Marcus Rashford of Manchester United misses from the penalty spot during the game against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on August 24 in Manchester, England. Photo: VCG

The English Premier League this season has been typified by penalties. Those given and not given thanks to VAR have had plenty of fans and players up in arms while at Manchester United the issue has been about who takes them.

The Old Trafford side have had one per game so far this season, but results have been mixed from the spot.

Marcus Rashford scored on the opening day to keep his 100 percent record for club and country intact, and the first goal of the day set the side on to an unexpected 4-0 win over Frank Lampard's Chelsea.

The next game, away to Wolverhampton Wanderers saw Paul Pogba win a penalty and decide, after discussion with Rashford, to take it himself.

Manchester United's top scorer last season scored 8 out of 11 times from the spot and as confident as he was, his spot kick was well saved by Wolves keeper Rui Patricio.

Had he scored, the Manchester side would have gone 2-1 ahead over a team that beat them three times last season. The game ended 1-1 but it felt like points given away after the failure to score from 12 yards.

Pogba apologized to his teammates in the dressing room, although manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stood by his players, believing in handing them the responsibility to make decisions between themselves and in their ability to score.

Missed opportunity 

Still, it was no surprise that when United were awarded a penalty against Crystal Palace that it was not the French World Cup winner but Rashford who stepped up in front of the Stretford End tasked with doing what he had done on each of the last six occasions: score.

Instead, the young Mancunian hit the post having sent goalkeeper Vicente Guaita the wrong way, with the ball then rolling agonizingly across the goal to safety. That was with the score at 1-0 to the visitors and despite restoring parity through Daniel James, the hosts would go on to lose the game in the dying moments.

Bizarrely, United have had three times as many penalties as any other Premier League team this season, but the end result is that they have scored the same number as all the other teams who have been granted a penalty.

After their dismal recent record the discussion over penalties at Old Trafford now takes place in the stands, on the comment boards and on the phone-ins. 

Some believe that Solskjaer was right to trust the two players - Pogba and Rashford - to decide between them, and he should stick with that despite results so far. 

Others think that both have had their chance and it should go to another player now that they have missed, with their "rule" being that you keep taking them as long as you keep scoring them.

Best finisher



For them, Anthony Martial is the man to take the next one but there is a chance that the club's No9 and most natural finisher will not be on the pitch when that happens. 

Martial took a knock against Palace and was still being assessed by the club's medical staff but if the season so far is any indication, then United will be awarded another penalty on Saturday when they travel to Southampton in the lunchtime kickoff.

What's more, most players, even those with incredible scoring records from the spot, tend to miss at some point. It does not stop them stepping up and taking the responsibility again.

Even the best players, those who have scored the most penalties in Premier League history have not had it all their own way with spot kicks. Alan Shearer leads the way on 55 goals from the spot, but he also missed seven of them.

Happens to the best 

Failing from 12 yards happens to great penalty takers. It did to Southampton's Matt le Tisser (24 out of 25), Eric Cantona at United (14 from 16) and Everton's Leighton Baines (20 from 22). 

In fact, very few players have 100 percent records from 12 yards in the Premier League.

Peter Beardsley, who was one of the players to score for England in their fateful World Cup in 1990 penalty shootout loss to West Germany in Turin, had an exceptional record from the spot in the Premier League era. 

He had missed penalties back in the days of the Football League Division One but never in the English top flight from the rebrand.

The records on football statistics database transfermarkt.com have the Newcastle United, Liverpool and Everton man scoring 17 from 17 attempts, including seven from seven in the 1993-4 season for the Toon Army.

That's even better than the exocet boot of West Ham United and Liverpool left back Julian Dicks, the man who has scored perhaps the most memorable penalty in Premier League history when Manchester United's Peter Schmeichel was beaten before he moved. 

Dicks, who went on to coach at West Ham but is now in non-league, scored in 15 from 15 attempts, again according to Trasfermarkt.

Guaranteed goals 

In more recent times, Manchester City's Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure has been the most expert practitioner of penalties.  

He scored 11 from 11 in the Premier League before he left the club and at one point he had scored 16 from 16 in all competitions.

Dimitar Berbatov matched Toure's 100 percent record with nine from nine during his time at Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. 

The Bulgarian was a calming presence on penalties, just as Rickie Lambert was for Southampton and West Bromwich Albion - he never took one while at Liverpool. His record is seven from seven. 

Lambert only missed three while scoring 50 for clubs on his journey from non-league to full England international.

Graham Alexander, now manager at Salford City in League Two was even more impressive. 

The defender scored all six of his Premier League penalties, in a record of 56 in the English leagues, missing only four.  

However, his current employers - which include the Neville brothers, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, and David Beckham - would like that consistency at their former stomping ground of Old Trafford. 
Newspaper headline: On the spot