Watching the game on Saturday, I thought it was an excellent win in extremely difficult conditions.
The miss from 6 yards out from Smythe concerned me though, do that against a team that is equal to you in quality, in a tight game, and it will come back to bite you, if Bonne was still with us, he would have got absolute pelters for it.
We got away with it, it didn’t matter in the end, but can you teach composure under pressure to put chances away, or do you either just have it as an instinct or you don’t?
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I paraphrase, but it's along the lines of "You're shit, Cascarino, you're going to miss this, you shouldn't even be playing football, who the f*** do you think you are, you're useless". He missed the chance.
I think with Smyth's miss though, he didn't have time for that thought process, he took an instinctive swipe and missed. Maybe a bit keyed up generally so snatched at it, but no time to do anything other than react. The best goals I ever scored were like that, if i had time to think, I'd invariably make the wrong choice and screw up.
The height of the ball with his leg makes me think it came off his shin, had he hesitated letting the ball drop properly then I reckon he'd have scored
I guess it all happens so quickly, the players must curse themselves when they look back and see just how much time they have
When the ball is dropping like that, coming through with your side foot is going to add height when you connect cleanly with it, especially when adding some power. Bit of confidence, some coaching and as jimmy says above some repetitive actions, that's going in 9 times out of 10 if you hit it correctly.
His past scoring record would suggest it doesn't come so naturally for him, but I'm not sure how often he's played as and out and out striker? He seems to like doing the donkey work.
Bogle has got into some good positions and made poor choices. But it's early days and he may be rusty still.
It's an old adage, but once they get one and all that...
Instinct because it is important to know what the right thing to do so given the situation. Visualisation because that is the confirmation that your instinct is telling you. Control because nerves will undo everything. And arrogance because, invariably, it's you against the keeper and you have to send a message to him that you are in charge but also because you have to believe in your own ability enough to forget about the inevitable misses.
Practise does help instinct. Visualisation also comes through doing that time and again successfully. Nerves can be a confidence issue and overcoming that is difficult because you have to be able to shut everything else out. And arrogance can be a natural commodity but can also come through experience and success.
I was a relatively decent centre forward but was hopeless at penalties because there was simply too much time to overthink things. One on ones I was good at though but I put this down to the fact that I started my football career as a keeper (was in the same youth team as John Bumstead for those old enough to remember him). I knew what a keeper was likely to do and always felt I was in charge which is also where the arrogance comes.
Michael Owen was a great goal scorer but his penalty record for Liverpool was appalling - he missed 10 of the 23 he took. Whereas someone like Jan Molby, who you would never describe as a natural goal scorer, netted 42 of the 44 he took. Matt Le Tissier was both a scorer of great goals and also the best penalty taker of all time. Alan Shearer was (and Harry Kane is) a great goal scorer and an excellent penalty taker.
So I think you can teach it though it is definitely easier for those that it comes more natural to. However, in any event, unless an individual has the coachability and also desire to repeat the exercise, time and time again, they will never be more successful than not.
Confidence, instinct, repetition, quality assists, focus and the control of the adrenaline rush. Most regular goal scorers have utter belief when they are on a run.
Big Josh Magennis looked a sublime striker against Bristol Rovers (only home game I missed that season) yet he rarely looked like he had a poaches instinct.
Sterling needs and gets loads of chances at City. He gets into great goal scoring positions but he misses more chances than he scores. (Poor strikers struggle to get into those positions)
Patrick Bamford scored 16 in 45 in the Championship but there were still question marks about him as a striker.
6 in 6 after stepping up to the Premier and his 3 strikes against Villa were excellent.
He could match last season's total in less games this season.
Born or made; the jury is still out but born looks favourite.
The supreme goal scorers like Clive Mendonca could score if he had time to think about it or a split second.
Ivan Toney's opening goal against Sheffield Wednesday is a fine example of this. A Brentford player shoots. There are six defenders in and around the only attacker, Toney, but he is the only one anticipating that the keeper might save it cleanly and the ball is in the back of the net before any of them can react.
