Tomorrow's clash between Manchester United and Everton will reunite clubs with legendary departed strikers, although it seems only one side is missing theirs. Everton are floundering without Romelu Lukaku: their attack is bereft of pace and have made a poor start to the season, the latest blow consecutive 3-0 shreddings against Spurs and Atalanta.
United meanwhile, are unbeaten, with Lukaku averaging a goal a game. Ahead of tomorrow's clash, Jose Mourinho was unsurprisingly quizzed on the return of Rooney to Old Trafford, and was oddly dismissive of Rooney's goal record at United.
Mourinho acknowledged that Rooney is a "legend" at the club, and expects him to get a fitting reception at the ground tomorrow afternoon. And yet, when asked if Lukaku could match Rooney's goal record (253), Mourinho said that it was unlikely, as he believes that it was easier to score in the Premier League in his heyday.
He [Rooney] spent probably 10 years of his career in a different Premier League to the one you have now, where it was easier to score goals. [Also] the difference between the top teams and the others [and] the profile of the competition. Now it’s much more defensive and more difficult.
It seems a slightly strange claim. Anecdotally, Rooney rose to prominence in a league featuring Mourinho's first Chelsea team, which were defensively robust: they conceded just 37 goals in their two title-winning seasons.
If you dig into the stats, it becomes clear that Mourinho's claim that it was easier to score goals in his first few seasons at United isn't true. In fact, going by Mourinho's rationale - the total goals scored - it was actually much more difficult.
Rooney made his United debut in 2004/05, a season which featured a total of 975 goals, or 2.56 a game. The following season featured a total of 944 goals, just 2.48 a game. The year after, 2006/07 (in which United and Rooney won the league), there was a total of 931 goals(2.45 per game), the lowest-ever total in the history of the League.
The total number of goals has actually increased in recent seasons. Last season featured a total of 1,064 (2.8 per game), the second-highest ever since the league reverted to 20 teams. The highest came a few years prior, in 2011/12: 1,066 (2.81 per game).
There have been more than a thousand goals in all but one of the last eight seasons. The outlier is 2014/15.
There is no real discernible correspondence between Rooney's goal return and the number of goals scored in a season. His highest-scoring seasons came in 09/10 and 11/12 (both high scoring seasons), but can be explained partly by the increased goalscoring responsibility that came with Ronaldo's sale to Madrid and Carlos Tevez's defection to Man City. Othwerise, Rooney's goal record was very consistent.
Rooney scored between 11 and 17 goals in his first 11 seasons at Old Trafford, with the above season the only occasions he breached the 20-goal mark. His second-highest return of these - 16 in 05/06 - in the second-lowest scoring season ever. He also managed 14 in the following season, the lowest-scoring ever.
So while Mourinho rightfully acknowledged that Rooney is a United legend, his caveat does the Everton striker a disservice.
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