Wayne Rooney or Robin Van Persie?

[MUFCMike]

I think it's hard to say. Different strikers have different roles, much like different CM's have different roles. Zlatan for example is amazing when he wants to be. His work rate unfortunately isn't at the level of Rooney's but he can create magic in a way Rooney can't. There is no doubt that Rooney is one of the best strikers in the world, though.

Actually I think Rooney is up there with the best in terms of making moments of magic happen. His overhead kick vs City, the volley against Newcastle, his goal for Everton against Arsenal. Although he might not do it as often as Ibrahimovic, he is certainly capable of doing something magical. And even when he isn't, his overall play is surely better?

 

[Mads2506]

Actually I think Rooney is up there with the best in terms of making moments of magic happen. His overhead kick vs City, the volley against Newcastle, his goal for Everton against Arsenal. Although he might not do it as often as Ibrahimovic, he is certainly capable of doing something magical. And even when he isn't, his overall play is surely better?

Again, it's arguable. This season Zlatan had more assists and goals, aswell as more key passes pr. game, though Rooney had more long balls and total passes completed with a better passing completion along with taking slightly less shots than Ibra. Rooney plays in the better league, though.

 

[MUFCMike]

Again, it's arguable. This season Zlatan had more assists and goals, aswell as more key passes pr. game, though Rooney had more long balls and total passes completed with a better passing completion along with taking slightly less shots than Ibra. Rooney plays in the better league, though.

Of course its arguably, isn't pretty much everything in football As I said in my first post, I'm a United fan, so I'm biased. However, you're right, Ibrahimovic plays in a weaker league, so it makes sense for him for to have more goals and assists. I wasn't trying to take anything away from Ibrahimovic, he's an utterly brilliant footballer, I just think that Wayne's work rate and team work put him above Ibra, who can sometimes be very selfish with the ball, and lazy without it. And can you really imagine Ibrahimovic playing in central midfield if asked too?

 

[zzeezzy]

This sounds like a job for Devil's Advocate Man!

If we consider them nearly equal on finishing ability - with Van Persie's superior total offset by a higher amount of games played - we can really only make a difference between them in terms of what they contribute to the team. Now, work rate is subjective, but all those who say Rooney works harder than Van Persie have a point. However, I reckon he seems to be slowing down, and working much less hard than he used to. Moreover, he's a 'hole' player nowadays: part of his JOB is to prevent the opposition regista from controlling the game. We don't know if Van Persie would work as hard as Rooney as a trequartista, but if we take one isolated example - the 1-0 City win at the Etihad, where Rooney was a lone striker - when the roles were reversed, Rooney didn't seem the be exactly buzzing with energy. That's not necessarily his fault, more the fact that as a lone striker, there's not much to work hard FOR.

As such, with work rate a dodgy and subjective system to be basing our analysis on, we have to use stats to decide on the key question here: Is Rooney really that much more 'complete'? Apparently he offers more to the team than just goalscoring which Van Persie doesn't, or perhaps does, but to a lesser extent. But the facts and figures seem to say otherwise: not only does Van Persie have more than double Rooney's assists (in a team that scored fewer than United, let us not forget), he also has 92 key passes to Rooney's 51, indicating that creatively at least there's a strong argument for him being a more complete and thus better player. As one final clincher, consider the fact that Van Persie has not only doubled Rooney's assists and nearly doubled his key passes in a team with fewer goals scored, but has done it in nearly half the amount of average passes per game. If we're going on team contribution stats, there's only one winner, and it's the Dutchman.

I disagree how you come to this conclusion just based on stats, they do not always tell the full story and I think Rooney offers much more to a team than RVP does. Rooney's passing is unquestionably better, he is versatile and I highly doubt RVP in a no.10 position would work due to his passing range is no where near as good compared to Rooney's. Also Rooney has sublime vision and his finishing is top drawer as well.

Overall Rooney because he offers more to a team and has more to his game, if you are basing everything off stats then it is like saying Lampard is better than Modric, due to his goals and assists, which simply is not true.

Lets face it as well, Rooney does not exactly lack goals considering he plays slightly deeper, linking up the play more and getting involved, which is even more impressive.

