Wayne Rooney recently signing a five-and-a-half year contract with Manchester United, reportedly worth 300k pounds per week, and with Manchester United the next fixture for West Bromwich Albion, here at Albion- Index we are going to take a closer look at Wayne Rooneys performances against West Bromwich Albion. 1.Appearance and Performance 17-year-old Wayne Rooney made his competitive first-team debut against West Bromwich Albion for Everton in a 1-0 defeat for the Baggies at Goodison Park on the 23rd of November 2002 as an 87th minute substitute, replacing goalscorer Tomasz Radzinski. In total Wayne Rooney has appeared in thirteen match day squads against West Bromwich Albion. The 59 forward has started nine fixtures, appeared as a substitute in three games and has remained an unused substitute in one. A little under 85% of Rooneys appearances against West Bromwich Albion have been made for Manchester United. Eight of Rooneys appearances have been at old Trafford, with five appearances coming at the Hawthorns. All of Rooneys active appearances against Albion have been in Premier League football. England international Rooney has seen his team record a win 69.2% of the time when he has made an active appearance against West Bromwich Albion. More concerning for Albion fans will be the fact on every occasion Rooney has appeared at the Hawthorns he has left on the winning side. Albion have only ever recorded a single victory over a team including Wayne Rooney, that being the 1-2 away win for the Baggies on the 28th of September 2013. Rooney, now 28-years-old, with a total of 487.270 points in the A-IRs index is ranked as the fourth highest performing opposition player in modern Premier League fixtures against West Bromwich Albion. As shown in Figure 1 , Rooneys individual performance level under our in-house Albion-Index Report Statement [A-IRs] has been strong in recent fixtures, it is clear to see Rooneys last six appearances against Albion have been much stronger than his earlier career appearances. In the performance rated as Rooneys strongest on the A-IRs index, The Red Devils forward scored the opening goal in the 56th minute before creating further goals for Ronaldo and Nani in the 69th and 90th minute respectively in an emphatic 4-0 victory for Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Premier League on the 18th of October 2008. However, as much as Wayne Rooneys individual performances against The Baggies have remained impressive and improved in recent years, as Figure 2 suggests there is some positive news for Albion in terms of team performance. If we look at our in-house Albion-Index Match System [A-IMs] ratings for team performance of West Bromwich Albion against that of Wayne Rooneys team (Everton and Manchester United) over his thirteen squad appearances in ascending date order we can see the trend in more recent matches indicates the difference in performance levels between the two sides has significantly narrowed. In short this could suggest the influence of a single player in the game, in this instance Rooney, has been the decisive factor in determining the result in recent games and not a gulf in performance level between the teams. Rooney has only received one yellow card in games against Albion, for Everton in the away win at the Hawthorns on the 12th of April 2003. Rooney has never been booked for Manchester United against the Baggies. 2. Goals and Assists Wayne Rooney has scored six goals in twelve active appearances against The Baggies, registering a strike 46% of the time he has appeared against Albion. All of Rooneys goals have been scored for Manchester United. More worryingly for West Bromwich Albion is the fact over his last six appearances against Albion Rooney has scored 5 times, an 83% strike ratio. However, only 33% of Rooneys goals against Albion have been scored at the Hawthorns and all of those have been at the Birmingham Road End. 66% of Rooneys goals have been scored from open play. The average time for Rooney to score against Albion has been the 39th minute, however, that reduces to the 8th minute for fixtures at the Hawthorns. Rooney has also been equally as productive in terms of creating goals, perhaps showing why he is widely regarded as an all round balanced attacking player in the number ten role. Rooney has five assists against Albion, one for Everton and the remainder for Manchester United. So in terms of attacking contributions, Rooney has eleven decisive offensive contributions in twelve active appearances against Albion. The balance of how those contributions have been created indicate the further difficulty in stopping The England international. Figure 3 shows exactly how Rooney has created or scored goals against Albion. The distribution of the graph indicates while aerial threat is less, Rooney is equally capable of posing a threat off his left or right foot. 3. Conclusion - Threat Analysis Under A-IRs, In the last three years, in terms of impact per minute (playing in more than three Premier League games against Albion) Rooney is only second to Carlos Tevez in the threat he poses to Albion when he plays. Previous data against Albion indicates 83% of Rooneys goals against the Baggies have been scored from inside the penalty area, with the central channel between the edge of the area and the penalty spot the finishing position for 50% of Rooneys goals. 50% of all goals scored by Rooney against Albion have beaten the keeper low to his right. The pattern of assists also indicates Rooney appears most dangerous from inside the box with 60% of all goals he has created against the Baggies coming from inside the 18- yard penalty area. Looking at previous data, if Wayne Rooney plays against West Bromwich Albion on the 8th of March 2014 for Manchester United, although less effective at the Hawthorns than at Old Trafford, Rooney is more likely to pose a threat early in the game. As explored the threat of him creating or scoring a goal is extremely high. That threat is marginally more likely to be from his right foot and at its greatest from inside the penalty area. Rooneys likelihood of suffering ill discipline is rated as very low, with the statistics showing he is around 70% likely to finish on the winning side come 90 minutes. Much of the statistical data suggests Wayne Rooney will be the key player in the upcoming fixture.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 08:33:31 +0000
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