill game driven by mentality and I think it can be comparable to a penalty shootout

I remember listening to a Sky Sports interview or some other interview with Mark Noble, ex- West Ham captain who scored over 30 penalties in his career and converted about 90% of them, when he talked about the technique he said the main thing he did was have an idea of which corner he was going to strike the ball, but just before he hit it, he looked up and if he saw the keeper commit he'd just tap it in the other way, I thought this was interesting. When you look at most Penalty shootouts, you see a lot of penalties hit like that, you see on the replay the keeper has gone early and the player has tapped it in middle or the other way and commentator says it was "calm and collected". Then you see them hit like Ekanji's (where he looked like he was trying to place it into the Corner) and it is called a "poor penalty" (it was) even though many successful Penalties I have watched have been hit the same just the Keeper is already diving the other way. Having played as a Goalkeeper, I know you stand no chance if you guess correctly but they can just plonk it in the bottom or top corner, why keepers go early so if it is off by an inch they can save it, but players notice that and when they see it they can just quickly knock the ball the other way or even down the middle, it was very evident on two of the successful Pens taken by Switzerland, also France's shootout win vs Portugal.

WRONG! At Euro 96 Platt, Shearer, Gascoigne, Sheringham and Pearce scored all 5 penalties. Southgate missed the 6th.

It's really nice seeing someone giving Southgate some of the credit he rightfully deserves. Maybe the lack of expectation did us better against Switzerland than the rest of the tournament, but come on. The England team I grew up with made it to the quarter finals if lucky. The England team I grew up with got knocked out in the group stage, constsitently. Some people have very very short memories

I’d like to see you do a lengthy video about the Crazy Horse Nude Cabaret in Paris.

Well done on the jinx Alfie, just watch England lose on penalties to the Dutch tonight.

Ice Cold Palmer quietly insisting he took the first kick. Get good, people. Ivan Toney, I double dare you to do that move again. Alfie, I never heard Matt Le Tissier discuss 'abstruse detail', more's the pity.

I remember how England had terrible penalties, so this is needed video.

Actually poker is notorious for the fact that its rarely the same guys in the final; some guys have a streak, are sitting at finals table for 18 months, and never again.

Good work done since Euro 2020

England actually played well today against The Netherlands. I couldn't believe it

Video idea 7 best walkouts in association football

19:10 Just a note, England converted all 6 of their penalties against the Swiss in the Nations League 3rd Place match. Another note, the US easily scored all 5 penalties in the QF against Brazil in the 2011 Women's World Cup and then absolutely botched 3 of 4 in the Final against Japan. Of course managers will say penalty shootouts are luck, can't be practiced, etc to deflect having to take any responsibility for losing or even getting to penalties in the first place. And believe me, England players don't all of a sudden relish going to penalty shootouts, no player does. They might be more comfortable than the teams of decades ago but won't relish it.

Imagine if a player called Tony Cole gets called up one day. He'll never miss

Easy manager reaction guide: when you lose a penalty shootout its a lottery; when you win it's a triumph of character, nerve, skill and preparation.

Pickford is usually excellent in shootouts but against the Swiss he was crap. Needs to stop overthinking it.

Gareth Southgate, on competition progression in Euros/WC's, is the best England Manager of all time.

By putting the ball in the back of the net.

Even when you go through the whole squad at the Euro's you even have the likes of Lewis Dunk who has scored 4 out of 4 penalties in shootouts. We could bring on almost anyone and you would feel semi confident they would score.

Wobbly knees Grobelaar

One of the highlights of this tournament has been the hater 'fans' who said we'd get knocked out by Slovakia then said we'd knocked out by Switzerland scrambling to still get taken seriously 😂

Penalty shootouts are a matter of luck for those who lose them, and a matter of determination and accuracy for those who win them.

Just need to drop that mind set that England have won the game after 1-0 up

Come on England!

PK’s should the old school MLS style … run up from 30 yards out, dribble and score

There's several countries that don't have a regular penalty taker in their squad. England have often had players that were but never showed it for their country i.e. Gerrard, Lampard & Rooney. England had Beckham taking their penalties, even though he wasn't good at them.