 

[GodCubed]

I disagree how you come to this conclusion just based on stats, they do not always tell the full story and I think Rooney offers much more to a team than RVP does. Rooney's passing is unquestionably better, he is versatile and I highly doubt RVP in a no.10 position would work due to his passing range is no where near as good compared to Rooney's. Also Rooney has sublime vision and his finishing is top drawer as well.

Overall Rooney because he offers more to a team and has more to his game, if you are basing everything off stats then it is like saying Lampard is better than Modric, due to his goals and assists, which simply is not true.

Lets face it as well, Rooney does not exactly lack goals considering he plays slightly deeper, linking up the play more and getting involved, which is even more impressive.

Meh, all I'm doing is taking bias, hearsay and opinion out of the argument and presenting bare facts. How you extrapolate from there is up to you.

Rooney's passing is unquestionably better, except according to this season's stats.

Rooney is versatile, yet Van Persie can also play in a wide variety of positions across the front three and behind.

I debunked how Rooney supposedly offers more to a team above using unbiased sources.

Except saying that about Lampard is taking only two stats. I took from a whole range. If you consider all the stats I did with Modric and Lampard, you'd say they were about similar, albeit entirely different players.

Rooney apparently links up the play more, but does it less effectively than Van Persie.
Devil's Advocate is fun

 

[Frank]

Rooney's range of passing is better, although RVP is a better chance creator from the edge of the area. His killer pass is something which is slightly better imo.

 

[Alcaraz]

This sounds like a job for Devil's Advocate Man!

If we consider them nearly equal on finishing ability - with Van Persie's superior total offset by a higher amount of games played - we can really only make a difference between them in terms of what they contribute to the team. Now, work rate is subjective, but all those who say Rooney works harder than Van Persie have a point. However, I reckon he seems to be slowing down, and working much less hard than he used to. Moreover, he's a 'hole' player nowadays: part of his JOB is to prevent the opposition regista from controlling the game. We don't know if Van Persie would work as hard as Rooney as a trequartista, but if we take one isolated example - the 1-0 City win at the Etihad, where Rooney was a lone striker - when the roles were reversed, Rooney didn't seem the be exactly buzzing with energy. That's not necessarily his fault, more the fact that as a lone striker, there's not much to work hard FOR.

As such, with work rate a dodgy and subjective system to be basing our analysis on, we have to use stats to decide on the key question here: Is Rooney really that much more 'complete'? Apparently he offers more to the team than just goalscoring which Van Persie doesn't, or perhaps does, but to a lesser extent. But the facts and figures seem to say otherwise: not only does Van Persie have more than double Rooney's assists (in a team that scored fewer than United, let us not forget), he also has 92 key passes to Rooney's 51, indicating that creatively at least there's a strong argument for him being a more complete and thus better player. As one final clincher, consider the fact that Van Persie has not only doubled Rooney's assists and nearly doubled his key passes in a team with fewer goals scored, but has done it in nearly half the amount of average passes per game. If we're going on team contribution stats, there's only one winner, and it's the Dutchman.

Very compelling argument GC. I am curious to see hoe Rooney and RVP match-up in their best seasons respectively?

 

[rephlex]

To be fair, they have different roles, you could easily play with both in the same team and they wouldn't be covering each others role. Problem with RVP is he's had an injury plagued career; yeah he played about 50 games last season but usually struggled to push more than 25. I'd say if I wanted a single player in my side it'd be Rooney, his energy and "leadership" sets a valuable example.

 

[zzeezzy]

Meh, all I'm doing is taking bias, hearsay and opinion out of the argument and presenting bare facts. How you extrapolate from there is up to you.

Rooney's passing is unquestionably better, except according to this season's stats.

Rooney is versatile, yet Van Persie can also play in a wide variety of positions across the front three and behind.

I debunked how Rooney supposedly offers more to a team above using unbiased sources.

Except saying that about Lampard is taking only two stats. I took from a whole range. If you consider all the stats I did with Modric and Lampard, you'd say they were about similar, albeit entirely different players.

