This is the age of penalty crib sheets taped to goalkeeper bottles.
Lucas Perri had been prepared for what he was going to face in Sunday’s shootout, but there was a small problem. He didn’t know who was stepping up to take Birmingham City’s first two spot kicks. According to team-mate Lukas Nmecha, Perri was unable to get eyes on the takers’ shirt numbers.
The hosts were wearing a special anniversary strip too, which meant there were no numbers on the shorts that the Brazilian could see. Perri was left to go with instinct as Jay Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch tucked the opening efforts away.
However, as Tommy Doyle approached for Birmingham’s third — giving Perri eyes on his No 7 shirt — Leeds United’s No 1 was able keep it out with a dive to his right. It put the visitors’ noses in front before Patrick Roberts put Birmingham’s fourth over the bar.
“Everyone individually practises their own penalties, and it’s not something we do (as a team), especially before the game,” Nmecha told the media post-match. “I know the ’keepers obviously have the sheet with all the takers on.
“That was a bit tough today because I found out (for) the first two penalties, he (Perri) couldn’t see the numbers on the shirt, so he didn’t know which way to go. He went with his gut and obviously won us the game.”
Daniel Farke could not offer any insight into what went on behind the scenes with Perri before the shootout. He admits goalkeepers are an enigma he struggles to understand, but loves what his staff does with his stoppers.
“The goalkeeper, I leave him alone with our goalkeeper coach,” he said in his post-match press conference. “Ed Wootten is excellent at the stuff, whatever they do. Goalkeepers are a special breed. I don’t get them, so I have to leave them a little bit alone to do their stuff.”
It was on Farke to get the outfield players ready. It was always likely strikers Joel Piroe and Dominic Calvert-Lewin would be the first to step up to the spot, but the backroom staff were compiling the rest of their list.
Just before full time, one of United’s analysts could be heard giving information to the bench. James Justin had taken one in the past, Jaka Bijol had not, Ilia Gruev had scored four from four, and Brenden Aaronson had scored two from two.
In the end, it was Aaronson and Sean Longstaff who followed the two centre-forwards. They each scored, and the latter clinched the club’s progress to the fifth round.
“I gave some messages to our outfield players because I’ve also taken many penalties, but I’ve also missed several penalties,” Farke said on his pre-shootout team talk. “I gave some recommendations for what we do today, but also, instead of overloading them too much, what they should do if there’s a setback.
“We believe in it and we stick together. In the end, we will celebrate a bit more, give encouragement and make sure they are focused and concentrated. All the credit goes to the players. Well-taken penalties today, and Lucas was also excellent in the shootout.”
Perri’s success and the moment the squad flocked to celebrate with him was the silver lining on a grey day. Neither the weather nor the kick-off time was conducive to a feverish atmosphere, while Farke’s six changes sucked any momentum and rhythm out of the line-up.
Birmingham, unbeaten in seven Championship games, were bang at it from the start, even with six changes of their own to their starting XI. Longstaff, Ao Tanaka, Wilfried Gnonto and Facundo Buonanotte — four of those hoping to turn Farke’s head in rare starts — failed to rise to the challenge.
Buonanotte looked every inch the diminutive creative type with only 540 minutes to his name this season. He’s rusty, out of rhythm, still learning the Leeds ropes and was swallowed up by St Andrew’s.
It was no surprise to see him hooked at the break as Farke tried to add steel to the middle with captain Ethan Ampadu. There are still more than three months to go in this campaign and the manager hopes Buonanotte’s time will come before the end, but this was a visual reminder to everyone how cold he has arrived from Brighton via a loan at Chelsea.
Lucas Perri dives right and saves Tommy Doyle’s penalty (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Having arrived for an initial £13.9million ($18.9m) as the club’s undisputed No 1 from Lyon last summer, Perri struggled to really cement that role and his recent demotion in the pecking order, to behind Karl Darlow, will have hit him. More than once, Farke has said how considerate Perri is.
“I’m very happy and delighted for him, and he fully deserves to be in the spotlight today because he’s such a smart and thoughtful guy,” said Farke. “Sometimes, when you have a difficult start in terms of injuries or a difficult period when he’s not playing, then perhaps it’s even a bit more helpful when you’re not overthinking things too much.”
Saving that Doyle penalty in front of more than 5,000 Leeds supporters in the away end, then celebrating the win with the team, can only settle him after the bumps of the first half of the season.
A good next step would be securing United’s passage to their first FA Cup quarter-final since 2003.