England will prepare for another potential long haul against the Netherlands with the help of a Dutch penalty guru in the form of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who was among those instrumental to their success in the flawless shootout that saw off Switzerland.
Hasselbaink is one of Gareth Southgate’s assistant coaches and, having earned 23 caps for the Netherlands between 1998 and 2002, has unique experience of both setups. The former Chelsea, Leeds and Middlesbrough striker works primarily with England’s attackers; a fresh approach to penalties has been cultivated during Euro 2024 and Phil Foden explained the calming influence Hasselbaink has had.
“Jimmy’s got a lot of experience in the game, he knows his stuff,” Foden told BBC Radio 5 Live. “He’s been taking a few of us after training to practise penalties.
“I feel like, when I first came into the England side, we were maybe practising 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. Practise your spot where you put it and stick with it. There’s a lot of work that goes into it off the field.”
The mixture of assuredness and moderation brought by Hasselbaink’s sessions has coincided with the fact that this England squad can call upon genuine spot-kick specialists. “I feel like we’ve got the balance just right now,” Foden said. “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.”
Foden had been substituted by the time England brought their strategy to bear in Düsseldorf and accepted that regular takers for their clubs sit above him in the pecking order. “I think that’s what Gareth did, put the best takers on the pitch,” he said. “I’m glad he did because it definitely worked in our favour.
“I feel like it’s a confidence thing. If you believe you’re going to score you can be a penalty-taker. I wouldn’t have minded taking one if I was still on the pitch but there are probably better penalty takers than me.”
