ASHLEIGH PLUMPTRE

[Bigpokey24]

Wiseone, I think you have successfully created a false argument, and we all seem to have fallen for it!
Your point is that it is “easier” to score a penalty than it is to score from open play.
How did we get into that debate? That’s pretty obvious.
Is anyone here saying it is harder?

The point being contested is that scoring a penalty in high-pressure situations (eg the tournament ‘shoot-out’) is far more than just “kicking a ball into a net 12 yards away” as you have quite dismissively described it. I’m even going as far as saying that the conversion rate might even be lower than penalties in regular play i.e. during the 90mins.

Then you’ve gone ahead and used the “sitter” in a comparison to a penalty, but your definition of a “sitter” is dodgy because it is not, by definition, what you define it to be.

A sitter is a goal opportunity extremely close to the goal line with very little by way of impediment preventing a sure goal. No way can you compare it to a penalty from 12 yards out and a keeper watching your every move in anticipation.

Just to see how the theory stands up, I’ve taken a quick look at World Cup penalty shoot-out conversions over roughly the last 30 years (from 1994) and the success rate is about 68%. That’s just over 2/3rds….meaning a third of those penalties were missed.
Why?

Penalty conversion rates in the top five leagues are as follows:
Ligue 1: 86.4%
Bundesliga: 83.3%
SerieA: 76.5%
La Liga: 73.2%
Premiership: 71.7%

Average: 78.2%
I wonder what %age of “sitters” are missed if we could find statistics with which to compare.
I reckon far less than penalties.

Anyway, whether you believe 70% of penalties are converted, or 80%, it still leaves at least 20% missed which, if we are to go by your belief in the ease of conversion, is unacceptably high.
That’s the issue, not whether penalties are easier than open play opportunities to convert.

Damunk

Thanks for posting this. The lower percentage at the World Cups buttress the impact of psychological state. The reality is that as human beings this really should be expected. Players are not robots. The bigger the occasion, the higher the chances of error in very critical moments. I bet you that conversion rate for pks when your team is leading will be higher.

Not only that. I have a sneaky feeling that the failure rate amongst ‘star’ players in shootouts is unusually higher than average.
I could virtually have predicted the penalty misses by all those I listed earlier.
It’s really weird.
I’ve been telling myself, “I really need to prove this by writing it on CE in advance”.

oh my goodness, trying to beat your chest and claim i told you so towards an event that has already occured..oh my you cannot make this ish up

[Bell]

A RARE KIND OF DEBATE/DISCUSSION IN THIS THREAD. WOW!!!


No name calling. No hurling of insults. No questioning of motive. No attack on intelligence. No belligerence. No dismissive comments. Keep it up.
Bell

[wiseone]

[jette1]

We left it all on that pitch

[wiseone]

https://x.com/ashplumptre/status/170174 ... 96377?s=20

[wiseone]

I watched a documentary about penalties that jogged my memory about this thread. It featured interviews with several players who have taken part in penalty shoot outs - including Antonin Panenka (inventor of the penalty of that name). Panenka revealed that before the iconic penalty shoot out between Czechoslovakia and West Germany at the 1976 Euros, the Czechs practiced penalties and even hired sound engineers to play crowd noise during their training sessions in order to simulate stadium 🏟 noise. Conversely, the West German captain Franz Beckenbauer revealed that Germany did not practice penalties at all prior to the game.

End result? Czechoslovakia (who practiced) won, while West Germany (who did not practice) lost.

The Germans learned lessons from that and started routinely practicing penalties. In the 48 years since, Germany has won every single penalty shoot out it has been in.

So much for "practicing penalties does not help".