BORO'S spot-kick kings have shown Teutonic efficiency in blasting their way into the FA Cup quarter-finals and keeping up their awesome unbeaten record. Given that so many crunch games are settled in the pressure cooker of a high-stakes shoot-out such ruthless ability adds a powerful weapon to the side's armoury and suggests a reassuring steely resolve.
The old club lost their one shoot-out in a Milk Cup game at Chesterfield but that was old football so it doesn't count. Since Boro's resurrection after liquidation in 1986 Boro have won six out of six including, for all those omen fans two in quick succession - against Everton and Spurs - on the way to Carling Cup Cardiff glory in 2004. The history of Boro's deadly twelve yard net-busting prowess was covered in depth by Phil Tallentire in the Gazette after the Bristol game last week.
It is an indication of English football's backwardness in so many technical areas that such a record is written off as simply good fortune. "It's a lottery now," said Bernie at West Brom, implying that somehow Boro's FA Cup fate was going to be decided completely randomly in a game of chance. But that is not true. It is not just down to luck. Penalty taking is a vital skill that can be learned, fine-tuned and practiced to Germanic perfection.
There is a science to spot-kicks. Computer technology in the hands of anoraks is a wonderful thing and a comprehensive analysis of thousands of spot-kicks at all levels and from all over the world has produced a significant body of knowledge of the subject.
And research carried out at the football studies faculty at Liverpool John Moores University came up with at least one definitive solution, as Professor Tom Riley revealed:
"A well-placed ball, high to the corner, will not be stopped by the goalkeeper even if he anticipates it. There is not enough time to react, so a kick placed in this area would have a 100% strike rate. Some players blast the ball straight down the middle, assuming that the goalkeeper will move, but it's not always successful."
There are complex mathematical equations and spreadsheet print-outs available that show which areas of the goal are the most vulnerable and which the keeper can command. Perhaps that is no surprise because the perameters of the penalty situation are fixed. The distance and angle are constant, the run-up and strike unimpeded. It is perhaps the only situation in the whole of football that is completely predictable and so lends it self to methodical practise.
The apologists for England's limp penalty exits time-and-time again insist that you can't practise penalties because you can't replicate the pressure. Michael Owen offered that as an explanation and admitted that England had not even attempted to in 1998 . Or Japan in 2002. Or indeed, in any serious measure, before any of the major tournaments that have ended with defeat on penalties for England. What emerges most from those Owen quotes is the state of mental turmoil he is in before the kicks.
"The penalty shoot-out is truly nerve-wracking. It is more nerve-wracking than anything else in the game. You have got 10 seconds before you put that ball down on the spot and it plays with your mind. You have to try not to think about it because there are so many questions.
"You can be there wondering: My team-mates are stood behind me, what are they doing? How many people are watching this? How many pubs and clubs and houses? What's the manager going to think if I score? What's he going to think if I miss? What will happen to me if I miss?
Yet surely practise can eliminate that turmoil and minimise the pressure of what is being treated as an unpredictable fear-filled one-off event. Practise can make it a routine, mechanical action that is not so profoundly influenced by such subjective factors. Repetition of the simple scenario can eliminate mistakes, vastly increase the chances of hitting the top corner sweetspot every time and so reduce the doubt that causes indecision and introduces mistakes. It should become a Pavlovian response.
Clive Woodward was told to keep his neb out by insular football pundits when he blasted England's half-hearted pre-Germany penalty preparations but maybe football should listen. After all he has at least taken a side that were clearly not the best in the tournament to World Cup victory by ruthlessly making dead ball situations count. The rugger technocrat said:
"We’re told England were practising in training, but what are they practising? It’s no good practising the wrong technique - all you’re learning is how to do it wrong. Penalties are coachable. Our players should have been practising every day for the last four years. Does Ernie Els practice four foot putts on the few days before a Major, or does he work on it 365 days a year, hour after hour?
"I’ve been told many times that you can’t replicate the atmosphere and intensity of a penalty shoot-out. Maybe not, but you can work on the technique of striking the ball correctly and at a height that gives the best chance of scoring."
Boro do practice penalties. Maybe with former Pizza advert star Gareth Southgate in charge we should not be surprised. Boro regularly finish off training sessions with a shootout involving every single player. And it shows. It is not just Yakubu who can score.
The Yak has the best record in English football and has missed only two in 19 and has a wonderful array of techniques and targets. That is not just natural talent but also the result of constant repetition. That is evident with the rest of the squad too. Against Bristol City all the kickers bar the Yak - who in an uncharacteristic wobble had also missed from the spot in extra time - rammed home unstoppable rockets. Then again at the Hawthornes, apart from Dong Gook who clearly has not been with Boro long enough to get the knack they were all comfortably rifled home. That is not luck. Practice makes perfect.
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