Dean Henderson penalty shootout tactics vs Liverpool revealed by football psychologist

Facing a revamped Liverpool side featuring debutants Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong, and Milos Kerkez, Palace twice came from behind — with Ismaila Sarr’s late equalizer sending the match to penalties.

During the shootout, Henderson was spotted consulting his water bottle, which contained notes on Liverpool’s penalty habits — a tactic that helped him deny Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott, while Mohamed Salah missed his attempt altogether.

While goalkeepers referencing water bottles for penalty data is a familiar strategy, sports psychologist Geir Jordet observed that Henderson took it further by tracking each taker’s run-up style and technique.

This method mirrors other examples in elite football, such as Hannah Hampton’s clever use of sleeve notes during England’s European Championship campaign, where she famously tossed Spain keeper Cata Coll’s bottle into the crowd.

“Fascinating to see how good goalkeepers are on penalties now,” he wrote on his X post (see the full post below), “Dean Henderson has been one of the best for a while (only 62% penalty goals against).”

“He obviously has mapped opponent penalty takers – but not just WHERE they shoot. Also the TECHNIQUE they use. When pen takers use a goalkeeper-independent technique, where they have decided beforehand where to shoot & just rigidly stick to that corner.

“Henderson commits extremely EARLY to that side (because the taker doesn’t look up). He often saves in this way, as with Mac Allister today.”

He continued: “Against Harry Kane (one of the best GK-independent penalty takers – before he started alternating techniques last year), Henderson did the same in Aug 2022 – went ridiculously early, to save. He is one of only four goalkeepers in the Premier League to have saved a pen from Kane.”

“This type of goalkeeper strategy – ‘prepare and predict direction, then commit early’ works well when GK-independent penalty takers have a CLEAR favourite corner that they rarely change or fall back on under pressure. Dominik Szoboszlai, for example, almost ALWAYS goes left.”

Jordet, who works as a professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, also highlighted one issue with the strategy, though, in that, if the shot is well-placed and hard enough, it doesn’t help to go early.

He noted: “Goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, who played with Szoboszlai in Leipzig, told me: ‘Even if you know where he shoots, it is incredibly difficult to stop. His foot is just outstanding.'”

“One way is to use the GK-dependent technique, where you observe the GK’s first move, then simply roll the ball opposite,” he continued. “A few players did that today, here Eze.

“However, well-prepared goalkeepers know which penalty takers use this strategy, and counter it by NOT committing early. They just WAIT – forcing penalty takers to have to pick a side and execute a sub-optimal shot without pace or accuracy. Allison stood still, waiting. Save.”

He added: “When Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott used the GK-dependent technique against Henderson, the Crystal Palace goalkeeper did like Allison: remained stationary on the line until the last moment, forcing Elliott to make a decision and shoot without a proper run-up. Save.

“Another way to stop GK-dependent penalty takers is to make a deceptive move at the exact moment the penalty taker makes the decision for where to shoot, then swiftly shift centre of gravity and go opposite. Yann Sommer did this masterfully against Jorginho a few years ago.”

“This means that penalty takers need additional counter measures to be unpredictable,” Jordet concluded. “The best, Kane and Lewandowski, have adopted such a measure – ALTERNATING technique. Sometimes GK-independent. Sometimes GK-dependent. Sometimes even alternating in the same game.”