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Showing posts with label european football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label european football. Show all posts

Friday

Man Utd made David Raya look foolish – by copying Harry Kane

But the assistance for each of their strikes should probably be awarded to an Englishman more than 500 miles from the Emirates Stadium: Harry Kane.

What has the England captain got to do with United winning a penalty shoot-out over Arsenal? Well, it was Kane who first spotted a vulnerability in the penalty-stopping technique of David Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper.

Raya pulled off two fantastic saves to secure a win for his team, showing his agility by leaping at full stretch to his far post.

In anticipation of his encounter with Raya, Kane carried out research into the Spanish master's tactics. "I did some study on his [shoot-out] against Porto – he really managed to reach the corners early," Kane explained afterwards. "So I had to adapt my approach a little. It was a pleasure to see him begin early and make it straightforward for me."

Kane resorted to an uncharacteristically slow build-up, giving Raya the ball first. When Raya moved over to the right, Kane simply slipped the ball past her to the left.

On Sunday at the Emirates Stadium, three of the five United penalty takers had runs of similar pace, allowing Raya to gain the initiative. In a familiar scenario from last season against Kane, Raya leapt too early - and the other three United players simply sent the ball to the other side of the goal.

What an incredible spring from Raya - he even dived beyond the left-hand post for Leny Yoro's penalty! It was a remarkable leap, but unfortunately, the ball went in the opposite side of the net, leaving Raya stranded on the wrong side of the goal. The same fate befell the penalties taken by Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo.

It appears this is simply Raya's approach to stopping penalties in shoot-outs: committing to staying with one side and giving it his all. Against Porto last season, it worked extremely well. Against United, however, it led to ridicule and derision from opposing fans on social media.

Interestingly, however, Raya's tactic doesn't always work when it comes to non-penalty shoot-outs. For instance, against Tottenham Hotspur last season, Raya didn't anticipate Son Heung-min's move. In the end, the ball sailed past him before he'd even taken a dive.

Another unusual aspect of Sunday's FA Cup match was that it was the second time United's head coach, Ruben Amorim, had won a shoot-out at the Emirates Stadium. At the same part of the stadium, in front of the away fans, Amorim's Sporting CP team defeated Arsenal on penalties in the Europa League back in 2023.

On that occasion, Aaron Ramsdale was in goal for Arsenal. In contrast to Raya, Ramsdale tended to leave his goal a bit too late in that penalty shootout. Much like Raya, he failed to make any saves.

Of course, none of this is down to Raya for Arsenal's defeat. Goalkeepers can't be expected to save penalties all the time. The statistics, after all, are always against them. But it wouldn't be a shock if, the next time Arsenal are in a penalty shoot-out, Raya changes his strategy to keep his opponents from guessing.

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