Wayne Rooney is a marvelous footballer. At only twenty-three years of age, the Manchester United and England forward has made his mark as one of the outstanding players in the world game. One only need to glance at his team and individual accomplishments to recognize the talent of the player. He has won two EPL Championships, the Champions League, the World Club Championship, and the League Cup. Individually, Rooney has won a half century of caps for his country along with a plethora of personal honours.

Statistically, he is perenially one of the most dangerous and impactful forwards in the EPL and world game. Since 2005/06, Rooney has played in 111 EPL games, scoring a superb 42 goals and assisting on another 38. Only current World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo (70 goals, 31 assists) and the older Frank Lampard (47 goals, 35 assists) have been more productive in the same period of time.

One had to only watch a handful of minutes of England's recent game versus Slovakia to recognize that Rooney was the outstanding player on the pitch. He scored two goals and played an influential role in the creation of Heskey's goal. Whenever the Manchester United got his feet on the ball, fans looked up in anticipation of something big.

But the reason for this post is to draw attention to Rooney's finishing. If there is one part of the player's game that can improve, it is his finishing. The Times of London recently ran a post in which it called Wayne Rooney the only England forward with a striker's instinct. This of course made my blood boil, my skin turn green and my shirt rip as I became angry. I had to go on a 100 mile death run to calm down - ie. David Goggins. Wayne Rooney is a phenomenal player, but it is simply silly to call his finishing great. He does not have a striker's finishing instinct.

Wayne Rooney in his career has been a remarkably consistent shooter. His goals to shots percentage in his seven years of professional football has never been under 9% and never broken 11%. Just 2% more goals-per-shots separates Rooney's greatest finishing season from his worst finishing season. Managers who pay attention to statistics know exactly what they are getting with regards to Rooney and goals. They expect lots of shots and a low shots to goals ratio, and nothing in Rooney's career shows this theory to be anything but fact. It has been reinforced year after year after year.

If you compare Rooney's shots-to-goals percentage to a world class finisher like Michael Owen, what kind of difference do you expect? Well, I checked Owen back to his days at Liverpool. His lowest shots-to-goals percentage was 19% and his average is in the mid-20s. Alan Shearer, another player who we would call a world-class finisher, was again consistently in the high teens and low twenties in his goals-to-shots percentage (except for one season at the end of his career). Thierry Henry: consistently in the high teens and low twenties (except for his last season at Arsenal, which is maybe why Wenger sold him). Ruud van Nistelrooy: never lower than the twenties.

Rooney plays a different game to these world-class finishers. He takes more difficult shots, but shot selection is precisely what differentiates great finishers from the pack. Rooney is not a midfielder, so you cannot compare him to Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard, whose shooting percentages resemble his. Rooney is a forward. He gets open many times in a game, takes plenty of shots from up-close and holds his hands on his head in anguish after the vast majority of those occassions.

You get my point? Rooney is no world-class finisher. If he were, his goals-to-shots percentage would be considerably higher or at least show flashes of being higher. But it doesn't. Rooney is season after season an average finisher.

Is Fulham's Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer the most underrated goalkeeper in the English Premier League?

Yesterday we listed Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer as the EPL leader in save percentage (saves 84% of shots on goal). Think about that for a moment. Examing all shots on goal this season faced by all EPL goalies, the GK who saves more of those shots than any other is not global superstar Petr Cech or Edwin van der Sar, but the far lesser known 2008/09 free-agent pickup Mark Schwarzer. This statistic does not lie. Schwarzer beats out the names you would expect to be at the top of the list: Cech, van der Sar, etc. While the names you would expect to be planted at the bottom of the list are right where we expect - Robinson, Myhill. But the name that surprises all viewers is Schwarzer, the 2008/09 EPL leading shot-stopper.

But let us not stop there in our short analysis of Schwarzer. Another important statistic to draw attention to is Fulham's Goals-Against-Average (GAA).

