The English Football Association’s determination to ease the pressure on England at Euro 2024 has led to a veil of secrecy over how the team will approach penalty shootouts, highlighted by players being barred from answering questions about the team’s penalty shoot-out process.
There is understood to be widespread unhappiness within the FA over revelations by former staff about highly detailed psychological research carried out to change England’s woes in penalty shootouts, with sharp comments coming from Gareth Southgate, who has driven many of the reforms, and officials reluctant to divulge any insight after Saturday’s quarter-final penalty shootout win over Switzerland.
Countless hours have been spent trying to treat what was once a lottery like a science. Chris Markham, the FA’s former head of game insights, spoke about England’s strategy in an interview for Norwegian sports psychology professor Geir Jordet’s book on penalties.
Southgate was tight-lipped about England’s approach ahead of their round of 16 tie with Slovakia. “Anyone who’s worked for the FA seems to have been doing it for years,” he said. “We’ll follow the advice as we always do and prepare thoroughly as we always do.”
Jordan Pickford’s exploits in goal against Switzerland, combined with superb conversions from Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold, provided fresh vindication for Southgate’s planned approach. An FA investigation found England players had previously rushed penalty kicks too much, and was examining where takers should stand while waiting to take the kick, and where they should shoot.
Randomness was ruled out. Before Southgate took over in 2016, England had lost on penalties in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2012. After beating Spain at Euro 96, Southgate famously missed a crucial penalty in the semi-final against Germany.
As manager, he has used a range of psychology tactics to try and improve England’s mental weaknesses from 12 yards out, but at the Euros, when journalists questioned players about the mechanics, an FA spokesman intervened.
Questions to Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa were blocked and when Pickford, who made a crucial save from Switzerland’s Manuel Akanji on Saturday night, was asked about penalty shootout strategy, a member of the FA’s media team stepped in. Pickford had written notes about the Swiss kicker’s habits in a goalside bottle and he used delaying tactics before diving to his left to block Akanji’s shot.
Also of note was Switzerland coach Murat Yakin’s address to the entire team before the penalty shootout; Southgate spoke only to those who remained on the pitch at the end of extra time. Some also suggested that England had adopted a “buddy process”, whereby each player was assigned a shooter to provide support and congratulations after each kick. The exhilarating celebrations after a successful shot were also designed to increase the positive atmosphere.
In Jordette’s book, Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of Penalty Shootouts, Markham talks about how Southgate helped him after first consulting him in 2017.
“From a psychological standpoint, talking about the draw takes ownership away from the players,” he said. “And that’s what I had to get back to them: control over the whole process, not just the kick itself. First it was about perceived control: how can we increase the level of perceived control for the players, the staff and everyone? We talk about the run-up step, the angle, the pace, breathing techniques, the best area to aim, looking at the goalkeeper, the gaze mask and goggles, you know it all.”
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England have previously consulted Ignacio Palacios Huerta, a pioneering professor at the London School of Economics, on penalties and new book about Southgate’s reign, Dear England, contains further insights. Authors Rob Draper and Jonathan Northcroft focus on the 2018 World Cup round of 16 win over Colombia, noting that Jordan Henderson refused to let his guard down after his penalty was saved by David Ospina.
Southgate’s methods have not always worked. He was criticised after England lost the Euro 2020 final on penalties to Italy. Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford were brought on in the shootout just before the end of extra time, but both forwards lost their cool and failed to convert their shots.
Italy secured the victory when Gianluigi Donnarumma saved Saka’s kick. “We’re totally devastated to lose but it always depends on the result,” Southgate said on Saturday. “We’ve refined the process a bit.”
It appears that lesson has been learned: unlike Rashford and Sancho, Toney and Alexander-Arnold had plenty of time to acclimate after playing in extra time against Switzerland.