Yeah Alfie, that’s it, Jinx us

“The more I practise the luckier I get” Gary Player. Carlisle united 5 - 4 Stockport county. League 2 play off final 2023. Our manager Paul Simpson applied learning and research from his time with the England set up. The nonsense that there’s no point practicing penalties as you can’t recreate the pressure!!!!! It’s certainly not a lottery nor is it just luck/chance

It’s are god given right to get carried away only to be humiliated when we ultimately fail.

Must work on the fans; that was the first shootout I wasn't covering my eyes and/or away in another room! 🤣

Don't hurry now. One win can't obliterate about 10 in a row previous loses. Just because it happened once doesn't mean they are changed. It was just a fluke.

I‘m still salty that y‘all won. It really wasn’t deserved, even if you are a bit better at penalties

giving Rio as an example for a football opinion only shows how inaccurate it is. Fantastic footballer, but his brain is not great

Did definitely help, that Pickford had the preferd penalty style of every swiss player written on his waterbottle...

Surprised Ferdinand could speak after creaming himself over Saka. Pickford's record doesn't get recognised because he doesn't play for a 'top 6' scum club

This goes to show that the oft stated "You can't practice penalties" is rubbish. For sure, it's "not the same" as when qualification for the next round is on the line, but neither is practicing free kicks, yet nobody suggests we shouldn't practice those in training.

Can you do a video about Willem van Hanegem (imo maybe the most underrated player ever) (21th video)

bro jinxed it

Paris Cabaret show review, please.

Southgate is certainly not above criticism, and tactically, much of it has been fully warranted. He really has changed the squad's mentality, though. His England teams have been more tightly knit and psychologically strong than those of any of his predecessors I can remember. This will be his last tournament, but English fans may miss him sooner than they expect.

The euros can do the funniest thing ever

Can we please have a video about Maltese Football ⚽ Thank you

Nowadays if you want to almost constantly win penalty shootout you need a great penalty shootout stopper like Dibu. It is no longer a lottery, it is a mental battle between keepers and shooters. In international football it is much better to use great penalty shootout stopper than great overall goalkeeping because more matches been settled in penalty shootout. Euro 2024 quarter final had 2 out of 4 matches settled in penalty shootout while Copa America 2024 quarter final had 3 out 4. That is why Brazil keep on losing penalty shootout nowadays because they keep on using Alisson who could only save one penalty in the last 2 penalty shootouts compared to Dibu who saved 3 penalties (plus 1 penalty missed by opposition) in the last 2 penalty shootouts.

Careful, you're almost making me like something about Southgate!

You can in a way by putting something on the line that the players want to win or should I say not lose. For example towards the end of a hard training session where the team has been drilled to almost exhaustion. Have them do penalty practice with say those who don't score only getting half wages/none at all or a all expenses paid weekend. That way the pressure will be on for them to perform knowing something of value is at stake. Granted it won't be like a actual tournament with millions watching. But the element of pressure to succeed will. That way when they step up to the spot, they will be in a better head space have already practiced under pressure so will know how to centre themselves.

Easy, we repeatedly found ourselves in them due to not wrapping up games. Practice makes perfect.

If there is any justice in football, England won't have to take on any other penalty shootout for the present EURO...

Alfie, TikTok When?

It's not that deep imo. England had a bunch of penalty merchants and dead-ball specialists on the pitch, and they executed. All of them are regular penalty takers except for Trent, who's a free kick guy.

Let me put it this way. Toney wouldn't have missed the penalty that Kane did in the World Cup.

English football fans are obsessed penalty shootouts so I think the community shield should be replaced with a knock out penalty shootout competition with Premier league teams

It's a bit of a non issue really. We are good at penalties, we've won three out of the last 4 shootouts. And that's simply a result of the professionalism of the modern England setup. It's not a lottery, there are a lot of variables that you can affect and a professional organisation will find ways of making marginal gains in every part of the process and maximising the chances of success. I'm hoping earnestly that this is an organisational shift in the England set up and not just a result of Southgate's influence. He's not going to be around for ever.

What are the 4 shootouts under Southgate??? Columbia, Italy, Switzerland and who???

Wait until they meet a better team😂😂

Video Idea:- Best Dead 11

This is going to age like month old milk

England face dark horses and win the penalties. They still lost to Italy in last Euro 2020. Italy is among the top 5 best national team when comes to penalty shootout.

Now this is niche