If he had that same chance he would probably score 8 out of 10 times.
Even the great goal scorers miss them some times.
Thus if you're Paul Smyth, you wouldn't watch that miss 10 times to stop you repeating the miss next time, as by doing that the first thought in your mind when you get a chance would be "I'm going to miss". Instead you'd watch clips where you'd scored, so that you'd have positive thoughts when faced with a chance.
Of course if you're genuinely not good enough that won't work, but for professional footballers at a reasonable that shouldn't be the case. Pro footballers would expect to score Pratley's goal nearly every time in training, but the percentage actually scoring in a pressure situation will be far lower.
Snooker players spend hour upon hour practicing potting balls
Golfers spend hours on the range, in practice bunkers & on the putting green. I heard it said that Tiger Woods would have to hole 100 putts on the trott before packing up. If he missed the 99th he'd start all over again until he holed 100 out of 100.
David Beckham would stay long after training had finished practicing his free kicks.
Should be no different with other players. The 4 strikers should have a specialist coach throwing balls to them & making them score 10 out of 10 until its second nature. I used to love watching the players warm up on a match day. Time & again the strikers (plus 2 or 3 midfielders) would spend 5 mins doing their drills. Not many scored.....one ones that did were not usually the strikers. The supporters in the Covered end were in more danger than the goal keeper. No wonder we don't score many. No need to spend hours during the week practicing passing or fitness training. Spend time doing what is most important - scoring a goal.
As for Smyth on Saturday - It was not an easy chance & it wasn't a 1 on 1 where he had time to compose himself (or alternatively too long to think about it) but he had time to take a touch or wait until it was at the right height. He snatched at it. It does happen to all players but I would put my money on Mendonca, Killer, Bent or Hunt scoring it. It was a poachers /natural goalscorers chance & Smyth is neither.
Goalscoring is an instinctive thing. There's almost an element of 'Time slowing down' ... at least there was for me in my playing days.
But this aspect of anticipation is so important. As a goalscorer, you have to expect the defender to make a mistake. Most times he wont, and you have got it wrong. But when he does ... you are ready.
I watched Smyth's first game for us and saw more or less immediately why he doesn't score too many. He reacts, he doesn't anticipate.
Can you teach anticipation? Don't hold your breath.
My son is more than a decent wicket keeper. I can take no credit whatsoever for that bar one thing. I drilled into him from an early age, to expect the batsman to either miss the ball completely or, even more importantly, to nick it. Because you cannot react to a ball quick enough, especially standing up to a bowler bowling at 70mph plus, if you do not expect him to nick it.
But I'm not sure how well it can be taught. It's a mindset ... built on failure (as, most times, you will be disappointed). But it sounds like you have improved things for your lad.
Maybe give Jacko a call?
We see that Smyth's ability is running onto and with the ball. A 6-yard box poacher isn't a role he's particularly familiar with.
Inniss' header was dropping out of the sky, not the ideal trajectory for a volley.
Smyth suddenly becames aware and turns, body shape not adjusted, trying to keep his eye on the ball; he can't see that the keeper is indecisive and doesn't know whether to come or stay - and that he has time or could possibly take a touch and pass the ball into the net.
Plenty of experienced and better strikers than Smyth would also have missed that.
Those that get their body shape instinctively adjusted and ball concentration absolute, score.
But then they've spent their whole career being trained to do that; it's what they specialist in.
In terms of teaching composure, I think it is an area that can be improved through coaching, but some players almost instinctively know what to do and taught players will always have that delay. Some players that instinctively make the right choices have issues when they have time to think.
I did have a striker playing for me that scored lots of goals but could never score a one on one. I was contemplating telling him to put his first one on one to the keeper's right, the second to his left and repeat and take that thought process out of the equation. I thought that might take some of the doubt away and allow him to focus on executing the finish. But I decided against it in the end. Instead I just gave him encouragement but he still missed one on ones. He was our top scorer and the League top scorer though and I was happy with that.