I watched BBC Breakfast this morning for about 4 minutes (yes I know; sorry) and heard 3 different people say that penalty shootouts were "a lottery" (as yet another cup final fails to produce a winner after extra time).

Perhaps a big pedantry alert is required here, but it really annoys me when this is said, yet it's one of those phrases that has become 'implied knowledge'. A shootout is a test of sporting ability just like any other.

Taking the example of last night, one team drilled their five penalties home without a stutter, whereas the other team didn't. The one player who missed ran up to the ball with a complete absence of conviction before duly scuffing a weak shot straight at the keeper. Why was that "a lottery"; it was one team performing better than the other team.

'Lottery' is the wrong word in any case. A lottery requires multiple entrants and minimal numbers of winners. A shootout is one v one.

Edited by YT (19 May 2022 8.45am)

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

Yep!

I would be inclined to suggest that this saying is based upon the
assumption that every professional footballer is expected to score a penalty which is clearly not the case.

It would be my personal expectation of them to do so however it ignores several variables:

1. The quality of GKs these days?
2. The ability of a player to handle the pressure mentally?
3. How physically and mentally prepared a player is after often 120mins?
4. Of course the actual ability to strike a ball with conviction?

I actually find it shocking how often players are both treated and act as though taking a pen in a shootout was a completely unforeseeable circumstance. I think it is more mental than technical but even at that juncture the onus should surely be on a manager to identify those best placed to take one considering the factors.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

It'll be nice to have at least half of Scotland not now revelling in us losing to Germany in penalty shoot outs. People in glass houses and all that.....

Living down here does have some advantages. At least you can see them cry.

the minute I seen Ramsey in the shootout I knew he didint look confident! as someone has said keepers can sniff someone who is not confident!
More often than not the unconfident person will go down the middle and keep the penalty on target!

Exactly. Kane seems to have followed suit with this - One of the best I've seen at hitting side netting consistently, I bet he practices these every week, if not daily. 'Lottery' is just an excuse for the team who loses.

Another one that annoys me is - 'You cannot replicate the atmosphere' and whilst this is true, you can practice your technique over and over again until it becomes natural. Small margins make the difference in these tense situations.

I agree generally.
I think the term Lottery is born out of the fact that the Keeper basically guesses as To where your gonna shoot. if he guesses right, he saves the penalty. (bit simplistic I know)

A Penalty is a different skill to the rest of the game, it's about nerve, clarity of thought and technique. A perfect pen is almost impossible to Save. The onus is on the attacker to score; the keeper is not expected to Save anything.

I'm not convinced that penalties are a just way to end a tournament, but I haven't got a better solution than Penalties.

I quite like the idea that Extra time should begin with a loss of a player on each side, then every 5 mins each team loses another player until someone scores.

"It was a Team effort, I guess it took all players working together to lose this one"