England using Dutchman as secret weapon for Euro 2024 penalties as Gareth Southgate issues ban
England beat Switzerland on penalties after scoring all their spot-kicks
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England duo Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham have praised Chelsea hero Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for his role in helping them prepare for penalties at the Euros - a topic which has now been banned by Gareth Southgate in the Three Lions camp.
England have a mixed history with penalty shoot-outs at major tournaments and it wasn't until Southgate took charge that the country had a change in fortune from the spot.
The Three Lions have now won three out of four penalty shoot-outs during Southgate's reign.
The only defeat came in the final of Euro 2020 when England suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Italy.
It was that loss four years ago at Wembley that sparked a change in approach from Southgate for this year's Euros with players now strangely 'banned' from talking about spot-kicks to try and keep their secrets under wraps.
England beat Switzerland on penalties after scoring all their spot-kicks
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Jordan Pickford, Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa have all been blocked from answering questions about penalties during the tournament.
Southgate's hope is reportedly to avoid penalties becoming too much of an 'obsession' in the England camp.
It's a mantra that ultimately paid dividends against Switzerland and Foden has also credited Hasselbaink's influence behind the scenes in helping the team from the spot.
“Jimmy’s been working hard with us to do penalties after training in case it goes to a shoot-out," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“They were just full of confidence and slotted them away.
“Jimmy’s got a lot of experience in the game, he knows his stuff. He’s been taking a few of us after training to practice penalties.
“I feel like when I first came into the England side, we were maybe practicing them too much and there wasn’t really a coach taking them.
“Now we have Jimmy for that reason to only take a couple, not overdo it. Practice your spot where you put it and stick with it. There’s a lot of work that goes into it off the field.
“I feel like we’ve got the balance just right now. It does help that we’ve got some of the best penalty-takers in the world like Ivan (Toney) and Cole (Palmer), who never look like missing.
“I don’t feel like it is a lottery. We put the time and effort in.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has been working with England since March 2023
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"We don’t want to make it a lottery, we want to have that extra one or two per cent in our favour.”
The victory over Switzerland was the first time Bellingham was involved in a penalty shoot-out and admitted the loss to Italy four years ago originally played on his mind before Hasselbaink helped calm any nerves.
"It's a first for me to be involved in one, to take one. I have awful memories kind of growing up and I think the first Euro that I was really interested in was the one against Italy [Euro 2012] with the dink from [Andrea] Pirlo," he said.
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Gareth Southgate doesn't want his players talking about penalties
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"It kind of stains your memory a little bit, you always think: 'England in penalty shoot-outs, I'm not sure,' but it's really nice to have that experience to add to the locker now.
"I was really confident in my preparation, confident in the things I talked through with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, he's stepped up for us massively.
"It's the work that he does behind closed doors, with the lads being willing to take on that information, that put us in those situations in order to be able to win."