General Mirth wrote:

At least idiots like Adebayor and Bendtner never let themselves get down by missing. Still it's not the end of the world.

Drogba cost them the final for a second time in a row, I wonder how he's feeling right now?

What you said about Adebayor and Bendtner applies just the same to Drogba. He tried, he failed, but he didn't hide.

Gervinho should hang his head in shame that at 24 years old and with the technical quality he has that he doesn't back himself to step up before players with zero technical ability like Kolo Toure.

I don't doubt he knew he'd miss, but why has he allowed himself to reach the stage he has in the game without teaching himself to put a dead ball in the back of the net from 12 yards? Should endeavour to rectify that.

Completely agree, Ricky.

Could see it coming from a mile off. Not sure what to make of it to be honest. The penalty shootout didn't tell us anything we didn't already know about his weak points. Confidence player with a poor finish at the best of times.

Hopefully Gervinho will take some confidence from his performance today instead which I thought was the best he's had in a while. He's a skilled player who's capable of doing some real damage to opponents if they try to take him on.

Ricky1985 wrote:

General Mirth wrote:

At least idiots like Adebayor and Bendtner never let themselves get down by missing. Still it's not the end of the world.

Drogba cost them the final for a second time in a row, I wonder how he's feeling right now?

What you said about Adebayor and Bendtner applies just the same to Drogba. He tried, he failed, but he didn't hide.

Gervinho should hang his head in shame that at 24 years old and with the technical quality he has that he doesn't back himself to step up before players with zero technical ability like Kolo Toure.

I don't doubt he knew he'd miss, but why has he allowed himself to reach the stage he has in the game without teaching himself to put a dead ball in the back of the net from 12 yards? Should endeavour to rectify that.

I agree, but there's nothing to 'teach' it's just a matter of keeping your bottle and backing yourself.

Lauren used to score penalties just because he had nads of steel.

Ron Burgundy wrote:

Completely agree, Ricky.

Agreed too, and it's not even something too difficult to rectify if he put effort into it.

He's got poor shot technique for a player of his quality

General Mirth wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

What you said about Adebayor and Bendtner applies just the same to Drogba. He tried, he failed, but he didn't hide.

Gervinho should hang his head in shame that at 24 years old and with the technical quality he has that he doesn't back himself to step up before players with zero technical ability like Kolo Toure.

I don't doubt he knew he'd miss, but why has he allowed himself to reach the stage he has in the game without teaching himself to put a dead ball in the back of the net from 12 yards? Should endeavour to rectify that.

I agree, but there's nothing to 'teach' it's just a matter of keeping your bottle and backing yourself.

Lauren used to score penalties just because he had nads of steel.

It's like anything in life, you're confident when you know you can do it. There's always going to be pressure, but that's different from a fundamental belief that you don't have the ability to do something.

I bet you Lauren practised endlessly earlier in his career to be as reliable from the spot as he was.

Lauren could have been an assassin. Not sure if he always did it but i remember peno's that he used just stare at the keeper and wait for him to move.

Ricky1985 wrote:

General Mirth wrote:

I agree, but there's nothing to 'teach' it's just a matter of keeping your bottle and backing yourself.

Lauren used to score penalties just because he had nads of steel.

It's like anything in life, you're confident when you know you can do it. There's always going to be pressure, but that's different from a fundamental belief that you don't have the ability to do something.

I bet you Lauren practised endlessly earlier in his career to be as reliable from the spot as he was.

Dunno, some footballers are pretty adamant about how taking a penalty under match conditions is completely different to taking them in training.

A few teams don't practice pens before a big game just because.

Hang his head in shame? Think you're being overly harsh Ricky.

As for the comparisons - why does it matter that Bendtner is confident even though he misses loads?
It hasn't made him a better player, if anything his delusion has halted his progress.
He's still scored less this season than Gervinho.

Adebayor does not miss as many as Gervinho (certainly not now) and it's clear to me that he too has had issues with his confidence over the course of his career.
There were times when his misses did get to him but he usually blamed external circumstances.

General Mirth wrote:

Lauren used to score penalties just because he had nads of steel.

He was a really good penalty taker, not only down to confidence.

General Mirth wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

It's like anything in life, you're confident when you know you can do it. There's always going to be pressure, but that's different from a fundamental belief that you don't have the ability to do something.

I bet you Lauren practised endlessly earlier in his career to be as reliable from the spot as he was.

Dunno, some footballers are pretty adamant about how taking a penalty under match conditions is completely different to taking them in training.

A few teams don't practice pens before a big game just because.

The more you practice and improve your technique the better it holds up under pressure, and the more confident you are when stepping up as a result.

Gervinho will improve his finish (and by doing so he'll also become more confident in situations like these) given some time. I remember an interview Adebayor did where he talked about how he grew up playing street football without any goalposts. They played on a real grass field with anything even resembling posts once a month or so. It was a shock for him when he moved to Europe and had to score regularly. He could dribble three opponents with ease but he couldn't take a proper shot. I suspect it's the same in Gervinho's case.

Any 24 year old professional footballer will have taken literally thousands off penalty kicks in training Ricky. He probably whacks every one in to the top corner in practice. Taking one in a game is 90% composure and bottle.

yuv wrote:

General Mirth wrote:

Lauren used to score penalties just because he had nads of steel.

He was a really good penalty taker, not only down to confidence.

Will never forget listening to the radio during the 2001/02 double season, Lauren stepping up to take a match deciding penalty at home to Spurs.

He obviously slotted it in no problem. Kasey Keller never stood a chance.

No, I think Ricky is right - Gervinho has to shoot, shoot and shoot more. It's the worst part of his game in general, not just the penalties and confidence related issues.

Ricky1985 wrote:

General Mirth wrote:

Dunno, some footballers are pretty adamant about how taking a penalty under match conditions is completely different to taking them in training.

A few teams don't practice pens before a big game just because.

The more you practice and improve your technique the better it holds up under pressure, and the more confident you are when stepping up as a result.

Who's to say he doesn't practice? You might have fantastic ability but you can still be nervous, it just reduces the odds. Person A may need 50 hours of practice to feel confident but Person B may feel nervous even after a 100 hours.

And you can't manufacture the pressure of a cup final no matter how hard you train.

This is just about penalties btw, I agree he's a very poor finisher.

Ron Burgundy wrote:

Captain wrote:

Why would you take a penalty if you weren't confident of scoring?

The issue is just that. Why wasn't he confident of scoring? He's a forward at Arsenal Football Club. Hell, even Drogba stepped up to take one after missing his penalty in the final 2 years ago and again tonight in normal time.

You guys.

Tim wrote:

Any 24 year old professional footballer will have taken literally thousands off penalty kicks in training Ricky. He probably whacks every one in to the top corner in practice. Taking one in a game is 90% composure and bottle.

Gervinho couldn't put in the top corner any more times out of a hundred than you or I, under no pressure at all. His technique just isn't as good as it should be. He knows he can't reliably put the ball roughly where he wants it to go, and under pressure like that he had no chance.

Arsene Wenger wrote:

I must say the first half of Gervinho's run-up showed quality but he dropped a little bit physically in the second half.