Ben Herd / Ben Herd / 19 March 2009 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet

Ben Herd tells us why he's welcoming Les Ferdinand to the betting.betfair.com ranks, how not to take a penalty, and why he's somewhat relieved Pavel Nedved is calling it a day.

I would like to start this week's article by welcoming 'Sir' Les Ferdinand on board the Betting @ Betfair team.

As a kid growing up, Les was a big hero of mine and his ability to 'hang' in the air as they say in football parlance, is something that still astounds me to this day. One of my earliest memories of the Spurs legend has to be at the old Wembley for an international between England and Greece. My super Godfather had managed to not only get tickets for the match itself but amazingly, for a boy of 7 or 8, Players' Lounge passes!

Even though it was 15 years ago I still remember Ferdinand being one of the more affable players and even sharing a pint with my Godfather - how many players would do that these days? Upon leaving Wembley that night my Godfather Steve had told us that Les was a proper Spurs fan and, better still, he had convinced him to come and sign for the mighty Lillywhites! As a Spurs fan and a big admirer of Ferdinand, good news doesn't come much better than that.

Looking back over Les's career, it certainly shows any young aspiring player that with sheer hard work and determination nothing is impossible. Les was also of a generation where players could start from non-league - Hayes in his case - and end up playing for the national team. As did some of his other England team mates, most notably Stuart Pearce and Ian Wright. In this day and age that sort of meteoric rise is something that is unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.

As summer is not too far around the corner, I am looking forward to going with a few of the lads to some Twenty20 World cup matches. I have a mate who has assured me he can get me some tickets so let's see if he's as good as his word! There are a few lads here at Shrewsbury that do take a keen interest in cricket and Dave Hibbert has tried getting a few of us to go to a nets session with him and judging by a couple of the lads' bowling actions, they could do with the extra practice.

I was watching the ill-fated England Twenty20 game against the Windies the other day when I noticed that the England fielders were starting to have a bit of a ' heated debate' amongst themselves. In football, like most sports, passions run high and things are said in the heat of the moment that, on reflection, are probably out of order. I am as guilty of it as anyone. It's not out of malice or dislike towards a team-mate but a desire to do well and to make sure everyone is doing their bit for the team.

There is a fine line, though, between wanting to do well and just continually slagging someone off. I mean, if you are criticising a team-mate then it should have some form of constructiveness to it and include some sort of suggestion as to how things can be improved or the mistake avoided again in the future. This is specially the case when dealing with younger players: it's all very well shouting and hollering at them but how are they meant to learn? Or have any confidence to do well if everyone is telling them they're just downright rubbish?

To be fair, one of the players with a decent cricket bowling technique at the club - and ironically our set-piece specialist - is Ben Davies. For me, it is by no means a fluke or just natural talent, it is down to sheer hard work and practice. I read a good article on Tiger Woods recently and discovered he hits balls eight hours every single day! As the old saying goes: the more I practice, the luckier I get.

Someone who has also developed into a decent dead-ball expert is my old team-mate Youngy, or Ashley Young if you prefer. Every single day after training, instead of running in for an early shower he was out whipping free-kick after free-kick and penalty after penalty. In the modern game it's something that can get you picked every week, with a significant percentage of goals coming from dead-ball situations.

I am sure Arsene Wenger is pleased his young guns demonstrated the importance of taking a good penalty as they knocked Roma out of the Champions League. The older I get, the more confident I feel about taking a penalty in a shoot-out, but my penalty taking confidence took a massive battering in my early days. Let me explain: having run the full length of the pitch to win a penalty against Reading for the youth team, I was adamant I was going to take it, so I duly run up to dispatch a 'Mendieta' style penalty (send the keeper one way and just roll it in the other way) only for the keeper to read it and duly throw his cap on it! Never mind embarassing, it was the worst penalty that I have ever seen!

One player's technique that I should have copied when taking my ill-fated spot kick was Pavel Nedved's - an absolute smash! This season will see the genial Czech bow out of the game, after he announced that he was hanging his boots up in the summer. Although he has got a bit of a dodgy wig, what a player he has been for a host of top clubs and his country. Let's not forget he was part of that Czech team in Euro 96 who shocked the footballing world by making the final. Yes, he's been around that long.

There are not too many players like him these days, with the ability to play anywhere across the midfield or as a supporting striker. For me, he would be a right pain in the rear to mark as he seems to crop up where he pleases and is adept with both feet, not to mention his ability to unleash an absolute rocket from 30 yards!

For me Nedved will fall into the same bracket as Paul Scholes when he hangs his boots up; somewhat under-hyped during his playing days but remembered and revered shortly after calling it a day.

Pavel's Old Lady, no not his mum, but rather Juventus, take on Roma this week and and that's where my betting tip is going to go today. My few successes have come from such tight games between sides of similar ability where draws are the likely outcome. So get on it at [3.25].