Was Alli’s miss the worst ever?

One touch to bring the ball under control. Another to take it away from the defender. One more to push it around the keeper – delay, delay, delay to perfection.

Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli was doing everything right as he coasted past to beat, Ah.

Alli saw the funny side of his miss, using Tottenham’s Snapchat account to post this self-mocking picture of himself ” what a miss

As it happens, 20-year-old Alli has the world at his feet – and more often than not he’ll stick that world into the net, as he showed with the two goals he did score at the Britannia Stadium.
So, just to make this rarest of English talents feel a bit better about himself, here are some other magnificent Premier League misses.
Ronny Rosenthal – Aston Villa 4-2 Liverpool, 19 September 1992
There was a bobble, right Ronny?
The daddy. The benchmark. The gold standard.
Without Ronny Rosenthal, there would be no yardstick with which to measure all of the other howlers that football gifts us. It’s almost as if open-goal gaffes never existed until this beauty came along.
They did, apparently.
Chasing a long punt upfield, the Liverpool striker rounds Aston Villa keeper Nigel Spink and, from almost right on top of the penalty spot, pokes the ball against the crossbar. It’s possibly the sound of leather against metal that makes this all the more satisfying.
It’s a credit to the quality of this miss that Israeli Ronny is better remembered for this act of squandering than he is for an FA Cup fifth-round replay hat-trick for Tottenham in a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down to win 6-2 against Southampton.
Fernando Torres – Man Utd 3-1 Chelsea, 18 September 2011
If a picture could sum up Fernando’s Chelsea career…
Former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres wanted the world to eat him up after this shank in a 3-1 loss at Manchester United.
The Spaniard, having already scored, looks in fine fettle as he executes a textbook step-over to go past the approaching David de Gea. From six yards out, he connects quite cleanly with his shot and, had the goal been three feet to the left, it would be a corker of a finish.

Fortunately for Torres, he is offered immediate support and condolences by a sympathetic throng of United fans in the Stretford End.
Dzeko – Man City 1-0 Stoke, 22 February 2014
Edin Dzeko made a better connection when he booted the post in anger after this miss
It’s not up to the standard of his miss for Roma earlier this season, when Edin Dzeko elegantly stroked the ball across a gaping net.
But this is an underrated miss from the former Manchester City striker, simply because he makes such a poor connection on the ball, it never has the chance to either roll past or strike the post.
City winger Jesus Navas rolls across the tastiest of tasty balls to the Bosnian, who is four yards out (at best) and connects with his right foot, before swiftly turning into a defender and blocking it with his standing left foot. Top multitasking
Nwankwo Kanu – West Brom 1-2 Middlesbrough, 14 November 2004
Nwankwo Kanu defied the laws of physics to send the ball over the bar from less than a yard out
The headline, somewhere, surely, must have been ‘Kanu believe it?!’ If it wasn’t, then that could well be as gargantuan a missed opportunity as Nwankwo’s back-post horror show.
If the Nigerian were any further up the pitch when he connects with this ball, he would have been under the crossbar.

The old cliche ‘it was harder to miss than score’ is flat out inappropriate here. West Brom boss Bryan Robson, in his first game as Baggies chief, almost got it right at the time when he said it was “almost impossible” to miss.

From 0.7 yards out, it was IMPOSSIBLE to miss. But Kanu defied the laws of physics to scoop it over
Cristiano Ronaldo – Sheffield Utd 1-2 Man Utd, 18 November 2006
How can a man with 539 career goals miss from here?

We’ll finish on this one just to make us all feel a bit better about ourselves.

One of the best players of a generation, 539 career goals and more than £90m in transfer fees. Yet Ronnie, when he really puts his mind to it, can still do a passable impression of a middle-aged, podgy, hungover bloke called Keith on a park in Smethwick.

After some vintage trickery from Wayne Rooney and a precise square ball from Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo can select from roll, poke, prod or pass for the finishing touch – instead he chooses balloon. Great fun.
“Is there a worse miss than those on this list? Let me know in the comments section below.