Fulham's deadliest penalty takers of the 21st Century
With Raul having the Midas touch from 12 yards, what other men in white have been adept at penalties?
Raul Jimenez’s penalty against Nottingham Forest before Christmas was his sixth goal from the spot in all competitions for Fulham. He famously has a 100% record from 12 yards (in the Premier League, at least), and we’re reaping the benefits (when we actually get awarded penalties!).
We’ve got a chequered past when it comes to pens, but there have been a handful of men this century who have put a fair few away for us since the turn of the century. Here they are, for your enjoyment.
Danny Murphy (Scored: 19. Missed: 1. Sucess rate: 95%)
Ask any long-term fan who our best modern penalty taker is and they’d name this man.
Danny scored penalties in the Premier League, the FA Cup, and in Europa League qualifying. He just never seemed to miss - except that one time he did. The game? our 3-2 win at Manchester City during the great escape, when he bundled in the rebound anyway.
Interestingly, Murphy rarely had the chance to take penalties at Liverpool - but when he did, he scored. He bagged two in the Premier League and two in the FA Cup for the Reds. Also interestingly, he wasn’t on the pitch for either one of our two penalties in the Europa league proper. Kamara scored in our 2-1 defeat to Roma, and - famously - Zoltan Gera scored against Juventus.
Louis Saha (Scored: 15. Missed 0. Success rate: 100%)
This is another unsurprising inclusion, as Saha is arguably our greatest striker of this century (more on his rival to that title later).
It’s also not surprising that 10 of his 15 successful penalties were scored in the First Division, when he bagged 27 as part of his all-conquering 2000/01 campaign.
He would equal his five Premier League penalties for Fulham at Manchester United, having uncerimoniously dumped us for them during the 2003/04 season. Honestly, I’m not bitter.
Steed Malbranque (Scored 11. Missed 2. Success rate: 84.6%)
Steeeed!
The fact our diminutive French attacker is on this list despite playing second fiddle to King Louis when it came to spot-kick duties, is testament to him and his ice-cold nerves.
Malbranque bagged goals from the spot in the Premier League, both domestic cup competitions and in the old UEFA Cup (against Hadjuk Split). Of his two misses, one was inconsequential in a 3-1 win over Portsmouth, but the one that’d stick in his craw would be a 71st-minute miss against Manchester United with the scores 1-1. We still bagged a point, but a goal would’ve sealed our first Premier League win against the Red Devils.
Ross McCormack (Scored: 8. Missed: 0. Success rate: 100%)
Ah, Ross. The man who kept us afloat in the second tier when we couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery.
Such was his potency for the Whites, it feels natural that the Scot had a flawless penalty record, but his career success rate is actually 84.6% - he missed 11 overall, from 43 attempts.
Perhaps surprisingly, given how terrible we were at the time, was when McCormack scored a penalty we either won or drew - except on one occasion. That was - typically - a 4-1 home defeat to Brentford. Awful days.
Dimitar Berbatov (Scored 6. Missed: 0. Success rate: 100%)
Even if the club was sleepwalking to disaster, Berba was pure class in his short stay - “keep calm and let me take the pen”.
All his penalties bagged us points, bar one - a 4-1 defeat to Everton. Interestingly, he scored more goals for Fulham than any other club in his career - and he never scored one for Bayer Leverkusen. He missed all three of his attempts for the German club. Class may be permanent, but evidently it takes time to develop.
A note on Aleksander Mitrovic
Here’s how we find out who in the comments has read to the end and who hasn’t.
“Where’s Mitro?”, I hear you cry. Aleksander scored 16 of his 24 penalties for Fulham, across the Premier League, Championship and cup competitions. That’s a success rate of 66.6%.
The historic success rate in the Premier League is 78%, which I can only imagine is higher in the Championship, where the quality of goalkeeping would be objectively worse. So, for me (Clive), Mitro’s rate just isn’t high enough to be considered deadly. He’ also taken the most penalties for Fulham this century (so far), so although he only scored three fewer than Danny Murphy, he took four more.
Sorry, Mitro. You were exceptional in open play, though.
Special mention probably deserved for the ice man Heidar Helguson
Not much wrong with the article except that Murphy himself scored the rebound from the saved penalty against Man City (I remember the radio commentary as if it was yesterday) and Berbatov scored more goals for four other clubs than he did for Fulham. Never mind, we still love you Fulhamish.