One of the few entertaining moments in Monday's dour 0-0 draw between Everton and West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park came just before half-time when the home side were awarded a penalty. Kevin Mirallas insisted on taking the spot kick, taking the ball from Leighton Baines, the regular and usually accurate penalty kicker for the Toffees.
Mirallas went on to miss the penalty and came under fire for his greedy attitude. Several Everton players had tried to persuade the Belgian to let Baines take the kick, but to no avail.
Baines has an impressive record of converting 15 of his 16 Premier League penalty kicks, although he did miss his last one, against Manchester United in October.
Television pundit Gary Nevillle went as far as to call the action by Mirallas "a despicable breach of team spirit". Manager Roberto Martinez tried to play it down, calling the incident "no big issue" Despite the manager's comments, it was noticeable that Mirallas did not appear in the second half, citing a "hamstring" problem.
Of course if Mirallas had scored, nothing would have been said. But the painful truth is that he didn't find the back of the net, adding pressure on the increasingly beleaguered Martinez, who is currently the bookies' favourite as the next gaffer to get the chop.
The Mirallas incident highlights the pressure involved in taking penalty kicks, particularly in high-profile matches. It might seem straightforward enough to knock the ball past the keeper from just 12 yards, but it most definitely isn't.
Apart from scoring an own-goal, missing a penalty is probably the most shattering experience facing a professional footballer. Unlike Mirallas, the majority of players dread taking spot kicks, but sometimes cannot avoid it in shoot-outs.
The good thing is that no one is immune from cocking it up. Even gifted goal machines like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have suffered the pain of missed spot kicks. David Beckham heads a long list of England players would also not like to be reminded of horror spot kicks in internationals over the years.
In English football, the nearest to perfection when it came to converting penalties was Southampton's Matthew Le Tissier. The talented midfielder converted an amazing 48 out of 49 during his career with the Saints, including 25 out of 26 in the Premier League. The only penalty Le Tissier missed was saved by Mark Crossley of Nottingham Forest in 1993.
The laid-back Le Tissier never boasted about his prowess. In a rare public comment he said: "I always aim for the corners. I never make eye contact with the keeper.''
Other past players who enjoyed a high success rate in Premier League spot kicks were Danny Murphy (18 out of 19), James Beattie (16/17) and Julian Dicks (15/16).
In pre-Premier League days, one of the finest spot kickers was Manchester City's Francis Lee who netted 13 penalties in the 1971-72 season, earning himself the nickname 'Lee Pen'.
Of course there are various techniques applied to taking penalties, none of them infallible. Eric Cantona converted 14 of his 16 penalties for Manchester United primarily by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way and stroking the ball into the opposite corner.
Alan Shearer used a very different style, blasting the ball into the net, and it usually worked.
Among current Premier League players the most successful at converting penalties are Eden Hazard at Chelsea and Manchester City's Yaya Toure. Dimitar Berbatov had a splendid nine out of nine record in the Premier League but blotted his copybook while playing for Manchester United in the 2009 FA Cup semi-final against Everton when he casually strolled up to the spot and then hit a very soft shot straight at Tim Howard in goal.
The Bulgarian later explained he was waiting to see which way goalkeeper Howard would go, but when the keeper didn't move Berbatov found himself in two minds and totally messed up the shot.
Some penalty misses are remembered more than others and can have a traumatic effect on the player concerned. Gary McCallister had all the eyes of Scotland on him when he stepped up to take a vital spot kick against England at Wembley in Euro 1996. It was saved by David Seaman and McCallister was inconsolable.
The Scot confessed after the match: "I know there are more important things in life than football, but if you cut me open and had a look inside right now it wouldn't be a pretty sight. I don't know if I can sink any lower."
Gareth Southgate is another former player who is remembered more for his miss against Germany in a penalty shoot-out in Euro 96, than his steady defending throughout his career. The miss will live with him forever.
Southgate once said: "I'm sure that people always say 'he's the idiot who missed the penalty.'"
Perhaps he should have taken the advice of his mum, Barbara, who scolded him after the game with "why didn't you just belt it?"
Few of England's long-suffering supporters will forget the ever dependable Stuart Pearce missing the penalty that contributed to England's World Cup semi-final exit against Germany in Italy in 1990.
It was Brazilian legend Pele who said in his early days, "a penalty is a cowardly way to score''. However, he might have changed his tune a bit when he notched his 1,000th goal — which happened to be from the penalty spot.
But watching the stress suffered by penalty takers over the years, one thing is for sure — taking penalty kicks is not for cowards.