August 5, 200717 yr We may as well just bend over the next time a match goes to penalties. Meaningless friendly maybe, but it really pisses me off how sh*t we are at this part of the game. It will continue cost us if we don't sort it out.
August 5, 200717 yr I think these things become a very mental exercise. Van Der Saar stalled, complained, moaned and held up every one of our pens, knowing (perhaps) that penalties re-visited was a traumatic memory for us and allowed enough time for those memories to re-surface. None of our penalties had any conviction about them and Cech looked beaten before they'd been struck. Even some of our fans in the ground looked resigned to defeat - the semi loss last season is still fresh for us and we need to work on banishing it from our minds. Also, I'd have brought Carlo on just before the end for the shoot-out - a penalty saving expert!
August 5, 200717 yr Is this how it's going to be? Every time we end up in a penalty shoot-out we're screwed even before we begin. My first thought today when the ref blew his whistle for full time was "Oh, f*ck. Another loss" We really can't win on penalties. I doubt if we'll even win against a team of kids who has just started playing football. And the worst thing is that the players knows this too. You could see it on their faces. Even Lampard - who usually are quite good on penalties - looked beaten when it was his turn. Mourinho might be one of the best managers in the world but I can't understand why he hasn't tried to fix this big problem Big games are sometimes decided on penalties so we really need to become better at it. Btw. I thought Cech looked a bit better though. He tried to distract the opponents and that's good.
August 5, 200717 yr I think these things become a very mental exercise. Van Der Saar stalled, complained, moaned and held up every one of our pens, knowing (perhaps) that penalties re-visited was a traumatic memory for us and allowed enough time for those memories to re-surface. None of our penalties had any conviction about them and Cech looked beaten before they'd been struck. Even some of our fans in the ground looked resigned to defeat - the semi loss last season is still fresh for us and we need to work on banishing it from our minds.Also, I'd have brought Carlo on just before the end for the shoot-out - a penalty saving expert! Well seeing as you and your pal's know so much,you should be running the team.
August 6, 200717 yr I suspect JM's penalty training involves watching DVDs of England taking penalties in major international tournaments...
August 6, 200717 yr I think these things become a very mental exercise. Van Der Saar stalled, complained, moaned and held up every one of our pens, knowing (perhaps) that penalties re-visited was a traumatic memory for us and allowed enough time for those memories to re-surface. None of our penalties had any conviction about them and Cech looked beaten before they'd been struck. Even some of our fans in the ground looked resigned to defeat - the semi loss last season is still fresh for us and we need to work on banishing it from our minds.Also, I'd have brought Carlo on just before the end for the shoot-out - a penalty saving expert! Well seeing as you and your pal's no so much,you should be running the team. I reckon there are a fair few fans out there who could do better than Mourinho in some aspects
August 6, 200717 yr Well seeing as you and your pal's no so much,you should be running the team. It's know not no! Please, if you're going to take the piss please make sure your grammar and spelling are correct.