United Beyond Manchester

Do it right, and it’s an easy finish. Do it wrong, and you look foolish. The stutter-step penalty has become a common strategy by players in the modern game. Players like Bruno Fernandes, Jorginho, and Neymar have scored plenty from the spot using this tactic. Below, we analyze this penalty-taking method by looking at Marcus Rashford’s goal against Everton.

Alejandro Garnacho won a second penalty of the game for Manchester United, and instead of Bruno Fernandes taking a second spot kick, Marcus Rashford stepped up.

Rashford begins straight on, then shifts left to begin his run-up. He starts his run-up with pace and only begins to stutter when he is closer to the ball. This is important, as Rashford can use the stutter effectively to force a slight flinch from Jordan Pickford. When a player starts slow and stutters, the goalkeeper is less likely to be fazed by the move.

Another note about the faster run-up is that it reduces the time the penalty taker has to overthink the finish. Rashford takes his run up quickly, stutters, reads Pickford, and finishes. The longer it takes a player to complete their approach, the more time they have for nerves to affect the shot.

As Rashford hesitates, he looks straight at Jordan Pickford. Looking at Pickford allows him to see the goalkeeper’s slight movement and decide where he wants to place the ball. This movement is what the stutter step is all about. Any flinch between the posts can tell the penalty taker which way the keeper is going and turn a nerve-rattling moment into a simple pass. This is what happened with Rashford’s penalty.

On the other hand, when the keeper does not flinch, the player taking the penalty can end up in trouble. With little room to strike a ball well, the pace of the shot can allow the keeper to read the ball off the foot of the taker instead of being forced to guess.

In this case, Marcus Rashford reads Jordan Pickford and sends him the wrong way. The ball sails into the bottom left corner as the goalkeeper slides right. This finish provided Manchester United a 2-0 lead and the score remained the same at the final whistle.

Stutter-step penalties can be difficult to master, but once perfected can provide a penalty taker an advantage over a goalkeeper. This weekend, Marcus Rashford used this tactic effectively, as he took Jordan Pickford out of the equation and buried the ball in the back of the net.

The penalty strategy we dove into here is just one of many. What is your favorite approach for taking penalties?