Merson said Liverpool striker Andy Carroll should be ‘ashamed’ for not taking a penalty for England. Should the same go for Ronaldo?
Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson attracted the ire of Liverpool fans this week when he slated Andy Carroll.
His reason? He didn’t take a penalty in England’s shootout loss to Italy. According to Merson, all strikers should take penalties first, and Carroll let his country down by not stepping up ahead of Ashley Cole, despite the Chelsea left-back’s previous success in tournament shootouts.
Regardless of whether he would have been fifth, Carroll was wrong, according to Merson, anyway. We can’t say we agree, penalty order should be decided on confidence and previous track record, not playing position.
Last night Spain beat Portugal on penalties, and two things stood out in regard’s to Merson’s ‘logic’.
Firstly, the superb penalty struck by Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos. That said, Spain did not even end the match with a striker, so Merson would have been quite puzzled if he had been in charge of deciding the Spanish order.
Most notably, was Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to take fifth. Two teammates missed and Ronaldo did not even get the chance to score from 12 yards out.
It was a gamble by Portuguese manager Paulo Bento, did Ronaldo want the glory chance of scoring the winner? He did so against England in 2006 when he scored the decisive penalty.
But by Merson’s logic, Cristiano Ronaldo was wrong to let Bruno Alves take ahead of him, who missed the fourth hitting the bar.
In Ronaldo’s case, the argument has a point. Ronaldo is the best player in Europe – some even argue the world, Lionel Messi fans will disagree there – and is a regular penalty taker for club and country.
Andy Carroll? He has had a torrid time the past 18 months at Liverpool, a crisis of confidence and has just rebuilt it. A penalty miss could have shattered it once more.
Ronaldo has no shortage of confidence, he has survived missed penalties in the past – the Champions League Final in 2008 – and for Real Madrid against Bayern this year – when he took first.
Portugal missed their first one, you can argue Ronaldo should have taken it, as Spain had done too. Even if it meant re-jigging the order, it could have given them the edge for Moutinho’s miss brought it back to deadlock, and Alves would later hand Spain the decisive initiative.
So while Merson was wrong to label Carroll a disgrace, his point stands to a degree on Ronaldo with regards to not stepping up early in the shootout – but only with hindsight.
But don’t forget Didier Drogba taking and scoring Chelsea’s final penalty in the Champions League Final. What if Chelsea’s earlier penalties had been missed. Would Drogba have been criticised for not stepping up earlier? The difference in success shows the gamble in leaving your star man until fifth.
Ronaldo is not a disgrace, but he will this morning be full of regret and so will his manager.
Should Ronaldo have taken Portugal’s first penalty? Should Merson’s point on Carroll apply to Ronaldo too or are they two different cases?
image: © Jan S0L0
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