Whose our penalty kick taker?

[Diamond Scot]

10 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

Dykes does take penalties though. If he’s that terrible at it why has he taken them for us and his clubs?

I should point out that I’m not saying I think Dykes should definitely continue to take our penalties but I’m pretty sure he’ll take the next one if he’s on the pitch when we get it. If he hits it well and scores (which he’s more than capable of doing) he’ll continue to take them. If he misses then he maybe he will be replaced as penalty taker. 

Dykes has missed 30% of the penalties he has taken in his career. Thats a pretty low conversion rate.

I suspect he took them at Livi as he was their main goalscorer and best player. Generally I think clubs default position is to let the forwards take the pens however some of the best penalty takers arent forwards. Taviner has a success rate of over 80% and Jorginho over 85% and they have both taken nearly 4 times the number of pens.

Hopefully Dykes wont even be on the pitch if we get a pen though as Adams is a much better player.

[Orraloon]

It's obvious from the two shoot out that we have won that Clarke has had then practicing penalties. They will have loads of stats on all the players. They should have a set list of who takes a penalty if we get one. Whoever is on the pitch at the time and is highest up that list should take it. All the players should know exactly who's turn it is ant any given time with no discussion required on the pitch about who is going to take it. I would guess that the top 4 on that list will be Christie, McTominay, McGregor and McGinn, in that order. There must be a good chance that at least one of them will be on the pitch at the time.

[stocky]

1 hour ago, Diamond Scot said:

Dykes has missed 30% of the penalties he has taken in his career. Thats a pretty low conversion rate.

I suspect he took them at Livi as he was their main goalscorer and best player. Generally I think clubs default position is to let the forwards take the pens however some of the best penalty takers arent forwards. Taviner has a success rate of over 80% and Jorginho over 85% and they have both taken nearly 4 times the number of pens.

Hopefully Dykes wont even be on the pitch if we get a pen though as Adams is a much better player.

Graham Alexander has one of the best penalty conversion rates around.

Unfortunately no longer playing of course.

[Texas Pete]

1 hour ago, Diamond Scot said:

Dykes has missed 30% of the penalties he has taken in his career. Thats a pretty low conversion rate.

I suspect he took them at Livi as he was their main goalscorer and best player. Generally I think clubs default position is to let the forwards take the pens however some of the best penalty takers arent forwards. Taviner has a success rate of over 80% and Jorginho over 85% and they have both taken nearly 4 times the number of pens.

Hopefully Dykes wont even be on the pitch if we get a pen though as Adams is a much better player.

Yes but he has only taken 10 so it’s a low sample. If he scores his next 10 he’ll be sitting at 85% which is actually very good. Around 25% of all penalties are missed/saved.

James Tavernier has a conversion rate of around 76% for example. Ask any Rangers supporter who they want to take Rangers next penalty. Dykes would only need to score his next 3 to reach a 76% conversion rate. Would you be happy for him to take our penalties if he scores out next 3 and is sitting at 76%? 

Of the people you have suggested, excluding penalty shootouts:

Billy Gilmour - Missed 2 out of 11. Better conversion rate obviously but hardly significantly better than Dykes. 

Scott McTominay - has never taken one but given his recent free kicks for us he wouldn’t exactly fill me with confidence. 

John McGinn - has never taken one but I wouldn’t mind if he started taking ours. 

Sadly I don’t think any of our players are that good that they would have a conversion rate of 80% or higher over a reasonable sample size. 

[Texas Pete]

19 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

It's obvious from the two shoot out that we have won that Clarke has had then practicing penalties. They will have loads of stats on all the players. They should have a set list of who takes a penalty if we get one. Whoever is on the pitch at the time and is highest up that list should take it. All the players should know exactly who's turn it is ant any given time with no discussion required on the pitch about who is going to take it. I would guess that the top 4 on that list will be Christie, McTominay, McGregor and McGinn, in that order. There must be a good chance that at least one of them will be on the pitch at the time.

McGregor has missed 2 of his last 3 penalties for Celtic and none of the other 3 take penalties for their clubs (although Christie has taken a good few for Celtic and at least one for us in the past so he might be a good shout).

I doubt Clarke would choose his penalty taker based solely on penalties taken in a zero pressure training situation. Or at least I hope he wouldn’t.

The thing about penalties is you need someone who is confident and who wants to take them. The last thing you would want is someone who doesn’t feel comfortable taking penalties being forced to hit one tomorrow night to possibly win us the game  just because Clarke has seen him hit some good ones in practice when there is someone more confident and who takes penalties regularly for his club (or has done in the past) available. 

