Just looked at some of the quality in this World Cup....... if we manage to get through to the semi finals by landing say Colombia and Switzerland it would be a once in a lifetime stroke of luck. There is so much quality around this tournament that would chew us up and spit us out in a flash.
Yes, when you look at the other potential quarter finals, we're in easily the weakest section
Uruguay vs France Potentially Brazil vs Belgium Potentially Spain vs Croatia
The GOAT's have been slain, Ronaldo and Messi efforts in vain, Mbappe is just a teenager, But this I will wager, He's fast and zippy, And doesn't seem lippy, A young man born in France, Giving defenders a merry dance, Entertaining and attacking, This world cup is not lacking, Superb goals and dreams, For fans it's supreme, Thrills, spills and VAR, As we watch a young superstar, The gifted Kylian Mbappe, It's not just France he's making happy. This world cup is to savour, If you love football it's the right flavour, Can England reach the semi-final, Now that would go viral.
To me that will always be a slight negative on their careers, especially Messi. Ronaldo perhaps can be excused as Portugal, a small country of 10m, have never won the World Cup, but Argentina have won it twice within living memory (1978 and 1986) and are a major football player. 6 goals in 4 world cups and 19 world cup appearances is a pretty meagre return really.
If Ryan Wilson the England youth player didn't get the hump when his parents divorced I'm sure that he would have been the missing link in Euro 96 where we had no left sided attacking player.
He missed out on 3 or 4 world cups and the same in the Euro's.
Ryan Giggs must be gutted that he listened to Alex Ferguson advise and concentrated on his club where he became a united and premier legend. He can ponder that decision because he could have been an international legend plus England could have had a top quality left sided player for 15 years who even in 2018 it is still our weak position.
It said on sky sports this morning that all the England players have been practising penalties. It also said Pope was by far the best of the three keepers at saving them. Worth bringing him on as a sub if we are heading for penalties ?
What ineterested me about Kane's two penalties were that they seemed to be scientific. I mean by that, it has been proven that there is a square area either side of the post and cross bar, that if you hit the ball hard enough (I can't remember what the speed was) - it is unsaveable for a keeper standing in the middle of the goal.
I read this research some years ago and to put the ball in this area at the required speed didn't seem an impossibility for any talented player. I know Southgate has done a lot of work with the team on penalties and utilised sports scientists. I will have to see a few more pens including pens from other players, but I am wondering if he is the first manager I have seen who has reacted to this research. most don't even practice them, claiming they are a lottery! Kane's two penalties are certainly consistent with it!
If Ryan Wilson the England youth player didn't get the hump when his parents divorced I'm sure that he would have been the missing link in Euro 96 where we had no left sided attacking player.
He missed out on 3 or 4 world cups and the same in the Euro's.
Ryan Giggs must be gutted that he listened to Alex Ferguson advise and concentrated on his club where he became a united and premier legend. He can ponder that decision because he could have been an international legend plus England could have had a top quality left sided player for 15 years who even in 2018 it is still our weak position.
Giggs was never eligible for England. He played for England schoolboys because he went to an English school but he was born in Wales to Welsh parents, had no English grandparents etc.
Also Giggs was a very good player but wouldn't have suddenly made us twice as good, and McManaman was good at Euro 96, predominantly on the left.
What ineterested me about Kane's two penalties were that they seemed to be scientific. I mean by that, it has been proven that there is a square area either side of the post and cross bar, that if you hit the ball hard enough (I can't remember what the speed was) - it is unsaveable for a keeper standing in the middle of the goal.
I read this research some years ago and to put the ball in this area at the required speed didn't seem an impossibility for any talented player. I know Southgate has done a lot of work with the team on penalties and utilised sports scientists. I will have to see a few more pens including pens from other players, but I am wondering if he is the first manager I have seen who has reacted to this research. most don't even practice them, claiming they are a lottery! Kane's two penalties are certainly consistent with it!
I think it's ridiculous not to practise penalties. Every player needs to know how they are going to take one. I've heard some managers say that you can't reproduce the pressure in training and while that is obviously true, that is why you need to practise. The more you practise, the better your technique will be under pressure. That's why golfers spend hours on the putting green.
