What is the best tactic for a Goalkeeper in case of a penalty?
Saving a penalty might be one of the toughest things to do in a football match. Scoring from 12 yards has decided games throughout the history with scorers and keepers commanding equal praise for their skill and composure but it is the keeper whose victory seems to be the sweetest. The reason for it being the difficulty involved in saving a penalty. Not even the best goalkeepers manage to have a 50% penalty save percentage. In comparison, good penalty takers tend to have a penalty conversion rate of over 90%. Le Tissier of Southampton converted 47 of the 48 penalties that he took whereas a goalkeeping great, Buffon has saved 30 of 98 penalties faced so far.
The penalty in the Arsenal-Chelsea game prompted me to think what might be the best strategy for a goalkeeper in case of a penalty. Should he dive to one side based on the movement and approach of the penalty taker or should he stand still? And standing still seems to be the safest and actually more effective strategy in these situations.
A keeper standing still would save all the shots that go through the middle and given how many panenkas are being scored these days it looks like a very safe bet. He would also save quite a large number of penalties that go slightly off center. In case of a shot that goes on one of the sides, he still has a chance of saving the weakly struck ones. Guessing and diving blindly to one of the sides leaves all the others options scoreable, a problem which becomes massively observable in case of a weakly struck penalty which wasn't saved because the keeper had jumped the other way and couldn't do anything apart from watching it bulge the net.
I think the goalkeepers don't stand still in fear of the stick that they might get for "not trying". So what do you think is the best strategy to use in a penaty shootout. Your comments are welcome!
The rule majorly is, just dive pick a direction and dive unless the kicker shows a very predictable body language and then follow it
It was more effective back in the day when penalty takers shot at either side. Today most kickers don't go for power and simply place the ball in the net, which makes diving very ineffective. A diving save looks really cool but I think standing still would be much more effective and would yield better results.
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