Why Rooney Might Just Make Sense

Why Rooney Might Just Make Sense

Happy Transfer Season! Emerging once more are rumours of a Chelsea bid for Wayne Rooney. If a deal for the English attacker went through, would it work out?

Reports surfaced this week of Chelsea considering a bid for Wayne Rooney once more (get up to date here if you missed it). We know Mourinho likes him, but why might he be 'the final piece of the jigsaw'?

Quite simply, his style of play matches our current set up. Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti was quoted (by somewhat of a dubious source, but the point remains) that Chelsea are in essence playing a 'false nine' system. I'll demonstrate what he means below.

On the right is our standard formation: 4-2-3-1. Several Premier League teams use this system - Liverpool and Manchester United are the most prominent examples. So why are their strikers so much more prolific?

One reason lies in our attacking trio, in this case: Willian, Oscar and Hazard. Each one always wants to be brought into play, linking and interchanging with fluidity whilst pushing towards the opposition goal. The double pivot (Ramires & Lampard) are given the duty of feeding them the ball, but where does the striker come into play?

Long story short, he doesn't - at least not in the traditional sense. Chelsea at the moment are not a team who constantly look to release a striker making runs behind the defence or who whip in crosses to a target man. What we are seeing is a Chelsea striker who is required to drop back and almost become another attacking midfielder. Interestingly, as evidence of this claim, there are some statistics we can use to compare the output of our attacking trio and our striker. (You can skip the next paragraph if you are not statistically inclined)

On average in the Premier League, Torres takes 1.2 shots a game (measured over his 15 appearances). Hazard and Oscar both come in higher, at 1.3 and more significantly 1.6 respectively. Lampard, despite being in the double pivot, takes an average of 1.8 shots a game. No coincidence then, that Hazard, Oscar and Lampard have scored more than Torres - they've taken more shots, so naturally they are more likely to have scored more. But this also suggests that the three aforementioned midfielders are getting into better shooting positions - somewhat worrying considering the main job of a striker is to shoot.

This is where Rooney comes into it. Rooney is not an out-and-out striker. He doesn't have the pace to run in behind, nor the physical presence to knock in headers and be an aerial threat. What Rooney relies on is dropping back into the midfield, linking play and interchanging with his midfielders - much like Suarez at Liverpool. He uses he technical ability on the ball and his vision to create - and finish - chances.

Our current set up won't leave us with a striker who scores every week. What it will leave us with is a front 4 who will share the goals, the beginning of which we have seen this season.

What do you think? Would Rooney work? Leave a comment below or follow me.