Alan Shearer is a former England captain, the Premier League’s record goalscorer and a one-time title winner. Nowadays he is equally renowned in a post-retirement career in broadcasting, serving as a lead co-commentator on the BBC’s World Cup coverage.His most famous moment in the gantry came two years ago, when he was on duty for England’s penalty shootout win at the 2024 European Championship against Switzerland.All five of Gareth Southgate’s designated takers dispatched from 12 yards, and after Trent Alexander-Arnold had converted the decisive fifth penalty, Shearer said, “(Cole) Palmer, (Jude) Bellingham, (Bukayo) Saka, (Ivan) Toney, Trent. Pressure? What Pressure? Pressure is for tyres,” a line that went viral and later took on a new life and is still used as background audio for short social media videos on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.Few commentators are more qualified to speak about what it takes from the spot. Shearer scored 56 of his 67 attempts over his 14 years in the Premier League. His last goal as a professional was a trademark drilled penalty to put Newcastle United ahead in a 4-1 win at rivals Sunderland in 2006, and he was once described as having taken the “perfect penalty” against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup by scientists at Liverpool John Moores University, getting closest to perfecting each area of their six-point index.Even under Gareth Southgate, who, in combination with steps taken by the Football Association (FA), changed the way England approached shootouts, Shearer would have been a certainty to step up for a decisive spot-kick. Like Harry Kane and Toney, who was included in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup partly due to his extraordinarily good record from the spot (58 scored from 62 in his career), there was no question that Shearer would take a penalty when he was on the pitch. But how do coaches decide the others?Julian Nagelsmann experienced the pitfalls of lacking shootout preparation as his Germany side were eliminated by Paraguay in the round of 32. Germany, who once scored 22 consecutive penalties in major tournament shootouts (15 straight in World Cups), missed three of six, with strikers Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade unsuccessful from the spot. Centre-back Jonathan Tah, who had never before taken a spot-kick as a professional, missed their sixth, while several more experienced and attack-minded players did not step up.Should we keep penalty shootouts?According to Harry Redknapp, whose highest-profile penalty shootout defeat as a manager was in 2009, when his Tottenham Hotspur side lost 4-1 in the League Cup final to Manchester United, his method was to prioritise technical talent and enthusiasm.“I normally prefer forwards or midfield players, sometimes full-backs,” Redknapp tells The Athletic. “People that have a good ability to strike a ball cleanly and have the nerve under pressure to take one. If someone isn’t confident when you ask, ”Do you want to take a penalty?“ or doesn’t give a positive answer, I wouldn’t push them into taking one. You have to be confident and feel you can score.”There has been significant evolution in shootout strategy since Redknapp lost at Wembley, leading him to describe it as a “lottery” in his post-match press conference. Under Southgate, England had three penalty shootouts at major tournaments, winning their first against Colombia in 2018, losing to Italy in the Euro 2020 final, and then having an outstanding showing against Switzerland in 2024. In the latter case, Southgate had taken off Kane, his primary taker, but could still lean on five talents with the technical quality to “strike a ball cleanly”, as Redknapp mentioned.