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England becoming penalty shoot-out specialists is not by chance – Gareth Southgate has spent years perfecting the ‘process’
This is a shout-out to the shoot-out specialists. It is a strange sensation watching England at penalties now. I’ve sat through 11 of the 12 in their history, and whereas in the past you feared the inevitable defeat, now there’s almost belief they will succeed. That’s because of the ‘process’ that Gareth Southgate has embraced and enhanced and also the proliferation of good penalty-takers he has to pick from.
The kicks from Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold were outstanding in the 5-3 shootout defeat of Switzerland here in Dusseldorf. Utterly ruthless. Toney even nailed his without looking at the ball, just psyching out the Swiss keeper, Yann Sommer.
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Even if penalties had gone deep into sudden death, Eberechi Eze has a decent record, and Jordan Pickford would definitely have taken one. That would have left Declan Rice, John Stones, Luke Shaw and Kyle Walker, none of them great takers but they would have been involved in practising penalties after training. Just in case. England leave nothing to chance now. It’s all about the ‘process’.
No longer is it about scrabbling around for a volunteer on the day as with Southgate at Euro 96 with such painful consequences. No longer is it about England managers refusing to believe in practising penalties. “You can never recreate on the training ground the circumstances of the shootout,” Glenn Hoddle said after England lost their France 98 shootout to Argentina. “You can’t reproduce the pressure,” Roy Hodgson said after England lost their Euro 2012 shootout to Italy.
On it went. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. That amateurish approach was questioned regularly at the time. Just as golfers practise relentlessly for that crunch moment on the 18th on the final day of a Major, so it clearly makes sense in a similar dead-ball test to build up that muscle memory, practising over and over again and enhancing that technique. Practice makes if not perfect, then more familiar, more likely to ensure a successful outcome.
Some people call shootouts a lottery, but they’re not a game of chance. They’re not even a game. They’re a process that can be divided up, focusing on the takers and the keeper. It was after England’s 2012 setback that Southgate, then a TV pundit, suggested that England needed to work with a psychologist to prepare players better for penalties. Confidence was key, not being nervous, embracing the challenge. When becoming manager of the national team in 2016, Southgate expanded the work the FA was already doing on the penalty-taking 'process' at St George’s Park.
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Analysts worked hard on the art and craft of penalty-taking, simplifying the messaging and communication for the takers in those precious, potentially stressful minutes after extra-time, removing extraneous noise, and having one of the reserve goalkeepers assisting the No 1. They examined breathing techniques, the best pace of journey from centre-circle, basically not hurrying. Ditto taking longer over the process of the kick. Again not rushing. Again ignoring the keeper and simply focusing on their technique, sticking with their routine. Don’t fear the keeper. Don’t even think of the keeper.
The FA ensured that England’s age-group teams held shootouts after friendlies with the prior agreement of the opposition. Rather than fearing the penalty, England immersed themselves in them. It’s not been completely smooth since, and Southgate’s side lost the Euro 2020 final in a shootout to Italy, partly because two of the takers, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, came on in the 119th minute, hardly had time to settle and then missed. But given that England lost their previous five on the spin, the process is working.
“We have a good process, been in four and we’ve won three,” Southgate said of the successes against Colombia in 2018, Switzerland in the Nations League 2019 and now this triumph over the Swiss again. “Of course we got absolutely crucified for the one we lost and that is always going to be the case because it is outcome-based. We refined the process a bit. We have more regular takers in the squad now than then, more that have been in shootouts.”
And that’s so important. All of Southgate’s chosen five were confident. Palmer set the tone, and it was no surprise he converted given his astonishing record, now 11 in 11. Bellingham doesn’t understand the concept of pressure, and converted a kick that managed to be simultaneously nonchalant and devastating.
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Saka has a similar record to Palmer’s since missing at Wembley. He actively chased the responsibility at Arsenal. “It is something I embrace,” Saka said of the pressure. Toney is clinical with his penalties for Brentford and was again here, making it 31 out of 33. “One of the reasons we brought Ivan was for that moment,” Southgate said. Toney had come on for Harry Kane, who’d cramped up. Kane is an outstanding penalty-taker but so is Toney. England replaced quality with quality.
Alexander-Arnold, who came on for the tiring Phil Foden with five minutes remaining, is not a regular penalty-taker at Liverpool but he is confident, and adept at dead-balls. His finish was unstoppable. “He could have easily thought his tournament was done,” Southgate said of a player desperate to start. “I kept talking to him, he’s going to have a moment, there’s still a big part to play.” So it proved.
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Pickford was similarly well-prepared. He always backs himself to make a save and has refined his approach. He still tries to distract the opponent but also has the list of takers and which way to go taped on his water bottle. AKANJI: DIVE LEFT. Pickford kept to the process and saved. “The goalkeeper will always make at least one save, so that gives us another chance,” Southgate said.
He kept referring to the process. “We have a process,” Southgate repeated. “It’s my responsibility but on a night like tonight it’s the players that deliver. What I want to do is take the pressure for them. They were so composed. The whole process was really calm.” Calm and clinical. England were prepared for this.
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