Goalkeepers facing Alan Shearer from the spot knew exactly what was coming. He was going to hit it very hard. Knowing did not help them much.
Shearer is the Premier League's all-time top scorer with 260 goals, and 56 of them were penalties, more than almost anyone in the league's history. Across 14 Premier League seasons with Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, he was the definition of reliability from 12 yards.
How much did penalties matter to his record?
A great deal. Those 56 spot kicks were a key part of the 260, and they helped him to three Golden Boots. Shearer was a complete centre-forward who scored every kind of goal, but the penalty was the one he could count on week after week.
His technique was pure power. Some takers try to wrong-foot the keeper or wait for him to move. Shearer simply struck it so hard that even a correct guess rarely turned into a save. It was not subtle, and it did not need to be.
The most predictable thing in English football for a decade and more was a Shearer penalty going in. That kind of dominance from 12 yards makes him the Premier League's penalty king, and our number 16.
Coming tomorrow: number 15.
