Hodgson - Penalty Shootouts for friendlies

[davieG]

Sky

England manager Roy Hodgson has told Sky Sports News that he wants to see friendly games settled on penalties in a bid to boost England's woeful shootout record in tournaments.

England have won just one of six penalty shootouts in tournament play dating back to their 1990 defeat by Germany in the World Cup semi-finals.

Now Hodgson wants to try to replicate some of the pressure by having a shootout if a friendly ends in a draw.

He said: "Maybe in one of the friendly matches if the game finishes in a draw you should suggest to the opponents that 'let's finish it on a penalty shootout'.

Penalty shootout win percentage

Argentina 73%

Germany 71%

Brazil 64%

France 50%

Sweden 50%

Uruguay 50%

Italy 33%

Holland 20%

England 17%

"It's not a bad idea that, because at least then there is a lot more relevance to a competition at the end of a friendly in front of a big crowd than there is when you are taking penalties day after day in training and watching players quite happily whizz them into the back of the net. And then you have got that long walk with a big crowd."

Hodgson is aware that due to their long history of failure in shootouts, England's players inevitably approach them with trepidation.

He added: "What we can't do, and I think I've said this before - our problem is always going to be we have got the weight of failure with us.

"So anyone making that walk, I don't know how we are going to get it out of his mind... everyone is with bated breath now because we have missed so many... Is it going to happen to us again? We really need to get that right."

England's solitary penalty shootout win came in the 1996 European Championship when they beat Spain in the quarter-finals before going on to lose to Germany in the semi-finals on penalties.

As well as the 1990 and 1996 defeats to Germany, England have also lost twice to Portugal on penalties in the 2004 European Championship and the 2006 World Cup, before last summer's Euros elimination at the hands of Italy in the quarter-finals.

[foxfanazer]

Totally agree. Don't get why they don't already

[Zingari]

won't the other teams get better at it as well ?

[Fox92]

won't the other teams get better at it as well ?

Yeah, that's what I thought as well.

[Zingari]

Yeah, that's what I thought as well.

:xmasbiggrin:

Maybe we aren't seeing the bigger picture , but surely the best way is to get the players to work on their penalty taking in training .

Get the players or coaching staff with good technique to work with those who lack these very basic skills .

Practice Practice Practice, there's no better substitute

I know he's harping on about it all being about the pressure of the big occasion , but penalty shoot outs in friendlies is not going to recreate that pressure

[Guest ttfn]

I think more than anything that it will be a big confidence boost if we could win one of these shootouts whilst the pressure is off.

[Soar Fox]

Good idea but doubt it will work. It's alright practising in friendlies and training but its different when its in a World Cup or European championship game in front of 70,000 people.

[Filbert_Ross]

i know i wouldnt be hanging about to watch penalties if a friendly game ended in a draw, sure plenty of others wouldnt too.

[Alexikokopops]

:xmasbiggrin:

Maybe we aren't seeing the bigger picture , but surely the best way is to get the players to work on their penalty taking in training .

Get the players or coaching staff with good technique to work with those who lack these very basic skills .

Practice Practice Practice, there's no better substitute

I know he's harping on about it all being about the pressure of the big occasion , but penalty shoot outs in friendlies is not going to recreate that pressure

It seems they're already practising them a lot.

"It's not a bad idea that, because at least then there is a lot more relevance to a competition at the end of a friendly in front of a big crowd than there is when you are taking penalties day after day in training and watching players quite happily whizz them into the back of the net. And then you have got that long walk with a big crowd."

I do agree in that I'm not sure doing them in friendliest will help that much but I can't imagine it hampering too much. Looking at the win percentages it seems other teams already have a lot more confidence than us

[AyewJoking]

ive always found the "you cant recreate the pressure in practice" to be misleading. surely its better to have a player who knows exactly where he wants to put the ball, how to hit it etc than chuck them in at the deep end in sudden death?