Louis van Gaal is getting sick of talking about it, pundits are growing weary of discussing it, fans are getting annoyed at witnessing it and, probably, his team—mates are becoming frustrated with it, too. We are of course talking about the form of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, a weekly topic, it would seem.
Despite breaking the England scoring record, this season hasn’t been all sunshine and lollipops for the 30-year-old striker, whose role in the United team is coming under increased scrutiny on the back of laborious showing after laborious showing. The exits of Radamal Falcao and Robin van Persie handed Rooney carte blanche over the striking role at Old Trafford, yet he’s hardly set the world alight, leading to suggestions that his time at the very top may be coming to a close.
Would a parting of company at the end of the season be good for team, player and everyone else involved in this saga? Perhaps, and here are FIVE points, with the help of the good people at WhoScored, to back up the argument…
Steady decline…
Although it may be somewhat harsh to cover his stats this season in the red of negativity, Rooney’s contribution in a Manchester United shirt has been on the wane (no pun intended) for some time. 2011/12 was, arguably, his finest season in recent memory in terms of input with his 27 goals and average of 50.4 passes-per-game in Premier League action impressive to say the least.
However, he has since failed to scale such heights, and this season’s numbers so far are worrying. We’ll disregard the goals and appearances from the equation, as it’s still early days, but even then Rooney’s numbers are still bleak. He’s currently averaging his lowest numbers of goals, shots, passes and key-passes-per-game since the 2009/10 campaign, while his conversion rate stands at a meagre 10.5%. Ouch. How long can his role in the starting XI be justified?
Questionable contribution to results
Of Rooney’s nine games this season the Red Devils have won five, with the skipper netting twice. Not terrible, it would seem. However, when you consider that two of these victories have been against relegation fodder in the shape of Aston Villa and Sunderland, it’s easy to argue that Rooney’s contributions have been far from vital. Further to this, he’s been present in losses at the hands of Swansea and Arsenal, as well as draws with Manchester City and Newcastle, which are games in which the 30-year-old has looked ineffective.
Sunday’s derby was, perhaps, the lowest Rooney has sunk this season, with the forward mustering only one shot, zero key passes, zero successful dribbles and the second worst pass completion rate of any of the outfield starters (56.7%).
Martial a better option ‘up top’…
A striker’s hunting ground is the 18-yard box. Simply put, goalscorers have the maximum chance of putting the ball onto the net the closer they are to goal, so it’s a worry to see that only 7% of Rooney’s touches of the ball have been in the opposing team’s penalty areas so far this term (33 of 478).
It’s even more worrying to see Anthony Martial being marginalised in favour of keeping the 30-year-old in his favoured role, with the Frenchman having been a breath of fresh air since his big money arrival from Monaco over the summer. The 19-year-old Frenchman has looked more dynamic averaging 3.8 dribbles-per-game in league action, while he’s scored more goals from fewer shots than his senior team-mate, so it’s far from ideal to have him working from wide.
He still has time to break the record
As things stand, Rooney needs 14 goals to become Manchester United’s highest ever goalscorer. Dennis Law (237) and Bobby Charlton (249) stand above Rooney (236), and with United likely to go deep into every cup competition on top of the remaining 28 games of the Premier League campaign, there should be opportunities aplenty for the striker to top the pile by the end of the campaign – especially as he’s the club’s designated penalty taker.
Bowing out as United’s best ever goal-getter? Not a bad way to go!
Rooney still has time to make an impact elsewhere
It’s easy to forget that there’s a human being present in all this talk of numbers and progression. Rooney, like him or loathe him, deserves immense credit for what he’s achieved through an already long career, and having just turned 30, he still has a few miles left in the tank. Perhaps the early start of his playing days – he broke onto the scene at 16 – has used up some of his energy, so step away from the very highest level could do him good.
A move back to Everton appears to be a wise one should the Toffees’ fans see fit to forgive him for leaving as a teen prodigy, while even a switch over to Major League Soccer could be appealing. Given his superstar status he’s have his pick of franchises to play for, and life in New York, Los Angeles or even Miami, if David Beckham’s side get off the ground in the coming years, would certainly make a nice change from rainy Manchester.
