Jorginho’s penalty technique analysed as Chelsea boss Frank Lampard ponders switch to Timo Werner

After two penalty misses this season the spotlight is on Jorginho’s technique as Chelsea boss Frank Lampard weighs up whether to take the Italian off spot-kick duties.

Jorginho’s record from the spot has taken a hit in recent weeks. Before this season, the midfielder – known for his hop, skip and jump run-up – had missed just one of 21 penalties for club and country taken in normal time – for Napoli in 2017. He scored the rebound.

For Chelsea he then saw a penalty saved by Ederson in the League Cup final shootout defeat to Manchester City in 2019, and in this current campaign, Jorginho has converted three but missed two, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker saving his spot-kick in the Premier League last month before he hit the post against Krasnodar in midweek.

“If you’re going to take penalties as regularly as he does – and I did – you’re going to miss some,” Lampard said after the Champions League win in Russia. “You might actually miss a couple because of the level of goalkeeper and the pressured situation.

“It was not normal that he had such a great record – it was unique and stood out. I’ve got no worries with his confidence and he shouldn’t have. I’m not concerned about that at all but I’ll speak to him about it myself.”

With Timo Werner also in the side, Lampard admitted he would talk with the pair regarding Chelsea’s first-choice penalty taker, and should the referee point to the spot at Burnley on the weekend or against Rennes next week, there will be a keen eye on which player steps up.

Jorginho’s hop, skip and a jump analysed

Ex-Aston Villa and Man Utd goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has one of the best penalty-save rates in Premier League history, and the Australian would back himself to save Jorginho’s penalties so long as he stayed still until the final moment.

“That’s a little bit of an evolution from what Dwight Yorke did, where he would run up at a medium pace and wait for the goalkeeper to go,” Bosnich tells i. “That jump, we’ve seen it with Jorginho and Fernandes, can limit your options as a penalty taker especially if the goalkeeper doesn’t move.

Jorginho penalties compared

Jorginho saw his 2019 League Cup final penalty saved in the shootout (Photos: Sky Sports)

City goalkeeper Ederson remained upright and ultimately saved the attempt when Jorginho was unable to place it beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.

Jorginho scored both of these penalties with the goalkeepers already leaning one way during his run-up (Photos: BT Sport (L), Chelsea FC (R))

Two examples, against Ajax and Brighton, highlight how Jorginho will go the other way when the goalkeeper leans the other way.

“With the jump, I would have fancied myself because I’d have thought whether he jumps or not, I’m just going to wait till that final moment. Once he jumps it’s hard when he lands to do any type of adjustment.

“You’ll find that if the goalkeeper doesn’t move, it limits the taker’s options where he’s going to hit it.”

Former Watford and Brentford shotstopper Richard Lee – who offers analysis regularly in his Goalkeepers’ Union podcast – believes the hop limits Jorginho, but said the overall technique of focusing on the goalkeeper instead of the ball is how penalties should be taken.

“I love the idea of the technique,” Lee tells i. “From a taker’s point of view, it’s the way penalties should be taken, where you can see the ball with your peripheral vision but you’re watching the keeper and looking for the slightest move.

Alisson also stayed up when saving Jorginho’s penalty last month (Photo: Chelsea FC)

“The bit I would say about Jorginho’s technique that for me is unnecessary is the hop. I get it, he wants to buy that extra second to wait for the movement, but if you look at his eyes, they go from the goalkeeper to the last second they have to go back on the ball because he is doing this elaborate thing. I think that’s very much for show.

“A referee can’t say he’s stuttered because he hasn’t, he’s still moving. But I think the fact he is having to go up in the air, if you consider the physics behind it, it makes no sense to be landing from a height to then hit a penalty.”

Does Jorginho need to alter his technique?

The fact Jorginho hit the post from the spot against Krasnodar highlights the fact he is attempting to be more precise with his penalties. Typically he would roll a spot-kick a few yards inside the post as the goalkeeper has gone already gone the other way.

Essentially, goalkeepers are learning not to move – like Alisson did in September – and they are forcing Jorginho to think harder about his placement.

“With someone like Jorginho my decision would be I can’t move, I literally have to stay dead still and try to react,” Lee said. “A ‘keeper will know with every Jorginho penalty to make the decision to not move and hope he hits it somewhere near them, or he hits the post like he did in the last game.

Timo Werner could assume penalty-taking duties for Chelsea (Photo: Getty)

“They’re figuring him out. It’s very easy, you imagine the smallest movement from a goalkeeper, which he can see, and he can literally put it a yard the other side. Once your weight as a goalkeeper is on one side, it’s physically impossible to transfer it back and get down to make the save.

“The goalkeeper moves, for him it’s so simple, he can pass it a yard, three yards inside the post and it’s still going to beat the goalkeeper. What’s made it tough now is the goalkeeper’s aren’t moving. He has got more pressure to hit the corner, knowing there’s a chance.

“He can’t roll it a yard to the side, because like Ederson did they will save it, so now he has to hit the corner. We saw that the other night, he’s trying to be so precise. You can see he has actually tried to hit the corner much more than he ever has done before, this will be because he’s missed one or two and suddenly the realisation he has got to hit the corner. That will obviously impact him.”

Bruno Fernandes – Same same but different?

At Manchester United, Bruno Fernandes has at times adopted a similar technique to Jorginho’s, but the Portugal international has varied his run-up to ensure the goalkeeper does not know what’s coming – an approach which worked against Brighton at the start of the season, but did not prevail against Newcastle.

“That’s where Fernandes is a grade above at the moment, although he’s not perfect,” Lee adds. “There’s a lot of psychology in taking and saving a penalty. You’ve got all these mind games going on.

Karl Darlow saved Bruno Fernandes’ penalty in October (Photo: Reuters)

“The fact Fernandes is so intelligent, he’s got that technique, but will also know if a goalkeeper who is also intelligent is also going to stand still. Knowing the goalkeeper is going to stand still you may as well rock up and smash it into the corner, because you’re going to score.

“It’s where the psychology and mind games come in. It’s a game of poker, I love seeing it.”

Bosnich and Lee’s favourite penalty takers

Bosnich on Dwight Yorke: “Yorkey for me was the best of his generation with Le Tissier. Shearer obviously. I’m maybe biased because he was my team-mate, but he was phenomenal. He’d do the Panenka if he had to, because he would back his reflexes against yours. It wouldn’t matter because he was watching you. He wouldn’t put his head down, he’d watch you. If you moved, he’d go the other side. If you didn’t move, he’d put it into the corner. That’s almost impossible to save if it goes in the corner.”

Lee on Heidar Helguson: “He would roll it. It was painful, so slow in the other corner. The moment your weight as a goalkeeper even slightly goes one way, I don’t know how he saw it a lot of the time. Even sometimes when I’m thinking I’m completely still, he saw something.

“He said to me, if a goalkeeper doesn’t move at all, then nine or 10 times out of 10, they’ll wrap their foot around it and pull it across themselves. If you consider a taker having to open up at the last minute, that’s harder than whipping it into the corner.

“So if the goalkeeper doesn’t move, ordinarily the taker will whip it across because they can get more pace and be a bit more accurate. So a right-footer will go to the goalkeeper’s right. So that was interesting for me.”

from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/34GMCJA