Guardiola to put players on the spot
CITY fans have been spoilt when it came to penalties, due to the excellence of Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli.
When one of those two players was in the team, a spot kick was as good as a goal – Toure tucked away all 15 penalties he took for the Blues, and Balotelli also bagged eight from eight. And when Joe Hart finally saved one in training, after dozens of attempts, the England keeper did a lap of honour, shouting with delight.
The contrast to today’s squad could not have been greater, and
City’s penalty woes are proving enough of a problem that Pep Guardiola has decided to act.
In the past, he has simply allowed his players to decide who takes them, a curiously liberal approach from a manager to whom detail is normally everything, although it is accepted that Sergio Aguero takes them if he is on the field, and Gabriel Jesus if he is not.
Sheffield United keeper Dean Henderson’s save from Gabriel Jesus at Bramall Lane on Tuesday was aided by a dozy assistant ref who failed to spot he was a yard off his line, and it ultimately meant nothing as City won the game anyway. But with some big games coming up, and the memory of the damage done by Aguero’s miss last season at White Hart Lane still fresh in the memory, it is a subject that needs tackling.
Guardiola said after the game he would ‘reflect’ on the matter.
He commented that he would like Ederson to take them, because of his unerring strike of a ball and ice-cool demeanour.
Ederson also fancies them – his hero Rogerio Ceni used to take penalties and free kicks around the box and once scored 21 goals in a season.
Guardiola’s leaning towards Ederson, however, is likely to be tempered by thoughts of the consequences of a saved penalty, or one against the woodwork followed by a quick counter-attack.
So as Guardiola ponders what to do, we looked at the runners – City players who have taken penalties in the past, and how they have fared.
There are players in the squad who are candidates despite never having taken a spot kick in normal play – Rodri is a lovely clean striker of a football, Bernardo Silva likewise.
But here, ranked in order from worst to best, are City’s penalty takers:
8. GABRIEL JESUS
THE strange thing is that Jesus is still being entrusted with penalties, despite having the worst record in the squad. He has converted just four of his 10 spot kicks for club and country, and missed his last three. He has persisted with a stop-start run-up and curious lobbed shot, which puts the ball at a saveable height.
Scored - 4; missed - 6; success rate 40%
7. RAHEEM STERLING
HIS much-improved finishing in open play, and a fine winning finish in the shoot-out in the Carabao Cup final last season gave him the confidence to take one at Wolves last month. He saw Rui Patricio save his kick twice, including a VAR-ordered re-take, and he knocked in the rebound to lessen the impact.
Scored - 1; missed - 1; success 50%
6. RIYAD MAHREZ
HIS only penalty since coming to City saw him sky the ball high over the bar to deny them their first win at Liverpool for 15 years. He was allowed to take that despite having a mish-mash record from the spot.
Scored - 9; missed - 6; success 60%