What ineterested me about Kane's two penalties were that they seemed to be scientific. I mean by that, it has been proven that there is a square area either side of the post and cross bar, that if you hit the ball hard enough (I can't remember what the speed was) - it is unsaveable for a keeper standing in the middle of the goal.
I read this research some years ago and to put the ball in this area at the required speed didn't seem an impossibility for any talented player. I know Southgate has done a lot of work with the team on penalties and utilised sports scientists. I will have to see a few more pens including pens from other players, but I am wondering if he is the first manager I have seen who has reacted to this research. most don't even practice them, claiming they are a lottery! Kane's two penalties are certainly consistent with it!
I think it's ridiculous not to practise penalties. Every player needs to know how they are going to take one. I've heard some managers say that you can't reproduce the pressure in training and while that is obviously true, that is why you need to practise. The more you practise, the better your technique will be under pressure. That's why golfers spend hours on the putting green.
Agreed, being able to do something in your sleep because you've practised so much is protection against the nerves and pressure of the shoot out. You will never be 100% successful, but surely you can improve your chances if you do this, with each player having a set penalty in their mind, rather than have a player coming up to take one without a clue what to do.
Two players who had decent penalty records at different levels were Lampard and JJ. However, I always considered their penalties saveable. They scored most of them as even though they were saveable, they were hard to save. The question is, are there unsaveable penalties and can they be replicated consistently. I think there are and football hasn't caught up with that fact yet!
We have the worst penalty shoot out record in The World Cup of any of the last 16. In fact, we have never won one!
Southgate has a cunning plan, Kane swaps shirts and wears a mask for each pen in the shoot out!
Looking at the team I'm not sure I'd be that confident - Kane, Lingard, Vardy if he's on should be fine, but not sure I'd trust Sterling or Henderson to score.
It is a skill to put the ball in a certain area at a certain speed. It is a skill that players have to overlearn so they are completely comfortable, but it is possible to do this. International players certainly have the ability to hit an area at speed every time, even average ones surely!
What ineterested me about Kane's two penalties were that they seemed to be scientific. I mean by that, it has been proven that there is a square area either side of the post and cross bar, that if you hit the ball hard enough (I can't remember what the speed was) - it is unsaveable for a keeper standing in the middle of the goal.
I read this research some years ago and to put the ball in this area at the required speed didn't seem an impossibility for any talented player. I know Southgate has done a lot of work with the team on penalties and utilised sports scientists. I will have to see a few more pens including pens from other players, but I am wondering if he is the first manager I have seen who has reacted to this research. most don't even practice them, claiming they are a lottery! Kane's two penalties are certainly consistent with it!
Yes, excellent.
As I have said before, as a sports scientist myself, I love these kind of things. The research further suggests that for a higher success rate on penalties there are key elements that are needed prior to shooting in the unsaveable zone, this includes having a pre-determined selection of penalty takers as this will allow for a period of mental preparation before performing the penalty kick itself.
There are some really interesting aspects to a penalty shoot-out and with the research that is out there, it is great that Southgate has potentially been using that to our advantage.
It is something we need to embrace. One of my heroes was somebody I was always taught to hate, Charles Hughes. The reason why he was castigated was the long ball game. It was developed out of statistical analysis and was moderately successful for a time! I think the issue with it was the overall ability of the players that formed the data - but using statistics was ahead of its time.
Sadly the reaction was to throw the baby out with the bath water rather than say - the principle is right, we just need better data. We now have fantastic processing power available to us and not to use that in football is a crime! We actually have by some freak of nature, a manager who understands that!
Penalties should never be a lottery. Penalties are a very skillful part of football .
Glen Hoddle for all his inovation in wanting his centre backs to run with the ball to open up space, his comment at the time that penalties were a lottery was so crass and other so called experts said the same. Letting David Batty take a penalty when his own father said he hadn't taken one since he was 10 and he missed that in a school match showed at the time what wolly thinking leads too. If Pope is the best keeper at saving them in training let him spend his time studying the next opposition and focusing on penalties. It always hacks me off to think that I did better preparation with a Sunday youth team than England did until Southgate came along. If 3 subs have been made so be it but like the Dutch did it can be a masterstroke.
