Giorgos Giakoumakis penalty history assessed as Celtic miss highlights repeated issue

That much becomes clear when breaking down his penalty-taking abilities - which The Celtic Way has decided to do after his miss from the spot against Livingston on Saturday meant Ange Postecoglou's side slipped four points behind in the title race.

Let's get one thing out the way quickly though: there is very little credence to the argument that Giakoumakis shouldn't have taken the penalty.

It's the kind of 20/20 hindsight that's simply bad for your blood pressure; it does nobody any good.

Why? Because he's Celtic's penalty-taker and he was on the pitch when they were awarded a spot-kick. It's that simple. Both manager Postecoglou and captain Callum McGregor said as much after the match.

READ MORE: Celtic crossing returns with a vengeance in costly stalemate against Livingston - tactical and data match report

"It was my decision, Giakoumakis on penalties," Postecoglou said following the 0-0 draw. "We'd made that decision a couple of games ago, but he wasn't on the pitch when we got the last one [against St Johnstone] so Josip Juranovic took it.

"He [Giakoumakis] was on the pitch and was the designated taker. He'll be disappointed [to have missed] but that's part of being a striker - you get the plaudits when you score, when you don't you've got to pick yourself, get out there again and put the ball in the back of the net. I'm sure that's what he'll do."

Likewise, there's little credibility to the notion that McGregor should have forcibly removed the ball from Giakoumakis and given it to Juranovic...

"It’s all worked out before," as the captain put it. "That’s the plan. If Giorgos was on the pitch then it was him and if not then it was Josip, so there’s no debate about that."

He's correct - there is no debate. Or at least there shouldn't be.

What about Juranovic?

There is, however, a school of thought that once you've stepped forward as the main man from the spot it should remain your responsibility until you miss one.

That's an altogether understandable stance that - while still somewhat ignoring the fact there is a pecking order - at least doesn't tacitly base its argument on the fact Giakoumakis missed.

Juranovic has taken two and scored two since joining Celtic - as far as the statistics show, his only penalties in senior football - while McGregor himself stepped up against Ferencvaros and was denied by Dénes Dibusz.

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Naturally, the presumption could be made that Juranovic is the side's number-one penalty taker and McGregor only stepped up because the Croatian wasn't on the park against Ferencvaros. That Juranovic was handed the ball upon his return to the team against St Johnstone appeared to reinforce this theory.

Postecoglou and the skipper both poured cold water on that at the weekend by pointing out that Giakoumakis wasn't on the pitch at those times either - if he had been, he'd have taken the burden on his shoulders then too.

Juranovic, in scoring both spot-kicks he's been given, simply done his job as back-up penalty taker. Giakoumakis, in stepping up to take Celtic's penalty against Livingston, was simply trying to do the job of first-choice penalty taker. No more, no less.

Giakoumakis' penalty history

What may be up for debate is the quality of the kick and the decision-making of the taker. As I said, Giakoumakis is a creature of habit.

The Greek has scored nine of his 13 senior penalty kicks - a conversion rate of just less than 70 per cent. Decent, but not great.

Interestingly, he missed his first two - for former clubs AO Episkopi Rethymno in 2014 and OFI Crete in 2019 - meaning he hadn't actually converted a spot-kick until last year.

After scoring his first in VVV-Venlo's 5-3 win over FC Emmen in September 2020, Giakoumakis notched a further two in a row before missing again on November 7 against Heracles.

Shrugging that disappointment off, the 26-year-old embarked on a six-penalty scoring streak before missing against Livi at the weekend - notably, his first attempt to convert in front of a crowd from 12 yards since his maiden spot-kick goal just over a year earlier.

But what's the habit here? Well, two things stick out.

Firstly, the way he takes a penalty has remained consistent throughout his career. Whether when missing or scoring - and whether when leading, losing or drawing, because he's taken penalties in all of those situations - Giakoumakis always does the same thing.

He'll place the ball on the spot before straightening up and taking four steps backwards at a very slight centre-left angle. He'll then take one last look at the goal before shifting his focus to the referee. Only when he hears the referee blow his whistle will he turn back to the task at hand, stride forward those couple of yards and side-foot the ball. He doesn't do long run-ups and it's always side-footed.

The only thing that changes is the direction he hits the ball - and that's where the second habit comes in. Giakoumakis doesn't score when he goes bottom left. 

Three of his four misses have been bottom-left attempts. Of his nine penalty goals, three have been bottom right, three roughly down the middle, one top left, one top right and one what we'll call mid-left. At no point has he successfully converted a bottom-left attempt from 12 yards.

On Saturday Giakoumakis did everything he usually does when taking a penalty. The placing, the straightening, the steps, the eye on the ref, the side-foot. All of it. He followed his routine to a tee.

Unfortunately, following that familiar formula also provided the Greek with an all-too-familiar outcome.

Whether Giakoumakis was working under the assumption Max Stryjek - having done his homework - would know he doesn't score when going for the bottom left and thus tried to outfox the Livi keeper by doing precisely that, or whether it's a case of 'it has to go in some time' or even just that he simply fancied putting it there this time despite the pressure involved... he still missed it.

His placement was absolutely off, but the overarching point to remember is that he stepped up to take it in the first place - as the first-choice penalty taker is supposed to.

Postecoglou arguably got plenty of things wrong on Saturday but, on this point, he's spot on: it's how Giakoumakis picks himself up from the Livi game that matters most now.