Without Schwarzer last season, Fulham conceded 60 goals in 38 EPL games (1.58 goals per game; 15/20 in EPL). This season, with Schwarzer, Fulham have conceded just 26 goals in 30 games (0.87 goals per game; 5/20 in EPL). This is a pretty remarkable transformation. Fulham are on pace to concede 33 goals, 27 less than last season. Oh, and they are not battling relegation. Do you think there is a relationship between having this season's best shot-stopper as the last line of defense, conceding almost 50% fewer goals than last term and not battling relegation? Thank manager Roy Hodgson for bringing in the Aussie on a free transfer.

Oh, and how is Schwarzer's club from last season, Middlesbrough, performing without the Australian in net? Look for yourself. And then come back and admit: the stats don't lie.

With the EPL season nearing its end, we have decided to conduct a survey of the shot-stopping ability of league goalkeepers.

Our strategy is pretty simple. We are examining shots-on-target against and goals-against, looking at the percentage of shots on goal that the goalkeeper saves. Of course, this is not ideal in terms of analysis of GK ability (GKs may influence the direction of shots, and thus whether a shot is on target or not, while some GKS may face easier shots than others), but in general this research works for the intended task. However, remember that we are not asking 'who are the best GKs in the EPL?' but rather 'who are the best shot-stoppers in the EPL?'.

Who are the best shot-stoppers in the EPL?

1) Mark Schwarzer, Fulham - saves 84% of shots on goal
2) Petr Cech, Chelsea - saves 83.3% of shots on goal
3) Edwin van der Sar, Man Utd - saves 82% of shots on goal

Who are the worst shot-stoppers in the EPL?
1) Paul Robinson, Blackburn - saves 61% of shots on goal (once again sucks more than everybody else in the league!)
2) Boaz Myhill, Hull - saves 62% of shots on goal
3) Joe Hart, Man City - saves 69% of shots on goal

Paul Robinson is once again the worst shot-stopper in the EPL. Congratulations Mr. Robinson! Why is this player still playing top-flight soccer? When will the MLS come calling?

Jose Mourinho before his team's big game against Manchester United.

From the Telegraph:

"Yes, Manchester United are the best team in England but you have to ask how good has the Premier League been since I left?” said Mourinho.

"Manchester United have won it with ease since I have gone because no manager has put a team together that can rival them.

"But my teams always rival Manchester United and Sir Alex knows that.

"They are a great team but if I was at a top club in England I think the title race might have been a lot closer this year."

Mourinho also hit out at Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, claiming he would be "embarrassed" to be in their current position.

"Chelsea have had no stability, Arsenal are nowhere and Liverpool threatened but I don't think anybody really thought they were ever going to win it," he said.

"I would not allow a team of mine to be so far behind. It is embarrassing in March. Manchester United have a great squad but are their players really that much better than Chelsea's or Liverpool's? I don't think so.

"So something else must be the problem and somebody has to take responsibility for that. I beat Manchester United with Chelsea and Porto. Now I am ready to beat them with Inter.

"I feel confident that if I had been at one of the big four clubs I would be closer or maybe even above Manchester United."

It has been a long time now since Hull City boss Phil Brown ordered his team to sit in a circle on the pitch at half-time to berate the players for a lackluster performance. It would be an understatement to say his players responded poorly to this public shaming session. I do not want to say that the public shaming session was the cause of Hull's awful run of form, as EPL teams may simply have figured out Hull, but it is obvious that the session did not help.

So has Brown learned that publicly shaming people does not work? Let's read Brown discussing his Brazilian forward Giovanni after the player responded irresponsibly to being substituted.

"He will never do that to me again," Brown said. "I'm the manager. I haven't spoken to him yet. He's getting drugs-tested so hopefully they will find that positive."

"Geovanni is not bigger than this football club - it's as simple as that. I don't think he was having a positive impact on the game."

What player would ever want to work for Phil Brown after this?