Wayne Rooney's goalscoring failures have boggled everyone this season.

He scored 26 goals last season. So far this season, just 2. This has led many of ask to ask: Will this change be permanent? Is Man Utd's rich forward now a non-scorer?





Well a player's history is usually a good indicator of future progress, so let's do the intelligent thing and actually examine Rooney's goalscoring history, which will allow us to make a prediction on his goalscoring future.

2010/11
Shots per 90 minutes: 3.8
Total Shots: 45
Shots on Goal: 17 (38%)
Goals (non-penalty): 1
Goals per shot percentage: 2.22%

2009/10
Shots per 90 minutes: 5.9
Total Shots: 178
Shots on Goal: 54 (30%)
Goals (non-penalty): 22
Goals per shot percentage: 12.36%

2008/09
Shots per 90 minutes: 4.9
Total Shots: 123
Shots on Goal: 40 (33%)
Goals (non-penalty): 12
Goals per shot percentage: 9.76%

2007/08
Total Shots: 104
Shots on Goal: 69 (66%)
Goals (non-penalty): 12
Goals per shot percentage: 11.54%

2004/05
Total Shots: 111
Shots on Goal: 70 (63%)
Goals (non-penalty): 11
Goals per shot percentage: 9.91%

2006/07
Total Shots: 124
Shots on Goal: 64 (52%)
Goals (non-penalty): 14
Goals per shot percentage: 11.30%

2005/06
Total Shots: 148
Shots on Goal: 73 (49%)
Goals (non-penalty): 16
Goals per shot percentage: 10.81%

Rooney will score goals again. Don't get over anxious. He has been season-over-season pretty consistent in his goals per shot ratio and will in all likelihood revert back to his mean of scoring between 10-12% of his shots, 15 or so goals per season.

Last season was a bit of a statistical anomaly in that he shot the ball much more often than usual and therefore, though his goals per shot ratio was as consistent as ever, he scored more goals. One should not expect Rooney to revert to shooting the ball as often as last season, and hence should not expect as many goals as last season.

What we can expect from Rooney in the future is a 10-12% shots per goal ratio and about 15 goals per season. If he suddenly regains his regular shooting touch tomorrow we can probably expect Rooney to add another 6 goals or so and finish the season with about 8 goals.

The addition that I would like to make is to say that Rooney's value does not and has never lay solely in his goalscoring. He is much less efficient in-front of net than the pure goalscorers in the game. No, Rooney's value lies in the fact that he will score 15 goals per season AND assist on/make another 10-15 for his teammates, a rare team-gaining attribute for a top forward. If you check the stats, you will see that Rooney's assists continue to come Man Utd's way this season, as they do every season. The combination of the two contributes to Rooney being a special player.