An infamous Barcelona penalty routine gives The Boss an idea, but once Manchester’s possession philosophy is applied to the penalty spot, a simple spot-kick threatens to become considerably more complicated.
The plan involves The Skipper, several teammates and rather too many passes. The Kid soon begins to wonder whether The Boss has confused football with another type of betting entirely.
The Art of Penalty Taking
The episode begins with The Boss watching one of the most talked-about penalties of the season.
Rather than simply shooting from the spot, Barcelona turn the penalty into a rehearsed team move.
It immediately gives The Boss an idea.
Manchester have spent much of the season being encouraged to keep possession, recycle the ball and remain patient.
Why should a penalty be any different?
But It’s a Penalty, Boss
The Skipper appears slightly confused when the instructions arrive.
A penalty normally offers one player the opportunity to shoot at goal from 12 yards.
The Boss has something more elaborate in mind.
The ball will be rolled to one teammate.
Then passed to another.
Then returned again.
And eventually, apparently, somebody might remember that the objective is to score.
Possession Football Reaches the Penalty Spot
Manchester’s possession-based approach had already become one of the major talking points surrounding the team.
Storybook takes that criticism to its logical extreme.
If keeping the ball is the priority, even a penalty can become an opportunity to complete several additional passes.
The Kid begins to suspect that the philosophy may finally be getting out of hand.
The Barcelona Inspiration
The routine was inspired by Barcelona’s famous penalty against Celta Vigo in February 2016.
Lionel Messi stepped up to take the kick but instead of shooting directly at goal, he rolled the ball sideways for Luis Suárez to run onto and score.
The move revived memories of a similar penalty involving Johan Cruyff and Jesper Olsen with Ajax decades earlier.
It was inventive, controversial and guaranteed to generate discussion.
For Storybook, it also provided the perfect opportunity to imagine what might happen if The Boss attempted something similar.
The Kid Spots Another Angle
While The Boss concentrates on passing patterns, The Kid’s mind heads somewhere completely different.
Could The Boss actually be betting on passes?
It is the sort of conclusion only The Kid could reach from a tactical discussion.
Football terminology, fantasy football and betting language have collided once again.
A Good Day on the Gee Gees
After the match, The Boss raises a glass and offers another cryptic observation.
He has heard an English expression.
He has apparently had a good day on the “gee gees”.
The phrase refers to horse racing, adding another layer to The Kid’s suspicion that the passing obsession may have developed into something entirely different.
The Football Inspiration Behind the Comic
This episode was inspired by Barcelona’s extraordinary penalty routine against Celta Vigo and the wider debate surrounding Manchester United’s playing style under Louis van Gaal.
Barcelona’s penalty demonstrated creativity and confidence, while Manchester’s patient possession football was regularly criticised for becoming too slow and predictable.
Storybook combines the two ideas by imagining The Boss attempting to transform a penalty into yet another extended passing sequence.
Characters Featured
The Boss
The Boss sees Barcelona’s inventive penalty and immediately begins adapting it to his own possession philosophy.
One pass becomes several, and a straightforward penalty rapidly develops into something resembling a training-ground passing drill.
The Skipper
The Skipper receives the instructions but seems understandably concerned that everyone has forgotten the simplest option: shooting at goal.
The Kid
The Kid watches the increasingly elaborate plan and concludes that Manchester’s obsession with possession may finally have gone too far.
His suspicion that The Boss might actually be betting on passes only increases after the post-match reference to the gee gees.
Behind the Gag
The joke takes two very different football philosophies and forces them together.
Barcelona turn a penalty into a clever two-man routine.
The Boss turns it into a passing exercise involving half the team.
The Kid thinks somebody might be betting on the number of passes.
And by the end of the evening, horse racing has somehow entered the conversation as well.
Looking Back
Originally published in 2016, The Art of Penalty Taking captured one of the season’s most memorable football moments while poking fun at the debate surrounding possession-based football in Manchester.
The next episode moves from tactical communication to a rather more fundamental problem: understanding what everybody is actually saying.
