Comparing Wayne Rooney’s 2014/15 Stats to His 2015/16 Numbers

Wayne Rooney has not had the season he was supposed to have at Manchester United.

During the Red Devils’ pre-season tour of the U.S., Rooney said, per Sky Sports: 

My best position – and I’ve always said it – is as a striker, getting into the box.

The two seasons I’ve really done that as a lone striker are my two best goalscoring seasons. I hope to score 20 or more goals again. If I’m playing as a striker, then I will be disappointed if I can’t do that again.

In July 2015, Mark Ogden of the Telegraph wrote, “Wayne Rooney will be restored to a central striking role at Manchester United this season with Louis van Gaal, the manager, accepting that he diminishes the England captain’s goalscoring talents by deploying him in midfield.”

In the end, though, Rooney spent a few pretty fruitless months up front, occasionally switching to No. 10 to allow Anthony Martial to take the centre-forward berth. He finally hit form in January before succumbing to injury. Since his return he has played in midfield.

It would take an explosion of form for him to score 20 goals now.

So how do his numbers—and all the numbers below come courtesy of Rooney’s page over at WhoScored.com—both in terms of goals and his general contribution, stack up against last season?

The first thing of interest is the number of games he has started in each position he has played. There has definitely been a shift.

Last season he started 14 league games up front, this season it was 17, plus three in the Champions League. He started four league games at No. 10 in each season. Once United were into the group stages of the Champions League, though, No. 10 was Van Gaal’s go-to role for Rooney—he started there in three of the four games.

2014/15 saw him make 14 league appearances in deep-lying midfield, compared to just three this time out. It is only in these final stages of the season, following the emergence of Marcus Rashford that Rooney has been sent back into that spot.

All that meant he spent around 42 per cent of the league minutes of Van Gaal’s first campaign at centre-forward. This season, that percentage has been much higher, around 70 per cent.

In spite of this his rate of goals in the league has been slower this season—0.3 per 90 minutes versus 0.4 per 90 last time out.

That is a pretty damning statistic for those arguing Rooney’s best position remains as a centre-forward. Especially when combined with the fact that he has used his more advanced position to take more shots—2.9 per 90 this season versus 2.5 last.

Some of this lack of efficacy can be attributed not just to England’s record …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com