Note to every footballer ... Pogba’s Euro shuffle is not a good look. Don’t copy it!
MATT LE TISSIER was so good at taking penalties, he used to ask his team-mates which square of the net they wanted him to hit.
The Saints ace only missed one throughout his entire career. It was difficult to find fault with that strikerate.
It was the same with West Ham’s no-nonsense full-back, Ray Stewart, during the ’80s.
There wasn’t any finesse about it, he used to run up and batter the ball. It usually ended in the old onion bag after being hit with all the brute force the Scot could muster.
No messing with either player. Step forward, bang. Job done.
Back in the day, Liverpool striker John Aldridge caused a stink when he unveiled his new method for taking them.
As far as I can remember – and it has been known for me to be wrong – it was the Anfield forward who developed a stutter during his run-up.
The theory was that it would either distract the keeper or give him an insight into which way his opponent was thinking of diving.
Not massively a fan of that, but understandable if it gave you, as the taker, an edge. And that was, presumably, Aldridge’s intention. It improved his chances of scoring.
Different methods, different times... but it was with dismay that I read Jose Mourinho had given Paul Pogba the green light to continue with his penalty-taking routine.
For those who missed it, the France international took 26 steps and nine seconds before slotting home against Young Boys in midweek.
Twenty-six little steps over a ninesecond period. Come on. Really?
However, it’s not so much the time that the £90million midfielder took, or the over-elaborate manner in which he approached kicking a ball 12 yards towards the goal. It is more the precedent that he set. A few weeks ago, I wrote about players refusing to celebrate goals scored against their former teams – despite the fact that they played but a half-dozen games for their erstwhile employers.
That fad wasn’t started in the lower leagues, it was started by the big boys.
That’s the issue I’ve got with Pogba.
Clearly, he likes being the centre of attention. His hair, the way he carries himself. This malarky over penalties is just an extension of that.
His technique is mildly annoying, mainly because it’s really screaming, ‘Look at me!’
I mean, Paul Scholes let his football do the talking...
But it’s more the spin-off, the consequences. The fact that hundreds of lesser players will have seen that and think to themselves, ‘Well, if it’s good enough for Pogba to have a signature penalty-taking technique, then I’m going to have one, too’. What we will be faced with is every man-jack professional coming up with routines every time the ball is plonked on the spot. It’s bad enough that Daniel Sturridge and his soppy dance are back on the scene