Is Wes the best man for taking penalties?

[Canary Man of Kent 0]

It seems to me that we have three or four or maybe five players that would consider themselves penalty takers -

Simeon Jackson - he took them at Gillingham

Holt - Not sure of his past record with pens, but he seems to take them when Hoolahan isn''t on the pitch

Hoolahan - obviously takes them for us, but also used to do so at Blackpool

Chris Martin - seeing as he takes free kicks, strikes me as pretty laid back / relaxed and his heralded as our best finisher he seems like an obvious choice too.

Ward - didn''t he used to take them at Coventry?

Whilst Hoolahan scores more often than not, I can think of 3 that he''s missed in the last 12 months. Not that this is a problem per se - these things happen, but is there a better option?

Does anyone know what a really good penalty conversion ratio would be? I know Neil Adams and Matt Le Tissier missed 2 between them, but I guess they''re pretty exceptional records.

Anyone got any stats on Hoolahan, Ward, Jackson or Holt as penalty takers? It''d be interesting to see how they compare.

[Jim Smith 2,673]

Personally I would prefer to see Ward or Jackson take them based on penalties i''ve seen them take in the past although i don''t know what their record is statistically. Wes is ok at them but I am not 100% convinced by him. It reminds me of when Hucks took them for a spell and he was not 100% convincing either (sorry hucks if you are reading this). I think because both tend to rely on placement and do not hit them particularly hard.

I would however not take them off Wes straight away following his miss as would not want to dent his confidence (unless he is happy for someone else to take them).

 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 4,742]

Let''s be honest- all professional players should have a decent scoring rate from the spot, so I wouldn''t exactly lose sleep whoever takes them.However, Ward took them with a lot of conviction for Coventry, so I''d probably say he should take them.

[Canary Man of Kent 0]

Although they should all score, they don''t, and there''s no doubt some are better than others. I never thought Iwan was a great penalty taker for example.

 

[Jack Barak 46]

No, I should be taking them...I should also be playing as the star striker! Lambert knows nothing, he hasn''t picked me once this season...if it carries on I am going to have to consider the offer from Man City!Seriously, I don''t see why not. He has a good track record for us and one miss doesn''t mean a lot. If he misses the next two then I may change my mind.

[PurpleCanary 6,466]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]

Personally I would prefer to see Ward or Jackson take them based on penalties i''ve seen them take in the past although i don''t know what their record is statistically. Wes is ok at them but I am not 100% convinced by him. It reminds me of when Hucks took them for a spell and he was not 100% convincing either (sorry hucks if you are reading this). I think because both tend to rely on placement and do not hit them particularly hard.

I would however not take them off Wes straight away following his miss as would not want to dent his confidence (unless he is happy for someone else to take them).

 

[/quote]I think sometimes you have to take the keeper into account. Kenny is an acrobatic keeper who gambles on going the right way. Against someone like Hoolahan, who places the ball, that can work. I haven''t seen Saturday''s penalty but it sounded as if Kenny might well have saved it if it had been on target.Under the circumstances (and this is not entirely hindsight) a blaster, like Ward, might have been the better bet.

[CanaryJames 0]

We''ve got several players who can take penalties (Holt, Hoolahan, Jackson, Martin, Ward, etc).

Personally I rarely feel comfortable if the same player takes penalties more than a few times on the trot. It''s just waiting for a dodgy penalty to happen. I actually said on Saturday that I''d like to see Holt take the kick, as I could see Hoolahan missing.

Therefore I''d like us to mix it up a bit. Apart from anything, goalkeepers won''t be able to prepare effectively to face our penalties, as they won''t know who''s taking them! If we get one tonight, I''d give it to Holt.

[ryan1992 0]

When we were awarded the penalty at Loftus Road, I turned to my mate and said that Wes would miss! I think he has a good penalty on him, but I think we should mix them up a bit. Ward took a lot, and scored alot of great Pen''s at Cov City. My biggest worry about Hoolahan is the keeper knows where the ball is going (James went the same way aswell as Kenny), mainly due to him being so left footed so he can''t really decieve the ''keeper with his run up 

[ianboogie 0]

how about let holt taking the next few penalty as he seems to be lack from not scoring goals so is thie one way to get him back to the player we had last season

[Jim Smith 2,673]

[quote user="ryan1992"]When we were awarded the penalty at Loftus Road, I turned to my mate and said that Wes would miss! I think he has a good penalty on him, but I think we should mix them up a bit. Ward took a lot, and scored alot of great Pen''s at Cov City. My biggest worry about Hoolahan is the keeper knows where the ball is going (James went the same way aswell as Kenny), mainly due to him being so left footed so he can''t really decieve the ''keeper with his run up [/quote]

I agree with this. Wes put all three penalties in the last three matches in the same place. he got away with it the second time because it was right in the corner but James got close and if you are going to rely on accuracy like that you give yourself very little margin for error. I was amazed he went for the same area on saturday and think he missed as he knew he had to put it right in the corner.

 

[Canary Man of Kent 0]

[quote user="Kent Canary"]No, I should be taking them...I should also be playing as the star striker! Lambert knows nothing, he hasn''t picked me once this season...if it carries on I am going to have to consider the offer from Man City!

Seriously, I don''t see why not. He has a good track record for us and one miss doesn''t mean a lot. If he misses the next two then I may change my mind.
[/quote]

Does he have a good track record? What constitutes a good conversion rate for penalties and how does Wes stack up against that?

I''d have thought three misses in a year is a bit high. How many has he scored?

[Power Hamster 0]

I don''t think he will get penalties taken away from him just for one miss, and he is probably as good as anybody. I predict he will get another penalty tonight and score from it.

[Delia Out! 0]

I think thay Ward should take them, he took them at Coventry and his record is rather good I believe. Mind you it is rather harsh dropping Hoolahan for penalties just for missing one.

It is a tricky situaution!

[Harry 0]

Whoever takes the penalties should atleast get them on target.

[Canary Man of Kent 0]

I like the idea of rotating penalty takers - whoever fancies it on the day and is feeling confident. As pointed out above, this prevents a keeper researching which way the penalty taker tends to put it.

[JF 694]

"We have alot of players who can take a penalty" Good sign for a play off shoot out then after the last debacle!