Penalty takers

[Rambo 1,729]

It's a shame Kalou can't finish like that in a game.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Whom here has seen every chelsea player taking a sufficient number of penalties to judge their penalty taking abilities?

Well, AVB has, so if he says Luiz and Anelka would take pens when Lamps is not on, then I think it's safe to deduce they're two of the best takers in the squad. So I'd choose Nikolas Anelka and David Luiz.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

That is a very fair point.

I can only assume the lads practice penalties in training, meaning they are able to decide amongst themselves who should take it. The obvious hierarchy is Lampard > Drogba > Anelka > whoever feels confident, and I can't complain with that.

[dodojojo 510]

Torres! What's the sense in having a 50 mill striker in your team who is struggling and wont even take a fucking pen? Seems bizarre to me

I don't understand this reasoning at all. Strikers should take penalties just because they're expensive?

What if he had missed? Then the commentators and everyone would be moaning why Chelsea would allow someone twho hasn't taken a competitive penalty in 4 1/2 years and what a greedy bastard Torres was. And everyone would laugh about how desperate he was for a goal.

He used to take them for Atletico and even occasionally for Spain. He was okay but somewhere along the way he got into team situations where there were much better penalty takers and he stop taking them.

You're either a good penalty kicker or you're not. It's very little to do with position. There are goalkeepers who are first choice penalty takers.

I knew this issue would be brought up as soon Luiz missed and the commentator started his whinging about Torres. If he did his homework, he would know Torres has never taken a competitive penalty since coming to England. Maybe that's a good reason why he shouldn't be taking them? Don't remember commentators speculating about Torres when Gerrard or Kuyt missed for Liverpool. Or when Villa or Alonso missed for Spain.

[Liquidator 5,176]

Mikel

I think it is a difficult one. I would have Drogba taking them if he is on the pitch. Lampard seems to have got worse since 2009. He used to score every one he took but has not been so impressive the last few years. He could hit them along the floor which wouldn't give the keeper a chance but recently they have been coming off the ground which makes them a lot easier to save. He missed against Fulham in the Carling Cup and his penalty against Norwich was less than convincing. It was neither in a corner nor down the middle so if the keeper had gone the right way it would have been easy to save. Drogba is generally quite good at penalties. Apart from against Spurs I cant remember when he has missed.

When Luiz took against Genk it was not a dreadful penalty. However he was a lot more and almost too casual in the way he stepped up which perhaps distracted him from getting the ball right into the corner. Against Fulham he just got on with it and scored a very good penalty.

Mata and Kalou are both good takers too.

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

I don't understand this reasoning at all. Strikers should take penalties just because they're expensive?

What if he had missed? Then the commentators and everyone would be moaning why Chelsea would allow someone twho hasn't taken a competitive penalty in 4 1/2 years and what a greedy bastard Torres was. And everyone would laugh about how desperate he was for a goal.

He used to take them for Atletico and even occasionally for Spain. He was okay but somewhere along the way he got into team situations where there were much better penalty takers and he stop taking them.

You're either a good penalty kicker or you're not. It's very little to do with position. There are goalkeepers who are first choice penalty takers.

I knew this issue would be brought up as soon Luiz missed and the commentator started his whinging about Torres. If he did his homework, he would know Torres has never taken a competitive penalty since coming to England. Maybe that's a good reason why he shouldn't be taking them? Don't remember commentators speculating about Torres when Gerrard or Kuyt missed for Liverpool. Or when Villa or Alonso missed for Spain.

I don't understand this reasoning at all. Strikers should take penalties just because they're expensive?

What if he had missed? Then the commentators and everyone would be moaning why Chelsea would allow someone twho hasn't taken a competitive penalty in 4 1/2 years and what a greedy bastard Torres was. And everyone would laugh about how desperate he was for a goal.

He used to take them for Atletico and even occasionally for Spain. He was okay but somewhere along the way he got into team situations where there were much better penalty takers and he stop taking them.

You're either a good penalty kicker or you're not. It's very little to do with position. There are goalkeepers who are first choice penalty takers.

I knew this issue would be brought up as soon Luiz missed and the commentator started his whinging about Torres. If he did his homework, he would know Torres has never taken a competitive penalty since coming to England. Maybe that's a good reason why he shouldn't be taking them? Don't remember commentators speculating about Torres when Gerrard or Kuyt missed for Liverpool. Or when Villa or Alonso missed for Spain.

what commentator in his right mind is going to chastise Torres for being greedy for wanting to take a pen given the lack of goals he has had. When I used to play I was a striker and although I could take a pen anyway, if I hadn't scored in a few and we got a pen I couldn't wait to get at it. What better opportunity can you have than one on one with the keeper and no one closing you down. Obviously IM not comparing myself to Torres but I think a lot of the time these are the comparisons that we as football fans draw on but don't tell me that some people just aren't good at pens, if your a striker in poor scoring form there is no better chance to get yourself on the score sheet and if he is afraid of what there commentators and media outlets will say should he miss then I sugges he knocks football on the head because he is firmly in the spotlight and any striker afraid of taking on a goal scoring oppertunity ain't worth having