Rooney apparently links up the play more, but does it less effectively than Van Persie.
Devil's Advocate is fun

I can honestly say I have never seen RVP play anywhere but the striker position for Arsenal, so I do not quite get how he can play here there and behind etc. Pass success should not really come into it, a striker often has many simply options when on the ball compared to a no.10 (more like Rooney) who has the more complicated tricky ball often when on the ball so them pass stats do not quite tell the whole story.

Also not to mention if we are judging stats just off last season even Rooney himself admitted it was a poor one for him, so we are comparing both players when they are on top form who is better.

 

[Redrup]

I prefer Van Persie, and believe he is technically better. His physical attributes don't match up to Rooney, but I would much rather Van Persie in the Arsenal side than Rooney.

 

[LFCMarshall]

Probably Rooney, for the fact he is a more all-round player than Van Persie, he has also shown top consistancy for longer than RVP... but no doubt both top class strikers

 

[zzeezzy]

I prefer Van Persie, and believe he is technically better. His physical attributes don't match up to Rooney, but I would much rather Van Persie in the Arsenal side than Rooney.

I no longer think of Rooney as someone who plays as a striker like RVP though. Rooney is much better when he can link up the play, offers much more to the team behind the striker. I think RVP with Rooney behind would be something unbelievable. In a way they would both compliment each other, but Rooney with Arsenal's 4-3-3 formation would not suit him I do not think, he needs to play behind the striker.

 

[sunilvk7]

I no longer think of Rooney as someone who plays as a striker like RVP though. Rooney is much better when he can link up the play, offers much more to the team behind the striker. I think RVP with Rooney behind would be something unbelievable. In a way they would both compliment each other, but Rooney with Arsenal's 4-3-3 formation would not suit him I do not think, he needs to play behind the striker.

This season he'l play as lead striker I think with Kagawa playing behind striker.

 

[Billy]

Both **** compared to the mighty Defoe.

 

[mccollio09]

Rooney, but I think that the only thing that separates them isn't ability, it is the amount of time that they can stay on the pitch injury-free, and Rooney edges it on that front.

 

[GodCubed]

I can honestly say I have never seen RVP play anywhere but the striker position for Arsenal, so I do not quite get how he can play here there and behind etc. Pass success should not really come into it, a striker often has many simply options when on the ball compared to a no.10 (more like Rooney) who has the more complicated tricky ball often when on the ball so them pass stats do not quite tell the whole story.

Also not to mention if we are judging stats just off last season even Rooney himself admitted it was a poor one for him, so we are comparing both players when they are on top form who is better.

RVP has. Behind the striker, on the wing, as the main striker. He's versatile. See the Euros, too, when Huntelaar came on Van Persie often dropped to a trequartista position or even onto the wing.

That's just wrong. Strikers should have a much lower pass % rate, purely because there are fewer options. When you're a striker, there are generally no players ahead of you, forcing you to either retain possession through other means or have to turn backwards in order to find a free player. Trequartistas like Rooney, however, have a full range of options available to them, ahead, parallel to them and behind them. Point is rather moot, though, since I wasn't talking about pass success rates.

Meh, I can only judge what they're like now on their most recent stats. The thread is asking who I think is better at this moment in time, not who was better during their best seasons to date.

 

[dasty]

Better goal and assist to game ratio despite not being the main striker for most of his career, two years younger, less injury prone, English with homegrown status, more complete player, much more well known worldwide (at least in Asian/Oceania countries, where I am) and had more experiences when it comes to winning titles and championships.

I wouldn't bother arguing about who is the better player, but I would prefer to have Rooney in my team than Van Persie.

 

[Dave The Dude]

Rooney is a world class player and i just can't rate Robin Van Persie next to him. Some people might that Van Persie is a world class player but to me he is not don't get me wrong i would sign the both of them if i had the chance but Rooney to me is far the better player.

 

[CJACKO11]

As a personal thing i hate them both with a passion but footballing wise they are both sensational footballers. On a basis of who i would rather have at Chelsea then it would be Rooney 100%.

 

[zzeezzy]

This season he'l play as lead striker I think with Kagawa playing behind striker.

Yeh.. but that still does not really effect my point of thinking his primary position and best position by a mile is behind the striker where Kagawa will be, of course Rooney will be the lone striker though because if Kagawa is playing in his natural AMC position (which I hope he does) Rooney simply has to be in the team elsewhere.