I wish Ross would change his habbit of hitting the ball straight down the middle of the goal, and hoping the keeper dives either side.  If I recall correctly, his last 5 penalties have all been down the middle of the goal, and if keepers study this, they will soon learn not to move

He's scored them all though hasn't he? Isn't that what counts?

I believe hitting the ball hard down the middle is the best technique. However penalty takers are studied and they need to change from time to time. Ross spoke to JT on the radio about his penalty taking and the practice he puts in each week. He did comment on the need for variations but understandable gave little away.

Quoted from Tangerine Chris

I wish Ross would change his habbit of hitting the ball straight down the middle of the goal, and hoping the keeper dives either side.  If I recall correctly, his last 5 penalties have all been down the middle of the goal, and if keepers study this, they will soon learn not to move

Please delete this post, if the next keeper saves it, you can take the blame...... ;)

Quoted from Tangerine Chris

I wish Ross would change his habbit of hitting the ball straight down the middle of the goal, and hoping the keeper dives either side.  If I recall correctly, his last 5 penalties have all been down the middle of the goal, and if keepers study this, they will soon learn not to move

Shussssssh!

Quoted from davmariner

He's scored them all though hasn't he? Isn't that what counts?

he missed against welling away, FA trophy, hit the post.

I highly doubt that keepers would stand still, even if they knew that Hannah normally hits down the middle. Hannah also hits his penalties so hard that it's unlikely that a keeper would save it, as long as he hits it high!

Good keepers do study which way kickers put their pens,

That's why Macca went left every time at Wembley. :B

Seriously, he should change it now and again,

If we get one at Lincoln, put it to the keepers left Ross, 8) ;D

Maybe he sees the keeper move and decides to go down the centre?

Quoted from Mariner Ronnie

he missed against welling away, FA trophy, hit the post.

Yeah, possibly the only time he hasn't banged it straight down the middle!  ;)

Assuming the keeper dives, a hard shot down the middle of the goal has to score every time. So Ross took the perfect penalty yesterday. However, more and more players seem to be doing that, so one of these days it's inevitable that some goalkeeper will just stand still and catch it or palm it over the bar. I'm waiting for a gently chipped penalty down the middle in a big game when the keeper stands still and produces a save his granny could make. It's got to happen eventually. Bottom line : as a regular penalty taker you can't do the same thing every time, however good you are at it.

Don't get it. He scores all the ones he bangs down the middle so don't get the issue. Hopefully keepers have noted this and his next one he can bang left or right if he feels up for it, but I honestly think with how hard and usually how high he hits them they're almost not saveable anyway.  

The problem with just hitting it hard and straight,

The keeper if he has done his homework , will stand still and spread his arms,

With a bit of luck ( on the keepers side ) the ball hits his arm and goes over,

If Ross moves it 2ft to the left or right the keeper will have less of a chance of saving a hard struck ball,

We should not complain whatever he does , as long as he scores. :)

I'm waiting for a gently chipped penalty down the middle in a big game when the keeper stands still and produces a save his granny could make.

I remember a Brazilian goalkeeper saving one of Gary Lineker's pens at Wembley like that

Quoted from Mariner Ronnie

he missed against welling away, FA trophy, hit the post.

clearly didnt hit it down the middle that day then... Keep on smashing it down the middle!!!

For me, when he steps up to take the pen, I fancy him to score and that's key. He fancies himself to score too - it's evident in his approach. I think he'll score loads more than he misses and that'll do for me. I don't care where he hits them.