Southgate knows 1% extra can be the difference between winning and losing.
That's why Italy and Germany before this world cup have good records in going deep into a tournament with nous, not sure the England players have that at the moment but the head coach does so let's see if that can make the difference in this glorious World cup.
Comments
Uruguay vs France
Potentially Brazil vs Belgium
Potentially Spain vs Croatia
We can go deeper in to it now
Hope Cavani is fit for the France game. Uruguay look a real team.
Ronaldo and Messi efforts in vain,
Mbappe is just a teenager,
But this I will wager,
He's fast and zippy,
And doesn't seem lippy,
A young man born in France,
Giving defenders a merry dance,
Entertaining and attacking,
This world cup is not lacking,
Superb goals and dreams,
For fans it's supreme,
Thrills, spills and VAR,
As we watch a young superstar,
The gifted Kylian Mbappe,
It's not just France he's making happy.
This world cup is to savour,
If you love football it's the right flavour,
Can England reach the semi-final,
Now that would go viral.
Soapboxsam 2018.
To his opponents he was a great pain
We know if he has chances to shoot
He is a shoe in for the Golden Boot!
Muttley in less than 1minute 2018
To me that will always be a slight negative on their careers, especially Messi. Ronaldo perhaps can be excused as Portugal, a small country of 10m, have never won the World Cup, but Argentina have won it twice within living memory (1978 and 1986) and are a major football player. 6 goals in 4 world cups and 19 world cup appearances is a pretty meagre return really.
He missed out on 3 or 4 world cups and the same in the Euro's.
Ryan Giggs must be gutted that he listened to Alex Ferguson advise and concentrated on his club where he became a united and premier legend.
He can ponder that decision because he could have been an international legend plus England could have had a top quality left sided player for 15 years who even in 2018 it is still our weak position.
Laughable that they brought on Fazio. He has the turning circle of a super tanker!
It also said Pope was by far the best of the three keepers at saving them.
Worth bringing him on as a sub if we are heading for penalties ?
I read this research some years ago and to put the ball in this area at the required speed didn't seem an impossibility for any talented player. I know Southgate has done a lot of work with the team on penalties and utilised sports scientists. I will have to see a few more pens including pens from other players, but I am wondering if he is the first manager I have seen who has reacted to this research. most don't even practice them, claiming they are a lottery! Kane's two penalties are certainly consistent with it!
Also Giggs was a very good player but wouldn't have suddenly made us twice as good, and McManaman was good at Euro 96, predominantly on the left.
As I have said before, as a sports scientist myself, I love these kind of things. The research further suggests that for a higher success rate on penalties there are key elements that are needed prior to shooting in the unsaveable zone, this includes having a pre-determined selection of penalty takers as this will allow for a period of mental preparation before performing the penalty kick itself.
There are some really interesting aspects to a penalty shoot-out and with the research that is out there, it is great that Southgate has potentially been using that to our advantage.
Sadly the reaction was to throw the baby out with the bath water rather than say - the principle is right, we just need better data. We now have fantastic processing power available to us and not to use that in football is a crime! We actually have by some freak of nature, a manager who understands that!
Penalties are a very skillful part of football .
Glen Hoddle for all his inovation in wanting his centre backs to run with the ball to open up space, his comment at the time that penalties were a lottery was so crass and other so called experts said the same.
Letting David Batty take a penalty when his own father said he hadn't taken one since he was 10 and he missed that in a school match showed at the time what wolly thinking leads too.
If Pope is the best keeper at saving them in training let him spend his time studying the next opposition and focusing on penalties.
It always hacks me off to think that I did better preparation with a Sunday youth team than England did until Southgate came along.
If 3 subs have been made so be it but like the Dutch did it can be a masterstroke.
Southgate knows 1% extra can be the difference between winning and losing.
That's why Italy and Germany before this world cup have good records in going deep into a tournament with nous, not sure the England players have that at the moment but the head coach does so let's see if that can make the difference in this glorious World cup.