The Three Lions scored all five penalties to book a place in the semi-final against the Netherlands

England avoided the usual heartbreak with penalties by emerging victorious with a shootout victory over Switzerland – and appeared to use an interesting tactic to help secure victory.

The Three Lions won 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw after extra-time in Dusseldorf, after Bukayo Saka had cancelled out Breel Embolo’s opener.

Gareth Southgate’s side will take on the Netherlands on Wednesday evening in the Euro 2024 semi-final, after the Dutch came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 in their quarter-final.

The victors of that clash will take on either France or Spain in the competition’s final as England seek to win the trophy for the first time.

So often with penalty shootouts and England, it does not end well.

So many times England have been dumped out of international tournaments on spot kicks, such as Euro 96, Euro 2012, Euro 2020, and the World Cups in 1998 and 2006, to name but a few.

But last night was a success, with all five Three Lions players netting from the spot and overcoming the pressure that a penalty shootout inevitably brings.

Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold all scored to secure a 5-3 victory, with Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji having his spot kick saved by Jordan Pickford.

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And when it comes to analysing how England succeeded in their shootout, fans on social media have a theory for a contributing factor as it how it came about.

Obviously, all players hit the target, which is the first thing, but it appears to have been as much about to the approach to taking penalties which seems to have been a key factor with what each player did.

Many of them, rather than beginning their run-up straight away to take their penalties, pauses for a certain amount of time to shoot after the referee’s whistle.

In fact, it is a tactic which Mikel Arteta has employed successfully at Arsenal, which essentially states there is a higher percentage chance of a penalty being converted when the taking of it is delayed.

And taking to Twitter, some fans noted the tactics which the England players put into practice.

One wrote: “For those wondering, Saka took ~9 seconds to respond to the referees whistle when he took his penalty.”

Another posted: “Something he was trained on under Mikel Arteta.”

A third said: “Noticed all of our players apart from Palmer waited a relative amount of time before taking their penalty.”

A fourth added: “Thought about this, has learned his “lesson””

A fifth commented: “My brother and I both said that Felix was going to miss his yesterday. Just had that feeling as we watched him step up. Then he waited maybe a second after the whistle blew to take his kick. Alls I’m saying.”

So if England are confronted with a penalty shootout once again against the Dutch, they know a tactic which works.