[dodojojo 510]

what commentator in his right mind is going to chastise Torres for being greedy for wanting to take a pen given the lack of goals he has had. When I used to play I was a striker and although I could take a pen anyway, if I hadn't scored in a few and we got a pen I couldn't wait to get at it. What better opportunity can you have than one on one with the keeper and no one closing you down. Obviously IM not comparing myself to Torres but I think a lot of the time these are the comparisons that we as football fans draw on but don't tell me that some people just aren't good at pens, if your a striker in poor scoring form there is no better chance to get yourself on the score sheet and if he is afraid of what there commentators and media outlets will say should he miss then I sugges he knocks football on the head because he is firmly in the spotlight and any striker afraid of taking on a goal scoring oppertunity ain't worth having

Why is this so hard to understand? The coach picked two penalty takers for the game. Neither of them were Torres. It just so happened that one of them missed. Torres isn't the best of penalty takers and he hasn't taken them for a very long time. The best penalty kickers should take them for the team. PKs are precious, they're not to be arbitrarily bandied about.

I'm not saying media criticism should affect what Torres does on the pitch. I'm saying whatever he does, there will be criticism of outlandish proportions. It's really damned he does, damned if he doesn't. If he missed the PK instead of Luiz, you don't think there would be moans about how Chelsea allowed a rusty (in terms of PKs) striker take the kick? Followed by stories about kow-towing to his ego, helping and failing miserably to buffer his fragile confidence, etc. There was a story in the Daily Fail about how Chelsea were going out of their way to coddle their Spanish superstar by letting him sit next to Juan Mata in the dressing room. This was for the simple matter of Torres having his locker next to Mata's. This was a "newsworthy" story.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Why is this so hard to understand? The coach picked two penalty takers for the game. Neither of them were Torres. It just so happened that one of them missed. Torres isn't the best of penalty takers and he hasn't taken them for a very long time. The best penalty kickers should take them for the team. PKs are precious, they're not to be arbitrarily bandied about.

I'm not saying media criticism should affect what Torres does on the pitch. I'm saying whatever he does, there will be criticism of outlandish proportions. It's really damned he does, damned if he doesn't. If he missed the PK instead of Luiz, you don't think there would be moans about how Chelsea allowed a rusty (in terms of PKs) striker take the kick? Followed by stories about kow-towing to his ego, helping and failing miserably to buffer his fragile confidence, etc. There was a story in the Daily Fail about how Chelsea were going out of their way to coddle their Spanish superstar by letting him sit next to Juan Mata in the dressing room. This was for the simple matter of Torres having his locker next to Mata's. This was a "newsworthy" story.

How about if he takes it and makes it. Because his job as a striker is to score goals and he's not doing that.

[dodojojo 510]

How about if he takes it and makes it. Because his job as a striker is to score goals and he's not doing that.

Then criticize his lack of scoring. Critique why he's not doing his job. Don't conflate his lack of scoring with taking penalties since he's not being a penalty taker for a very long time. The penalty kicking is a strawman argument. What's next, people will start questioning why he won't step up and take free kicks?

That's the issue isn't it? He's not scoring, fans are angry so they glom on anything to beat him over the head. The thing you don't even have to because you can just concentrate on the things he is supposed to be doing and currently not doing well. And what he has done and is supposed to do since he's come to England is to score from open play.

Simply put, he doesn't take penalties because he's not very good at them and/or Chelsea have deemed that there are better options. Why would Chelsea want someone who isn't very good at PKs to take them?

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Anyone but Anelka, I like Anelka but his penalties are the shits.

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

Why is this so hard to understand? The coach picked two penalty takers for the game. Neither of them were Torres. It just so happened that one of them missed. Torres isn't the best of penalty takers and he hasn't taken them for a very long time. The best penalty kickers should take them for the team. PKs are precious, they're not to be arbitrarily bandied about.

I'm not saying media criticism should affect what Torres does on the pitch. I'm saying whatever he does, there will be criticism of outlandish proportions. It's really damned he does, damned if he doesn't. If he missed the PK instead of Luiz, you don't think there would be moans about how Chelsea allowed a rusty (in terms of PKs) striker take the kick? Followed by stories about kow-towing to his ego, helping and failing miserably to buffer his fragile confidence, etc. There was a story in the Daily Fail about how Chelsea were going out of their way to coddle their Spanish superstar by letting him sit next to Juan Mata in the dressing room. This was for the simple matter of Torres having his locker next to Mata's. This was a "newsworthy" story.

I personally couldn't give a Fuck what the daily mail say and I never found it difficult to understand (whatever you meant with that) the point I'm making is that players change their minds on the pitch and allow others to try their luck for whatever reason (maka v charlton) and other players step up, can't see why he wouldnt want it.....don't understand what's so difficult to understand

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Well... that's two out of three missed by Mata. I would quite like to see Sturridge take them.

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Raul.

[capriccioso 2,545]

JT. I think he can be a good taker, given practice. His penalty at Moscow was near perfect, he sent van der Sar the wrong way. And I'm not taking the piss here.

[Waterfall 893]

It's not just the penalties for Mata. He's been WAAAAY off in his FK and corner delivery - too short every single time