FINNEY’S BOOSTER FOR ALEX
CREWE hope to have Oli Finney available before the end of the season.
The 23-year-old suffered a broken leg at Shrewsbury at the start of the month, but scans have revealed the bone is healing well and the eight-goal midfielder is not expected to require an operation.
Boss David Artell said: “It was positive news for Oli and for us.
“He will revisit the specialist again in two weeks for another X-ray and that will see how he is progressing.
“I would expect it to be around six weeks.”
THAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT: Norwich’s Neil Adams scores from the spot
IF PEP Guardiola needs help with penalties, the Manchester City boss could do a lot worse than ask Neil Adams.
City’s inability to hit the net from 12 yards has become a running joke this campaign, but Adams had no such trouble.
The winger missed just one penalty in his career – against Swansea in 1998 – and has a simple message for anyone struggling from the spot.
“Pens are easy,” he says. “You’ve just got to practise. I used to take 20 every day in training. By Saturday, I’d done at least 100. “People say ‘Yeah, but you can’t recreate the pressure’ - and they’re absolutely right. When you put the ball on the spot, you’re no less nervous. What you do have is the muscle memory and the confidence to go ‘I’ve done this 100 times and I could do it with my eyes closed’.
“Tiger Woods and Roger Federer can’t recreate pressure either. But they still practise putting and serving every day. It’s exactly the same with penalties.”
So does Adams have any advice for his young keepers?
“Absolutely,” he says. “When I used to take pens it was easier because goalkeepers couldn’t move. If I was a keeper now,
I’d be doing all sorts. Running across the line, jumping around.
“Nearly everyone knows in advance where they’re going to put a pen. So while the player was putting the ball on the spot, backing up, I’d go and stand one yard from the post and say ‘Go on then, there’s a whole goal there’. Genuinely.
“Because if you’re standing where he wants to put it, what does he do? I honestly don’t know why keepers don’t play more games like that because it would really have got into my head.”