Lampard Admits We’re a Bit Scared of Penalties

May 7th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

lampard

We already knew this. But hearing Frank Lampard say it out loud makes me nervous:

“I think it has become a bit of an issue in the mind,” said Lampard. “No matter how well we have played in a match, when it comes down to penalties, you think: ‘Oh s*** here we go again’. Once you’ve got that mindset, it is hard to get out of it.

“That’s why the Germans are so good at it. They get to penalties and they have a confidence, an arrogance I suppose that they are going to win. England need more of that self-belief.”

Interesting point about it being a mental thing though. We could probably practice nothing but penalties between now and the knockout round, but then there’d still be a mental block if and when it comes to spot kicks.

I’m actually hoping we do have a penalty shootout, and preferably early on. And that we go through, obviously. This whole penalty hoodoo is getting ridiculous, and the only way to break is to win one and get our confidence back.

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Dillon

They’ve won them before – Euro ‘96 quarter-final in Spain and Stuart Pierce’s redemption. Course, that was followed up by another failure in the same tournament.

So maybe winning one isn’t enough.
http://www.worldcupcollege.com Ed

The shootout against Portugal in 2006 felt like foregone conclusion – it wasn’t even exciting! Memories of previous failures seem to make the legs even heavier than they should be after 120 minutes of football.

But Italy had a poor shootout history in World Cups, but they kept it together in the 2006 final against France. Hopefully the confidence Capello has instilled into this England side will prove transferable (if necessary) to a shootout situation. There’s an article here which considers who should take the pens for England: http://worldcupcollege.com/2010/04/21/penalty-shootout/
http://soccerlimeyinamerica.com SoccerLimey

Nothing gets the juices flowing more than hearing your prime penalty taker admitting that he’s scared of hitting a target from 12 yards out before we even got to the tournament. Don’t pump me up too much, Frank.
http://www.raduprisacaru.com Radu Prisacaru

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Herman

Frank Lampard scares the Sh– out of me everytime I see him taking a penalty for England. If only he stops those “quick steps” move before he actually moves towards the ball he will make me feel more relaxed. My best way to take a penalty would be to look at the keeper before actually touching the ball and in all probability you will see the Keeper start his dive left or right and that is the moment you change the angle of your side foot to send the ball the other way! Never missed one in my days