Terrace Talk

I’ve always thought of myself as a big fan of Wayne Rooney and right away I should warn you that I have a major bias toward the forward. It simply took a spectacular goal against Arsenal, when the lad was still with Everton to win me over. The shot was beautiful, but as I frantically rewound the video and played it from the beginning, it was his intelligent movement into space that really caught my eye. It wasn’t long before he proved his worth for England in the 2004 European Championship, where he scored a handful of impressive goals that would cement his place at the top of Sir Alex’s transfer list. So it comes as no surprise that I call myself “Roonatic #1” a title I was originally embarrassed of, considering the lad is a scouser afterall. These are my confessions; in the face of his brilliance I just can’t help liking a scouser.

Fast-forward a few years in Wayne’s career and you come to another metatarsal injury and another season that is faced with scrutiny. The last two years he’s gone through a major public relations evolution that actually requires me to defend the striker. As the winds change direction with every win, loss, or draw, so do the pundits logic and opinion on Rooney. Against Newcastle he was the hero, against Portsmouth the villain, and once again the hero against Liverpool. In the mean time, there were plenty of calls for his head. These however have been heard before, particularly in the first two months of 2007 when Rooney had come off injury and was not scoring with his usual profligacy. Once again the public sentiment is being turned against him by a media who is the true culprit in all of this mayhem. But as one Scottish man commented in a recent Football365 article, it is the constant inspection, and dissection of Rooney’s game that is the root of the problem in England and the reason so many fans enjoy to watch them lose.

Most of 2003 and 2004 was spent in creating a mirage. The vision of a Herculean footballer that could in one moment call-up the finesse of Pele and in the next second the agility of Maradona, and that was wholely English. As usual the English fans dreamed, and the English media fed the dream, boosting the lad’s (he was only 17 at the time) ego to atmospheric levels. While he is without a doubt the best striker that England have, even a Roonatic can be realistic about what he provides the team, and neither is it the brilliance of Pele, Maradona or Best.

Wayne Rooney is by all accounts a very direct player, with massive strength, misleading speed and a footballing brain far more mature than his age. This footballing time-warp has served him well, and has certainly kept the United fans happy, but because he hasn’t fulfilled the hype on an international stage, Wayne Rooney is now the subject of another childish English outburst. Let us not forget that he has had two major injury stints and in his first major period away from the physio’s table he has provided us with a spectacular match against bitter rivals Liverpool. While his mind provides the creativity and ingenuity that was on display against Middlesborough earlier this season, I’ll argue that he hasn’t had a goal scoring dip the way people think.

Below you’ll find some basic statistics supporting my claim that he in fact hasn’t been as poor in front of the goal as you may think.

2007-2008: 119 shots, 13 goals, 10.92%, 69 shots on goal, 18.84%
2006-2007: 198 shots, 23 goals, 11.62%, 76 shots on goal, 30.26%
2005-2006: 167 shots, 17 goals, 10.18%, 79 shots on goal, 21.52%
2004-2005: 121 shots, 18 goals, 14.88%, 74 shots on goal, 24.32%

What this tells me is that he’s still within a reasonable range of his performances in the last few years. While he may not be as effective as in 2004, he is also not playing in a similar position. As time has passed, he has moved further back and further left. His percentage of goals to shots on goal would be a concern if it wasn’t that they were anchored by his overall goals per attempt ratio. My only conclusion is that he’s taking chances further from the goal. I have to admit that he is not on fire as he was in 2004, but neither can this season be called a soft year. Particularly with him beginning to truly assert himself against opposing sides.

Some might argue that 2004 saw a star born, but I think it was last season that United proved to have a champion able of winning the Champions League. It was by far his most consistent Champions League performance and one which saw him score crucial goals against Roma and AC Milan, when United were on the cusp of elimination. The old adage that United score, they always score in injury time, was once again preserved and Rooney continued to build his legendary status in my eyes.

His game against Fenerbahce in 2004, fed the flames of hype and English fans deserve to be disappointed by Wayne Rooney. I smile at the articles that are a platform for their never ending complaints and receptacle for their tears. They deserve to be disappointed and delushioned that Wayne Rooney isn’t nearly the goalscorer that he was in years past. The statistics are there, the mentality is there, the work rate is there and the player with all his gained experience is there. Every week he battles, in the way we idealize the game, he embodies the warrior mentality that fits our fantasy and because of those attributes he belongs at the fore-front of England’s attack, with an armband. He is a player that when United needed him he was present and was counted. He has been there for England, while lesser players around him have paled in comparison. That was true on Sunday, and under no circumstance will anyone convince me that Stevie Gerrard or Torres, the Spanish chav will ever be good enough to lick Wayne Rooney’s boots. Period. End of.