[Texas Pete]

20 minutes ago, stocky said:

Graham Alexander has one of the best penalty conversion rates around.

Unfortunately no longer playing of course.

Gary McAllister as well although I don’t think he took as many as Alexander. Didn’t help him at Wembley in 1996 right enough. 🤦‍♂️

[mccaughey85]

38 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Yes but he has only taken 10 so it’s a low sample. If he scores his next 10 he’ll be sitting at 85% which is actually very good. Around 25% of all penalties are missed/saved.

James Tavernier has a conversion rate of around 76% for example. Ask any Rangers supporter who they want to take Rangers next penalty. Dykes would only need to score his next 3 to reach a 76% conversion rate. Would you be happy for him to take our penalties if he scores out next 3 and is sitting at 76%? 

Of the people you have suggested, excluding penalty shootouts:

Billy Gilmour - Missed 2 out of 11. Better conversion rate obviously but hardly significantly better than Dykes. 

Scott McTominay - has never taken one but given his recent free kicks for us he wouldn’t exactly fill me with confidence. 

John McGinn - has never taken one but I wouldn’t mind if he started taking ours. 

Sadly I don’t think any of our players are that good that they would have a conversion rate of 80% or higher over a reasonable sample size. 

Has gilmour taken 11 pens in his career? Surely that must include youth games.

[Texas Pete]

1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

Has gilmour taken 11 pens in his career? Surely that must include youth games.

Yeah it must do. I was really just pointing out how unreliable conversion rates are for such low numbers. Even more so when youth completions are included. 

[Orraloon]

19 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

McGregor has missed 2 of his last 3 penalties for Celtic and none of the other 3 take penalties for their clubs (although Christie has taken a good few for Celtic and at least one for us in the past so he might be a good shout).

I doubt Clarke would choose his penalty taker based solely on penalties taken in a zero pressure training situation. Or at least I hope he wouldn’t.

The thing about penalties is you need someone who is confident and who wants to take them. The last thing you would want is someone who doesn’t feel comfortable taking penalties being forced to hit one tomorrow night to possibly win us the game  just because Clarke has seen him hit some good ones in practice when there is someone more confident and who takes penalties regularly for his club (or has done in the past) available. 

Aye, how they perform in practice is just part of the equation. But it gives him an idea about who is good and who isn't. So he probably rules out at least half the squad right away 🤣. The practise sessions might also unearth some unknown good penalty takers. I would imagine Adams would be pretty good and it wouldn't surprise me if Hickey is pretty good as well. I wonder which foot he would use? 😉 He seems to be the real deal two footed player. I'm not sure which foot he prefers.

My main point is that it should be decided long before we actually get a penalty and everybody should know who is next in line if the number one penalty taker isn't on the pitch. The same list should be used for a penalty shoot out, if required.

[Texas Pete]

2 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Aye, how they perform in practice is just part of the equation. But it gives him an idea about who is good and who isn't. So he probably rules out at least half the squad right away 🤣. The practise sessions might also unearth some unknown good penalty takers. I would imagine Adams would be pretty good and it wouldn't surprise me if Hickey is pretty good as well. I wonder which foot he would use? 😉 He seems to be the real deal two footed player. I'm not sure which foot he prefers.

My main point is that it should be decided long before we actually get a penalty and everybody should know who is next in line if the number one penalty taker isn't on the pitch. The same list should be used for a penalty shoot out, if required.

100% agree on this. Should be no confusion on the pitch if we are awarded a penalty. The taker should be prepared for getting one at any time. 

[tartan davie]

who will take them in a penalty shoot out if we all have our douhts in there ability    

[vanderark14]

16 minutes ago, tartan davie said:

who will take them in a penalty shoot out if we all have our douhts in there ability    

Scotland have only had two penalty shoot outs in total and have yet to miss one

[Texas Pete]

6 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

Scotland have only had two penalty shoot outs in total and have yet to miss one

Just goes to prove anyone can score a single penalty on their day. I’d fancy scoring a decent percentage even against professional keepers myself. 

I guess we need someone who is consistently good. Not that we get that many penalties but VAR will probably see us getting more than we used to. It seems to have made a difference already. 

[Texas Pete]

27 minutes ago, tartan davie said:

who will take them in a penalty shoot out if we all have our douhts in there ability    

Probably the same guys that took them in the last 2 (if they are on the pitch). 

[vanderark14]

1 minute ago, Texas Pete said:

Just goes to prove anyone can score a single penalty on their day. I’d fancy scoring a decent percentage even against professional keepers myself. 

