My take on the whole thing:
Hendo was the designated taker. He was confident, up for it and he was the default option, so starts with the ball in his hands. Mario comes over and tells him he really fancies his chances. Hendo makes a captain's decision to let Mario take it. A good call and good match awareness - Mario had shown he was really switched on tonight as well as having a strong history.
Where Sturridge comes in at this point is unclear. Whether he wanted it, or whether he wanted the designation adhered to is unclear, so no sense speculating.
As for Gerrard's comments; He has always been a straight shooter and says what he thinks. Fair play to him. He's right that Mario and Hendo took a big risk, as the dressing room could have been tense had he missed it, but the risk paid off.
Edit: Finally, I've never seen Hendo take a pen, and he may well be cracking at them in training. The boss may want him to be the next PK taker because he knows he is also likely to be on the pitch as well as being good in training. The counter argument is that he has no history of PKs and thus should defer to someone who is proven. The history argument is compelling, but on the other hand every player who takes PKs has to take his first, if the boss thinks he is good enough, he probably is.
« Last Edit: Feb 19, 2015 11:00:10 pm by Thaddeus »
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