West Ham United goalkeeper Adrian added to his reputation as the penalty king on Saturday when he denied Charlie Austin the opportunity to give Queens Park Rangers all three points from 12 yards.
Adrian blocked the R’s striker’s effort with his legs in the first half at Loftus Road as he kept a first clean sheet for a month in helping the Hammers to a point from their 0-0 draw.
The Spaniard’s penalty stop was his third in succession following on from saves from Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Leicester’s David Nugent in 2015 and he says the key to outwitting the striker lies in the preparation.
He said: “I study the penalties, because it is my job. I am a goalkeeper and I try to save all the shots. The penalty is one shot you can study because the best striker shoots on his strong side most often. This time Austin shot to my right side and I saved it.
“Every time I have the positive mentality to save the penalty and this time it’s good because I saved it.
“I don’t know if I put Austin off by having a word beforehand, but I try to make the striker nervous because if they are happy and relaxed to score the penalty, it’s easy for them.
“In that scenario the goal is big, and I try to say some words to make them nervous – on this occasion it worked for me.”
Adrian played behind 18-year-old debutant Reece Burke, who partnered James Collins at centre back.
The former Real Betis keeper was impressed with the Academy product’s performance and says there is more to come from him.
He added: “Reece was not nervous – he was happy because all his teammates were congratulating him after the game because he played well against a couple of good strikers in Zamora and Austin.
“I was saying that he needs to concentrate for the 90 minutes and have confidence in himself. He’s a good central defender and he just needs to concentrate on his position. The more experienced players tried to keep him calm.
“It’s a good experience for him and he’ll try to keep going from here.”