Penalty Gate: Did Enzo’s Spot Kick Failure Really Warrant The Criticism?

Enzo Le Fée has endured a load of criticism after his spot kick miss against Brentford the other night. His Panenka penalty was easily saved by the Bees’ keeper Caoimhín Kelleher – and handed the momentum of the game back to Brentford at a crucial moment, and the home team took full advantage. 

Subsequently, Le Fee – who’s been outstanding since arriving from Roma last year – has come in for a load of criticism. He’s been accused of being selfish, of it being an unacceptable way to take a penalty. It’s been labelled as a ‘high risk’ way to take a spot kick, and he’s had to bear the brunt of frustration for what then turned out to be a pretty poor, lacklustre performance by the whole team. 

And, let’s face it, when a Panenka penalty fails, it looks pretty pathetic. The taker’s left looking stupid as the keeper takes a catch he could make with his eyes closed.  

But is it really a ‘high risk’ or ‘unacceptable’ way to take a penalty? 

Let’s give this a bit of context. In the Premier League, prior to Wednesday, Kelleher has saved three of the five penalties he’s faced (Le Fee one of only two players to have scored past him), while at international level he’s saved two of four. Kylian Mbappe, Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo – three of the most successful penalty takers playing at present – have been prevented from converting from the spot by the Cork-born keeper. 

On average, keepers have around a 16% save ratio from penalties – Kelleher is operating at more than 50%, so the fact Le Fee had his spot kick saved isn’t a great surprise, statistically speaking. 

Of course, the manner of Le Fee’s penalty was the bone of contention, rather than the fact it was saved. And while hindsight is wonderful, was it really ‘unacceptable’ or ‘high risk’? 

On co-commentary, former England keeper Rob Green was full of praise for Kelleher. Out of the 62 penalties Green faced during his career, he said he didn’t dive for just one or two of them. For keepers, not diving is high risk – because it brings the possibility of huge embarrassment. This is something former Chelsea and Arsenal Petr Cech spoke of in the book Twelve Yards, The Art And Psychology Of The Perfect Penalty. He said he never liked to stay in the middle when facing a penalty, as it would look like he wasn’t trying – and studies have shown keepers have a bias towards action when facing a penalty. 

Statistics on the success of Panenka-style pens vary, but in a Guardian interview, LSE professor Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, who has researched successful penalty kicks, says the Panenka has a statistically similar success rate to any other style of penalty – albeit ‘slightly lower’. 

That style of penalty has been employed and scored by some of the world’s best players too –  Sergio Ramos and Andrea Pirlo have both taken, and scored, Panenka penalties in international tournament penalty shoot outs. 

Research shows it’s often a tactic used when there’s a bit of a psychological battle to contend with too, as there would have been with Le Fee and Kelleher facing each other for a second time from 12 yards out in a matter of months, as well as Kelleher’s exceptional – freakish – record when facing penalties.

Maybe, given that Enzo had already put one past him this season, someone else should have stepped up and taken responsibility? Again, hindsight is wonderful. Le Fée had the confidence and responsibility to step up. His penalty was completely different from the others he’s taken for us, which would have kept Kelleher guessing.

And yep, he ended up making himself look a bit daft.

At that stage of the game, the natural response is to want someone to ‘put their foot through it!’.

But twenty per cent of penalties are missed, so not converting is always a strong statistical possibility. 

The biggest issue was the style of the penalty. But given it’s statistically almost as likely to convert, and there was a serious mind war going on, does it genuinely warrant the criticism Le Fee’s faced? Some of the stuff online has been a disgrace, but that seems to be par for the course in today’s world. 

If the penalty had gone in, the response would have universally been ‘Enzo’s fantastic! What confidence! What bottle he’s got to try that!’

Given that, the criticism actually stems from the fact that a keeper who has an incredible penalty record won the mind game, rather than the manner of Enzo’s penalty.

It happens. It happened. But it wasn’t unacceptable. It wasn’t unnecessarily high risk. It just didn’t work. Perhaps we’re not used to seeing players who have the bollocks, ability, and confidence to attempt such a thing…

The biggest issue was that the penalty didn’t fall into what we as football fans stereotypically think of as a good penalty (blasted into the top corner!) And the save didn’t fall into what most of us think of as a good penalty save.

Rob Green thought otherwise, by the way.

Interestingly, in terms of successful penalties, Opta stats found that shooting low left had a 77.2% success rate, while going low right was 80% successful. Aiming a penalty kick high down the middle was 97.8% successful, low down the middle was 80.2% successful. We’re conditioned to think a penalty straight down the middle isn’t a ideal – but statistically it’s the most successful place to put it. 

Putting the penalty miss to one side, Enzo Le Fee’s been fantastic for us since he arrived, and he’s got more than enough credit in the bank. We wouldn’t be in the Premier League if it wasn’t for him – and he’s excelled so far this season too. 

There’s a wider point here too – there’s been a genuine connection between players and supporters this season, and the reaction to Enzo’s miss hasn’t been in keeping with that unity. Le Bris said after the game ‘we lose as a team’, and that team includes us all too. He didn’t miss on purpose, and deserves our backing.

Anyway, Enzo will be fine. He’s a big player, an important player, and will use this to drive him on. He has supreme confidence –and who would put money against him stepping up when we’re next awarded a penalty, and converting it emphatically. 

He probably won’t go for a Panenka though…