Manchester City: Sergio Aguero should remain as team’s PK taker
With Manchester City struggling from the spot, there still is only one option for Pep Guardiola from 12 yards out.
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In the match against Everton, Manchester City has had two opportunities from the spot. No goals followed. Similar botched penalties occurred in City’s match against Steaua Bucharest. This failure to convert has raised some questions about whom should be taking them.
Sergio Aguero, who has missed multiple penalty kicks both for club and country in 2016, has fallen under some disrepute in this regard. It’s to the point where some wonder whether he should be the one taking them for the Sky Blues.
Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News argues Ilkay Gundogan is whom Pep Guardiola should trust to deliver from 12 yards out. His argument is basically Gundogan has never missed — but wait for it — one of the two senior team penalty kicks the 26-year-old has taken.
Granted, the German international bested the superlative Manuel Neuer on the biggest of stages, the 2013 Champions League final in London. But a 100 percent success rate out of only two penalties is hardly a compelling statistical argument.
By noting Gundogan prevailing under pressure, Brennan does at least recognize the art of PK-taking is more psychological than technical. The fact of the matter is that delivering from the spot is a battle of wits and will between kicker and keeper rather than a contest of abilities. From the get-go, the keeper is at a significant disadvantage, often reliant on guessing where the taker will place the ball. Misses or saves are nearly always more a function of a PK taker’s mistake than the brilliance of a keeper.
Most of these mistakes are mental in nature. At this level, any outfield player, defender or attacker, is so good that a failure to score is on him. Skill in regard to accuracy and power is not the question but poise in service of execution is. The same need for mental consistency applies to the keeper. The only difference is he has to be always perfect with the aid of luck to stop a penalty while a kicker often does not have to be perfect to score. But the only guarantee for success for him is to be ruthless disciplined in his his approach and technique.
However, PK taker and keeper often play mind games with each other. The latter wave their arms, make noises — see Dutch keeper Tim Krul in the last World Cup. I’ve had a keeper who bangs on the woodwork while the kicker walks to the spot. Kickers stare off the keepers, stutter in their runs in games of chicken and employ other sorts of feints.
In my mind, most of this strategy is overthinking things. I’m of the philosophy that the best penalty is one that’s low, hard and directed toward the farthest reaches of the side nets that no keeper can stop. This is just execution that any player at the highest level can do with ease. Aguero, Gundogan, John Stones, et al.
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Yet, I still contend that Aguero, despite his recent woes, still is the best choice to bury the ball in the back of the net for City. As a dreaded striker and renown clinical finisher, he has a demoralizing psychological effect on keepers. They would rather face someone who spends less time in front of goal than somebody whose bread and butter is scoring.
So, given his history of precise finishing throughout his career, his struggles from the spot are mental and aberrational. They can be remedied with a bit more confidence and faith in himself and a little of the same from Guardiola and the City faithful.
So, trust me and trust him.