Penalty Taker Power Rankings

[ADRossi]

There was a lot of discussion surrounding the decision to let Martinez botch a penalty yesterday. A lot of the opinions being spewed were horrible. In an effort to combat this, I've compiled a tiered ranking of our players' penalty prowess. The reliable takers are the men we should be depending on in critical moments. The if-needed takers can be used when we're up multiple goals and fucking around, or when none of the reliable takers are on the pitch. All data is sourced from FBReference and only includes club competitions (no international stats).

Reliable Takers

Ranking​	Player​	Scored (Serie A)​	Taken (Serie A)​	Conversion % (Serie A)​	Career Conversion %​
1.	Hakan Calhanoglu	25	26	96%	90%
2.	Mehdi Taremi	1	1	100%	92%
3.	Marko Arnautovic	5	6	83%	79%
4.	Piotr Zielinski	7	9	77%	77%
5.	Kristjan Asllani	1	1	100%	100%
6.	Marcus Thuram	0	0	N/A	75%

If-needed Takers

Ranking​	Player​	Scored (Serie A)​	Taken (Serie A)​	Conversion % (Serie A)​	Career Conversion %​
7.	Nicolo Barella	3	4	75%	75%
8.	Federico Dimarco	0	1	0%	0%
9.	Henrikh Mkhitaryan	1	1	100%	100%
10.	Francesco Acerbi	0	0	100%	100%
11.	Denzel Dumfries	0	0	N/A	100%

Poor Takers

Ranking​	Player​	Scored (Serie A)​	Taken (Serie A)​	Conversion % (Serie A)​	Career Conversion %​
12.	Lautaro Martinez	11	17	65%	61%
13.	Francesco Acerbi	0	0	N/A	100%

Unknown Takers
Bastoni, Augusto, and Frattesi all have no senior-team penalty attempts.

Notes

• Thuram hasn't taken a penalty since the 2018-19 season.
• Most of Dimarco conversions were at the youth level, but he has nine total makes.
• Mkhitaryan has only attempted one league penalty since 2013.
• Dumfries converted three penalties in 2020/21, making him perfect for his career.
• Acerbi converted a penalty against Atletico in the 2024 UCL R16.

If anyone ever suggests Dzeko Lautaro takes a penalty again, they're getting banned.

 

[brightbackground]

Barella has never attempted a penalty before.

Barella attempted and missed a penalty against Inter in a 2-1 loss to Cagliari on 1 March 2019.

 

[ADRossi]

Barella attempted and missed a penalty against Inter in a 2-1 loss to Cagliari on 1 March 2019.

Thanks. I must have been clicking on the wrong landing page. Chart is updated.

 

[brakbrak]

Surely Chalhanoglu needs to be the one taking PKs. I guess psychologically it's usually harder on the kicker to take the second penalty; same thing happened to Bonucci against Germany. So I guess it was right for Lautaro to take it yesterday. I still prefer Perisic over Lautaro though.

 

[kurt0411]

Order for me should be:

1) Vidal
2) Calhanoglu
3) Lautaro

 

[Il Drago]

Even though the sample is quite small (just 3 penalties) Dumfries conversion rate is impressive, especially for someone with his skills. Perhaps an option to consider.

Hakan should definitely be our penalty taker but after him there's no one who makes me overly confident as a penalty taker.

 

[Il Drago]

What about Skriniar? He has cold blood and his record is also perfect (100%, 5 out of 5). Though his last one was back in 2015.

 

[ADRossi]

What about Skriniar? He has cold blood and his record is also perfect (100%, 5 out of 5). Though his last one was back in 2015.

I would view him through the same lens as Sensi. Good career stats, but all in inferior leagues.

 

[RickyMaravilla'sRightFoot]

Calhanoglu has the best career stats. I would let him have first right of refusal when on the pitch. Lautaro second. Perisic 3rd. Dimarco 4th. And then the rest.

I just said in the Lautaro thread that he takes penalties like you would teach a u9 player, but those types of strikes will still work 6-7/ 10 times. Unfortunately, still better stats than most of the other takers

This is surely the area we feel Lukaku’s absence the most.

 

[BasedGodPunk]

Hakan, Perisic, Vidal in that order.

 

[Sawyer]

Must be why I was thinking of Perisic as our penalty taker, he gets my vote. The only problem is he isn't always on the field to take them...

Perfect solution would be Toro, he needs to get over the mental block though.

 

[bubba zanetti]

Everyone excepts Lautaro, rather give Handa.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Why only Serie A stats are considered? I think at least euro games should be included too.

 

[brehme1989]

Surely Chalhanoglu needs to be the one taking PKs. I guess psychologically it's usually harder on the kicker to take the second penalty; same thing happened to Bonucci against Germany. So I guess it was right for Lautaro to take it yesterday. I still prefer Perisic over Lautaro though.

Two kinds of PK takers:

 

[YoramG]

I imagine at some point since Lukaku left Inzaghi would have rounded up Lautaro, Hakan, Dimarco, Perisic, etc. etc. and had them take 5 to 10 penalties each against Handa - whoever scores the most is the main PK taker right? Handa isn't exactly a slouch on PKs too, so it's good practice.

Or am I completely clueless on how these things are decided professionally?

Side note: I spent a long time thinking Brozovic would a perfect penalty taker, just because he's got that 'head empty' vibe that would mean he would not feel the pressure of the moment at all

 

[ADRossi]

Updated as of today's fixture against Venezia.

 

[SiamoNoi]

Side note: I spent a long time thinking Brozovic would a perfect penalty taker, just because he's got that 'head empty' vibe that would mean he would not feel the pressure of the moment at all

True story.

 

[ADRossi]

I've updated the first post ahead of the season starting next week. Lukaku joining is obviously a huge boon - his form during his two previous seasons here was the best penalty taking I've ever witnessed. The losses of Perisic and Vidal mean we aren't particularly deep anymore. Finding 5 worthy options to take penalties during a Coppa Italia round will be a chore.

I have a gut feeling Bastoni is a sneaky good penalty taker, but nothing to back up that opinion.

 

[thatdude]

I feel like Brozovic would do well

 

[ADRossi]

Given Lautaro's growing incompetence, I gave this a refresh. Key changes include adding Arnautovic and Thuram to the pecking order and downgrading Lautaro.