The Sports Psychology Blog

This Sports Psychology blog, comes after a report from the University of Exeter, that blames England's persistent failure in penalty shoot-outs, on national expectations.

Football: England - Expectations?

Gareth Southgate - Wembley 1996

In a report published by the University of Exeter, England's persistent failure at penalty shoot-outs, is attributed to low national expectations. That is, the country expects the players to miss when under pressure and thus, a self-fulfilling prophesy results. And there may well be some element of truth in this. But it doesn't give the full picture.

In some of these penalty shoot-outs, you don't see Shearer, Platt, Gascoigne, Owen, Sheringham miss their spot kicks. Their kicks, under pressure at the World Cup and European Championships, were delivered with finesse and confidence. Doubts did not exist in their minds, because they believed they were going to score. And they did.

The problems arise when players who are not adept from the spot, are asked to deliver under pressure. Vassell; Southgate; Ince; Carragher. Then it is a case of how well has the team and the individuals practised their penalty taking? You simply cannot just hope everything will be ok in the moment. That pressure moment must be rehearsed, so that the player knows exactly what he is going to do and how he is going to do it.

Sure they will feel the pressure of the occasion. But if they have practised correctly and throughly, they will have the confidence in themselves to handle the moment. To enjoy the moment.

Of course, this doesn't account for Lampard and Gerrard's misses in the 2006 World Cup against Portugal in Gelsenkirchen. Surely, two players who are as adept from the spot as these two, should have relished the Quarter-Final pressure moments?

In that instance, both players were not at their mentally strongest. Lampard had a poor tournament, and Gerrard was a shadow of the player who wears the Liverpool jersey with such distinction. Thus self-doubts infected their games. Doubts which became magnified, when under pressure in a penalty shoot-out.

The report from the University of Exeter opens up an interesting debate. Yes, English footballers have the capability to succeed in a penalty shoot-out. What some players may lack in the defining moments however, is the personal self-confidence to deliver.

That, however, is a mental skill, that can be built through the right kind of practise. Let us hope that Fabio Capello learns from the mistakes of his predecessors, and ensures that his players are fully mentally prepared come the next major tournament. National expectations may be low, but that is no excuse for professional players to become subject to such self-doubts.