With Wayne Rooney's brace at the weekend marking his tenth year in the Premier League, Alex Dunn argues the England man is not given the credit he deserves and calls for his detractors to celebrate what he is rather than magnify what he's not...
Monday 12 November 2012 13:42, UK
Alex Dunn argues we should celebrate Wayne Rooney for what he is rather than what he's not.
For 26 minutes at Old Trafford on Saturday the script was being adhered to perfectly. The cherubic image of Wayne Rooney ten years hence in an Everton strip had already been chosen; juxtapose it with a head in his hands shot after his faux pas into his own goal and a decade as much about devilment as delight would be captured perfectly. A minute later and, as is his wont, the Manchester United man rewrote a ten-year epitaph to his own design. It's what he's done throughout a career of billowing peaks and troughs. From giving David Seaman 'the eyes' before 'that' goal against Arsenal as an (admittedly bull-necked) 16-year-old to titles and tantrums it's a journey scored by Ennio Morricone. Except the good, the bad and the ugly doesn't cover the half of it. Picture editors rolled their eyes, but some subs were happy to perpetuate the myth of Wayne on the wane. A well-taken brace and a pair of equally perfectly conceived assists were good enough to condemn Stoke City to a 4-2 defeat but not sate the expectations of the Mail on Sunday, who chose to celebrate Rooney's tenth year at the top with 'Why didn't you play like this for England?' Yeah Wayne, why didn't you win the Great British Bake-off either? Loser. After Juan Mata's equally dazzling display for Chelsea at Tottenham I was expecting a 'Doesn't Mata Juan, you're still not good enough for Spain' headline but surprisingly they went with 'Mata the magician has Spurs in his spell'. Funny that. An abject display in Poland gave Rooney's detractors free rein to pontificate on their favourite topic; with every rank England performance accompanied by a dissection of their faltering forward's limitations. Call me old fashioned but if my centre-forward scores in a 1-1 draw he wouldn't be the primary concern. If Michael Owen had got the crucial goal in Warsaw - and it may well turn out to be critical to qualification - an ability to sniff out a goal when not playing well would have been heralded. Some would have liked to have had it chalked off on the grounds of accumulative misplaced passes. Paul Hayward wrote: 'In this kind of form, England's best-known player has no business appearing in the same paragraph as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo (ED - don't then), the competing monarchs of Catalonia and Castilla. Nor could he linger long in a discussion about the world's great creative midfielders. There are days when Rooney plunges into the swamp of English mediocrity and appears incapable of mastering even basic ball retention.' It seems somewhat arbitrary to argue with a point you bring up yourself or has Rooney been boasting of sharing his chicken nuggets with messrs Messi and Ronaldo of late? The Daily Telegraph has also this week been running a poll - 'Has Wayne Rooney lived up to his potential?' and herein lies a nation's obsession with judging its best player in terms of 'what if'. Given potential is an abstract projection, possible as opposed to actual, it seems peculiar that we look to qualify it in terms of tangible evidence. We look not at what Rooney is but who he might have been and that's a pretty tough set of criteria to judge anyone, is it not? James Ducker, in The Times, is equally sceptical as to whether the player has delivered over past the decade: 'Characterising Rooney's ten years at the top is not easy - for all his talent, there is the nagging feeling that his true potential remains unfulfilled - but as he approaches the age of maximum expression for footballers, the early signs are that his partnership with Robin van Persie could prove the catalyst that brings the very best out of the Manchester United and England striker'.At the time of writing said poll is split at 49.85 'yes' to 50.15 per cent 'no'. Ahead of turning 27 tomorrow Rooney has scored 200 club goals, won four Premier League titles, the Champions League and two League Cups. He's been capped 78 times for his country and scored 32 goals. It's not exactly Stuart Slater's career stats. Rooney, for many, is deemed potential unfulfilled on the grounds he's not the white Pele. If you're of that persuasion stop reading now because I'm not the English Mailer and this article ain't the football equivalent of The Fight. Oh to be so unfulfilled.Season | Team | Apps | Goals | Assists | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Wins | Draws | Losses |
Season 2012/2013 | Manchester United | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
Season 2011/2012 | Manchester United | 34 | 27 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 4 | 4 |
Season 2010/2011 | Manchester United | 28 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 6 | 4 |
Season 2009/2010 | Manchester United | 32 | 26 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 23 | 3 | 6 |
Season 2008/2009 | Manchester United | 30 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 21 | 5 | 4 |
Season 2007/2008 | Manchester United | 27 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 21 | 5 | 1 |
Season 2006/2007 | Manchester United | 35 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 25 | 5 | 5 |
Season 2005/2006 | Manchester United | 36 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 24 | 7 | 5 |
Season 2004/2005 | Manchester United | 29 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 4 |
Season 2003/2004 | Everton | 34 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 15 |
Season 2002/2003 | Everton | 33 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 8 | 12 |