Flicker reckons we don't practice penalties...

because you can't recreate the pressure of a penalty shoot out in a training session. He's not the first manager I've heard say that, not by a long chalk.

Do snooker players not bother practicing because they can't recreate the pressure of the Crucible in a practice room? Darts players never throw their arrows outside a tournament because you can't recreate the pressure of the Lakeside at a practice board? Tiger Woods never bothers practicing his putting because he can't recreate the pressure of St Andrews?

You practice something to get better at it, so when the pressure is on, what you're doing feels natural. Even if you do feel nervous, you're just doing something you know you're good at because you've done it a million times before. You just let your body do what it's used to doing.

There's nowt that can make you feel more nervous in a pressure environment than feeling under-prepared.

I wonder how Jessica Ennis would have got on last summer if she hadn't bothered training for the heptathlon as she knew the pressure inside the Olympic stadium would be so intense.

We missed 4 out of 9 penalties last night. Their 'keeper didn't save any of them, we missed the bleeding goal. I can't help feeling that might not have happened if we'd put a bit of practice in. It's not like professional footballers are rushed off their feet, they only train a couple of hours each morning. Most of 'em have a golf handicap in the single fingers. Instead of hitting the greens in the afternoon, take a few penalties. And a few free kicks and corners while you're at it. I've played football, getting the ball over the first man isn't that difficult.

 

If they've only got "single fingers" I'm not surprised it's a handicap playing golf lol

 

Laughing. That's a quality mistake. I could edit it, but I'm not going it, I like it better as it is.

 

Which golfer was it that said"it's funny but the more I practice the better I get£ was it Gary Player?

 

Didn't he say "It's finny but the more I practice the bitter I git"?

 

The quote was 'the more I practice the luckier I get'

 

So you don't believe practice improves performance?

 

Stand corrected obviously its not a well known mantra at Oakwell, if you add the inability to profit from our set pieces and the defend the other team's set pieces and the belief its better to try and walk with the ball thru the defence rather than have a shot, it certainly isn't.

 

Yep, it's a gash argument. constant repetition makes it a natural action and consequently improves your ability to do it under pressure. It doesn't make any sense not to practice. Apart from anything else it would give steele more practice at reading body language and knowing which way players are going to hit it.

 

Muscle memory.

 

Maybe the players should just turn up to play when we have a match as what's the point in training during the week when the training pitch can't recreate the pressure of a real game.

 

It's the visual pathways as well - The targeting of the ball at a point where the keeper can't get to it. The familiarity with repeatedly placing the ball just where you want it from the penalty spot. Your approach, the power needed, the placement.

 

It's the admitted lack of practicing penalty kicks and the perceived lack of practicing defending and/or attacking set pieces I', alluding to.

 

Anybody who thinks it isn't valuable to practice any skill at all, which penalties are, needs their ******* head read.

End of fred.

 

Need to practice shooting more - even watching the warm up it looked bad

 

It's all In the confidence