I guess we need someone who is consistently good. Not that we get that many penalties but VAR will probably see us getting more than we used to. It seems to have made a difference already. 

aye ok Lionel 🤣. 

[Orraloon]

1 minute ago, Texas Pete said:

Probably the same guys that took them in the last 2 (if they are on the pitch). 

Only three of those seven penalty takers are in the squad.

[Texas Pete]

2 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Only three of those seven penalty takers are in the squad.

Aye true enough. Hopefully we’ll only need 5 so just need to find another 2. 

McGinn, McGregor and McTominay will likely be the first three takers if they are still on the pitch. Dykes, Gilmour, Adams, Christie all other realistic choices. 

[Texas Pete]

11 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

aye ok Lionel 🤣. 

😂😂😂 

I have never missed a penalty in a professional game in my life. Let’s just leave it at that and move on. 😗

[vanderark14]

4 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

😂😂😂 

I have never missed a penalty in a professional game in my life. Let’s just leave it at that and move on. 😗

🤣

[Diamond Scot]

4 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

Yes but he has only taken 10 so it’s a low sample. If he scores his next 10 he’ll be sitting at 85% which is actually very good. Around 25% of all penalties are missed/saved.

James Tavernier has a conversion rate of around 76% for example. Ask any Rangers supporter who they want to take Rangers next penalty. Dykes would only need to score his next 3 to reach a 76% conversion rate. Would you be happy for him to take our penalties if he scores out next 3 and is sitting at 76%? 

Of the people you have suggested, excluding penalty shootouts:

Billy Gilmour - Missed 2 out of 11. Better conversion rate obviously but hardly significantly better than Dykes. 

Scott McTominay - has never taken one but given his recent free kicks for us he wouldn’t exactly fill me with confidence. 

John McGinn - has never taken one but I wouldn’t mind if he started taking ours. 

Sadly I don’t think any of our players are that good that they would have a conversion rate of 80% or higher over a reasonable sample size. 

I could be mistaken but im sure Mctominay took and scored pens in both our shootout wins. McGinn will also have taken them if he was on the pitch.

I was just highlighting the stats. Obviously id be happy if he took all our pens and never missed however on current form he misses nearly 1 in 3 which isnt very good. Also from observing how he takes them, they are all poor pens which give the GK a real good chance of saving them.

Obviously any pen that goes in can be described as a good pen but in reality there are lucky pens that go in and good pens that dont. Id much rather our pen taker had the technique to hit the ball hard into the corner either high or low rather than just the hit as hard as you can down the middle or close to middle and hope it goes in approach.

[Texas Pete]

1 minute ago, Diamond Scot said:

I could be mistaken but im sure Mctominay took and scored pens in both our shootout wins. McGinn will also have taken them if he was on the pitch.

I was just highlighting the stats. Obviously id be happy if he took all our pens and never missed however on current form he misses nearly 1 in 3 which isnt very good. Also from observing how he takes them, they are all poor pens which give the GK a real good chance of saving them.

Obviously any pen that goes in can be described as a good pen but in reality there are lucky pens that go in and good pens that dont. Id much rather our pen taker had the technique to hit the ball hard into the corner either high or low rather than just the hit as hard as you can down the middle or close to middle and hope it goes in approach.

I think McGinn took one in the shootout against Israel and yes, McTominay took one in both. Doesn’t mean they would want to be our regular penalty taker though. 

There’s nothing wrong with Dykes technique as far as I can see. He can kick a football very well. He tends to go down the middle too much which I am not a fan of and both of his penalties for Scotland haven’t been great but surely Clarke and his coaches will have spotted this and will have coached Dykes on this? 

Helping Dykes take better penalties would likely be a better option than chopping and changing takers every time someone misses one. 

Will be interesting to see who takes our next one. Could be months or years before we even get one. 

[Orraloon]

15 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

I think McGinn took one in the shootout against Israel and yes, McTominay took one in both. Doesn’t mean they would want to be our regular penalty taker though. 

There’s nothing wrong with Dykes technique as far as I can see. He can kick a football very well. He tends to go down the middle too much which I am not a fan of and both of his penalties for Scotland haven’t been great but surely Clarke and his coaches will have spotted this and will have coached Dykes on this? 

Helping Dykes take better penalties would likely be a better option than chopping and changing takers every time someone misses one. 

Will be interesting to see who takes our next one. Could be months or years before we even get one. 

Probably somebody who is currently 14 years old. 😂

[Texas Pete]

13 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Probably somebody who is currently 14 years old. 😂

😂 or not even born yet? Or we could get 2 tomorrow night? 

I hope it’s the latter.