Aston Villa have had a chequered record from the penalty spot for several seasons
Aston Villa's Emi Buendia missing a penalty at Go Ahead Eagles
Aston Villa's Emi Buendia missing a penalty at Go Ahead Eagles(Image: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock)
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Aston Villa have a penalty problem.
It’s not a new issue either, although Marcus Rashford offered some temporary relief last season given his fine record from the spot.
He scored two penalties while on loan at Villa last season - one against Preston North End in the FA Cup and another at Manchester City in the Premier League.
Following Villa's penalty shoot-out defeat at Brentford in September, Ollie Watkins then missed from 12 yards against Bologna, before Emi Buendia blazed over the bar on Thursday against Go Ahead Eagles.
The Argentine had scored in the shoot-out at the Gtech Community Stadium but Matty Cash and John McGinn saw their efforts saved by Hákon Valdimarsson, while Brentford scored all four of their spot kicks.
Excluding shoot-outs, Buendia's last penalty was a successful one at Luton Town while playing for Norwich City.
"Today the responsibility was with Emi Buendia," Unai Emery said after full-time. "Normally he has good numbers shooting penalties. Today he missed. It can happen. We will try to get more clinical than in the last ones we had. The takers are clear. Buendia, Sancho, McGinn and Morgan can shoot penalties. Buendia can repeat."
Watkins, meanwhile, has missed more penalties than he has scored in his club career, netting six and missing seven — including misses in four of the last five seasons for Villa.
Donyell Malen doesn’t have a particularly strong record either. He scored twice from the spot in the Eredivisie in 2019/20 but missed two more in 2020/21.
Youri Tielemans briefly took penalty duties last season but missed against Crystal Palace in the 2-2 draw at Villa Park. The Belgian, however, generally has a solid record, scoring five Premier League penalties for Leicester City.
Jadon Sancho has scored three penalties in his senior club career, all in the 2020/21 campaign while at Borussia Dortmund.
Morgan Rogers didn’t take a penalty in the shoot-out against Brentford because Unai Emery and his staff felt they didn’t have enough information on his record, although he did score from the spot for England Under-21s against Austria last year.
As for McGinn, he admitted after the win over Bologna that he wasn't going to be selected to step up to take the penalty that Watkins won in the second half.
“I think I was down the list after the Brentford one,” he admitted on Villa TV, before confirming that Malen would have taken the penalty if he hadn’t been substituted.
“Donyell was meant to take it, but he was off the pitch. Ollie as a striker was next in line. It’s probably something we need to eradicate and get better. It was definitely a chance to kill the game.”
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