Who would want to be a striker? Well most of us would love to play up in front and have the power to score game-changing goals but more often than not it is the striker who bears the brunt when his team are not performing well.
There are a couple of strikers who have not had the best of season’s so far, Olivier Giroud and Wayne Rooney haven’t exactly set the world on fire, especially in the Premier League. They might be two of the biggest names, but we compare the two strikers and find out just who has had a better season in the Premier League.
We would be comparing the two using Squawka.com and only look at the per game average metrics from this season.
A legend at United vs. A frustrating figure at Arsenal
Rooney is a player who links up with the rest of the team and the number of passes made by the England striker proves his ability to spray the ball around. Rooney averages 35 successful passes on average per game while Giroud manages just eight, yes, just eight! Rooney also completes more passes than the French striker as he manages a pass completion of 84% per game while Giroud only manages a pass completion of 67%.
What each player does with all the passes is also important and it is Rooney who has a greater impact when it comes to helping the attack. The Manchester United striker averages 1.14 key passes per game in the Premier League, but Giroud only comes in with 0.5 key passes for Arsenal.
Goal scoring is the most important job for a striker and fortunately Giroud is better in this aspect than Rooney. The French striker averages a goal every three games this season. but Rooney only averages a goal every five games, which is poor by every standard.
Shooting on target could be a reason why Rooney hasn’t been doing all that great as he only has a shot accuracy % of 55% this season while Giroud is slightly better with 63%. Giroud continues the good work when it comes to taking on the opposition, the French striker has won every time he has taken on his opponent but Rooney averages only a 70% success rate in taking on his opponent, which is still a good stat for the Manchester United striker.
Giroud is better in the air as well when compared to Wayne Rooney as he wins almost half the aerial duels he faces, Rooney, on the other hand manages to win just one third of his aerial battles, clearly winning headers isn’t as easy for Rooney as it is for Giroud.
Looking at the numbers it becomes evident that Rooney hasn’t been as good as Giroud in the goal scoring category, the England striker does provide a lot to the team with his passing but his performance in the final third hasn’t been the best and that will be playing on his mind when the league resumes after the international break.