This post is by associate Triage Practitioner, and guest blogger, Matthew Savage
Following on from the thrilling penalty shootout on Monday night between Switzerland and France which saw the Swiss win 5-4 on penalties, it is interesting to think about the psychology of penalty taking. And by the time of publishing, England may have also faced Germany in yet another penalty shootout in the Euro 2020 football finals. Hopefully, with England’s penalty shootout win vs. Columbia in the 2018 World Cup, some feel this may boost England’s confidence for the next shootout and the tide may have turned on England’s poor penalty record. But what is it that seems to make some teams and individuals better at taking penalties than others? What are the differences? Does it simply come down to practice and expertise? Or is it simply a lottery?
The penalty kick
The penalty kick in football is like no other aspect of the game. It takes place in the elimination stages of major tournaments and thus is always a high stakes and high-pressure situation. It brings an individual out against the opposition goalkeeper to simply fire a shot for their team, one-on-one, from 12 yards out. It can become a very individual moment and confidence is vitally important in the process. Studies have shown that the shooter is very much at an advantage during a shootout due to spatiotemporal constraints on the goalkeeper and also the advantages of shot speed outpacing goalkeeper reaction times (Zheng and Wang, 2020). However, even elite players continue to miss penalties at a high rate. For example, Lionel Messi has a penalty average of just 78% and Cristiano Ronaldo an average of 84%. Although this sounds high, these players are classed as the two best players in the world and the most technically gifted, but both still miss one penalty in five! The question to ask is why?
Four phases of the penalty shootout
According to the author Ben Lyttleton in his book “Twelve Yards”, there are four main stages of a penalty kick, all of which can be anxiety provoking and high pressure. It is losing this mental battle that is the biggest cause of missed penalties. These stages are:
- Break after extra time following the final whistle
- Wait in the centre circle
- The walk to the spot
- The point of reaching the penalty spot
All stages are associated with high levels of anxiety, particularly in less technically able players. However, studies have found that the most anxiety builds up whilst waiting in the centre circle with the rest of the team. Coping mechanisms are needed for this point of stress, to maintain cortisol levels and ensure a threshold is not being exceeded. Brain imaging studies have shown that if players experience high levels of anxiety, this can lead to a reduction in activity in the motor cortex, or the region of the brain responsible for task-related activities. Higher levels of prefrontal cortex activity, an area of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, neglect of automated skills and “overthinking”, was correlated with missed penalties (Slutter et al, 2021). This is known as “choking” in sport (Arrondel et al., 2019), or a decline in technical abilities under pressure.
So how can players improve their chances of scoring a penalty kick?
Emotional regulation – Distraction based techniques aim to prevent internal or external distractions by promoting task-relevant focus during the taking of a penalty. Maintaining your focus is key and this can be achieved through deep breathing, a countdown to performance or using a pre-performance routine (Gröpel and Mesagno, 2019). So, finding a routine that works for each individual player is vital! For example, players may repeat particular words, take a certain amount of steps or wait a certain amount of time before taking the shot.
Focus on what’s important – A time of high emotional stress and the first point where a player is singled out to “go it alone” is the walk to the spot. Self-focus techniques are another method of emotional regulation and suggests that, as anxiety increases, conscious attention is given to the technique of the kick, a skill that otherwise is autonomic in nature for elite players (Baumeister, 1984). Again, diverting attention away from this is extremely important, using the above interventions.
Goalkeepers and disruption – Disruption techniques, such as trash talking, may help if a keeper remains calm and collected as they are present. If goalkeepers allow emotions to get the better of them, they may be picking the ball out the back of the net on a regular basis due to overactivation of the prefrontal cortex. Professional goalkeepers have a whole heap of information available to try and save each kick today and this is important in the professional game. However, for the grassroots goalkeeper, it is important to maintain focus and pick disruption techniques that do not affect your focus or raise your emotional response to a point whereby it affects performance.
Shared responsibility – Coaches should give their players the kick order and, at the grassroots level, potentially where to aim to shot before the game. This can help a player to focus on the task at hand, with fewer distractions. In addition to this, other team members must provide psychological safety for the kick takers. For example, after Henderson missed his penalty against Columbia in 2018, he kept his head high and was welcomed back into the centre circle with encouragement. If players understand that missing will not be punished and they have their teammates support no matter what, this provides less worries around the “what ifs” and focus on negative outcomes, something which can reduce a players focus.
The process – And of course, practicing the technique is crucial! It is said that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to learn a skill to “elite level” (Ankersen, 2015), so it is vitally important that technique is taught to a high level. Practicing under fatigued conditions is vital to ensure players are able to perform the skill whilst under both physical and mental stress. Picking to kick first is also a significant advantage due to increased mental pressure on the opposition team, with teams kicking first said to win a majority of shootouts (Rudi et al. 2019; Csato, 2020).
Conclusion
As noted, England go into a shootout having won their last in the 2018 World Cup Finals against Columbia. This is a huge boost and will hopefully be the start of a better winning habit for the England squad. A number of players who played in that game will also take part in the England vs. Germany game, providing experience on the situation and this will aid in the emotional regulation of the players. It is important to remember it is not just a lottery. Preparing for the situation is key and can provide the experience and expertise, confidence and character to triumph in such an anxiety provoking situation. Come on England!
About Matt Savage
Matthew Savage is an associate Triage Practitioner, has an MSc in Psychology, is a qualified personal trainer, and has worked within the field of cognitive rehabilitation for 5 years. He is an FA qualified football coach, with a keen interest in moral behaviour and wellbeing within team sports.
References
Ankersen A. (2015). The Goldmine Effect. Second Edition. United Kingdom. Icon Books.
Baumeister, R. F. (1984). Choking under pressure: Self-consciousness and paradoxical effects of incentives on skillful performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(3), 610–620. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.46.3.610
Csató, L. A comparison of penalty shootout designs in soccer. 4OR-Q J Oper Res 19, 183–198 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10288-020-00439-w
Rudi N, Olivares M, Shetty A. (2019) Ordering sequential competitions to reduce order relevance: soccer penalty shootouts (manuscript). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3358682
Lixin Z and Wang H. (2020). The Effect of Different Attentional Focus on the Penalty Kicking Performance of Adolescent Male Soccer Players in Different Levels. Annals of Applied Sport Science, 8(4)
Lyttleton B. (2014). Twelve Yards. First Edition. United Kingdom. Bantam Press
Peter Gröpel P. and Mesagno C. (2019) Choking interventions in sports: A systematic review, International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 12:1, 176-201, DOI: 10.1080/1750984X.2017.1408134
Slutter M. W. J., Thammasan N., Mannes P. (2021). Exploring the Brain Activity Related to Missing Penalty Kicks: An fNIRS Study. Frontiers in Computer Science , 3(32)