“Our penalty taker left the club and now I’m taking them! But my technique isn’t great and I don’t have a lot of power. What can I do to make sure I score every time?”
Arnold Betts, via email
Matthew Le Tissier says:
“If you haven’t got power you’ll need accuracy, and the best way to go about that is to use your sidefoot.
Pick your favourite corner – mine was to the keeper’s left – and stick to it, then sidefoot the ball as hard as you can.
Then, if the keeper moves early, it’s easy to change your mind at the last minute. Keep your eye on him for as long as you’re comfortable – and if he moves to your favourite corner, you can whip the ball round.
It takes a bit of practice, but if you’re confident you can change your mind quite late using this technique. Also, ignore everything.
Once, Alan Shearer was playing for Blackburn and he tried putting me off. As I put the ball on the spot, he said to me: ‘Whatever you do, don’t smash it down the middle.’
Tim Flowers, another ex-team-mate of mine, was in goal. They came to the conclusion I had never hit it down the middle before, so they thought I’d do something completely different.
I wasn’t sure if he was bluffing or not. But I just stuck to my technique and the ball went in the back of the net.”
For more football tips see:
Penalty Perfection
How to score penalties
Managing the pressures of a penalty
