Pre-season can often be an opportunity to try out new things, with less pressure on outcomes or results.
Yet as Jermaine Jenas can attribute - if you're willing to attempt a cheeky Panenka penalty, you need to get it right. It's almost two decades since the midfielder's missed effort in the 2003 Asia Cup prompted late legendary Newcastle boss Sir Bobby Robson to blast his penalty as "outrageous" and "obscene" as he skied it over the crossbar on their way to defeat to Chelsea.
You can perhaps forgive Conor Gallagher for not remembering such a pivotal moment in football history, given the future Chelsea star was just three years old at the time, though he'll be getting little forgiveness from his teammates or manager for his own cover version.
The Blues ace is bidding to be a part of Thomas Tuchel's plans at Stamford Bridge this season and has already featured in both of their pre-season fixtures thus far; playing the first half of the 2-1 win over Club America, before coming on as a second-half substitute in Chelsea's latest clash against MLS outfit Charlotte FC.
However, despite an impressive campaign on loan at Crystal Palace last season, which saw Gallagher earn his first call-up to the senior England squad, he has quickly taken on the role of fall guy on Chelsea's tour of the US. Having played out a 1-1 draw in normal time after Daniel Rios' 92nd minute penalty cancelled out Christian Pulisic's opener, the friendly fixture was settled by a shootout.
But Gallagher was the only unfortunate soul to miss his spot kick, attempting a Jenas-like Panenka, but getting it all wrong. Rather than sky his shot over the bar, Gallagher instead failed to get enough purchase on it, barely getting the ball off the ground as he clipped his shot straight down the middle into the hands of expectant Charlotte goalkeeper George Marks.
It turned out to be the only missed penalty of the shootout as Charlotte were perfect from the spot, scoring five out of five to run out victors over their Premier League counterparts. Boss Tuchel was angered by elements of his side's performance during the match and made his feelings known after the final whistle.
“In general, I would say we played a good first half. But unfortunately, only 80 metres of the pitch. The last 20 metres of the pitch were not good enough," he fumed. "We found a lot of spaces to accelerate and penetrate the box. But we struggled with our decision-making and precision in the last 20 metres.
“This was simply not good enough for the effort and quality we showed in the first 80 metres of the pitch and the amount of space we had, and the number of attacks we created. Second half, it took us half an hour to show some quality and then it was maybe for ten minutes, so it was not good at all.
“Not offensively, not structure-wise, not in effort, hunger to be the dominant team. It was not good enough.”
While his penalty will be something to learn from, Tuchel is unlikely to hold Gallagher's miss against him having already praised his work ethic since his return to the club. Speaking after Gallagher's first performance under his management against Club America, Tuchel said: "He trains at a very high level and we can clearly see that it was the right decision to let him go on loan.
"He made a huge step in his development in this year and became a player for England, and we can see this clearly in training. It is a very good start for him and it was a good match from him. He can be a big asset for us.
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"Work rate is outstanding, and he has such a big heart. Now it is important that he gets used to our principles of the game, to understand when to move when not to move, but his work-rate is outstanding and this can be a big asset for us.
"I count on the fact that as [players like Gallagher] become more experienced, they maybe become calmer and adapt more and more. They’re still young players and what we want from them is that they stay confident, stay focused, and do what they need to do as strikers."
Gallagher will have an opportunity to make amends when Chelsea face Arsenal in the final of the Florida Cup on Sunday.
