Versus – Rooney and Van Persie

With a single goal in his last six appearances, Robin Van Persie’s season seems to be stuttering to a halt as United close in on the title. Having notched six times in the previous five league fixtures, the Dutchman’s drought has had a huge impact across the Fantasy games – coinciding with a return to fitness which has seen Wayne Rooney find the net five times by comparison. As the transfers out continue to flow, our latest article for members focuses on the pair’s respective performances over those matches and also casts an eye on Van Persie’s previous displays to establish whether there is any real cause for concern:

Robin Van Persie – Involvement & Creativity Per Match Averages – Last Six Matches

Wayne Rooney – Involvement & Creativity Per Match Averages – Last Six Matches

As the above maps indicate, Rooney’s role (right) has been more withdrawn than the Dutchman’s (left) over the featured period. Dropping deep to link with the midfield, the former Everton man has received a pass from team mates at almost twice the pace of Van Persie (2.1 to 3.9) and although this is understandable due to their respective roles, Rooney has also proven superior in the final third of the pitch in terms of involvement.

While Van Persie has averaged 23.5 touches in the final third between Gameweeks 24 and 30, Rooney has registered 30.3. The latter has received over double the number of passes (20.5 to 9.7), and has made over twice the number of successful passes in this crucial attacking area (14.5 to 7). Although the Dutchman has returned three FPL assists to Rooney’s two over the six featured matches, he’s offered far less creativity – averaging 1.3 “key passes” to Rooney’s 2.3, which equates to a chance created every 60.6 minutes in compared to the far quicker pace of 36.1 minutes offered by Rooney.

Sorting the forwards statistics by “Last Six Matches”, it’s telling to see that only Fulham’s Bryan Ruiz has averaged more touches than Rooney (1.1 to 1.3), while the Costa Rican also edges Rooney into second for minutes per pass received, by 2 to 2.1. Indeed, while Rooney is second for chances created, with 14 to Rickie Lambert’s 15, Van Persie’s total of 8 over his last six appearances puts him on a par with Arouna Kone and Andy Carroll. Furthermore, Rooney’s above-mentioned average of 36.1 minutes per key pass is second to Carlos Tevez (34.2) for regular starters, demonstrating his constant creativity and suggesting he’s been unlucky to pick up just two assists over the timeframe.

Robin Van Persie – Goal Threat Per Match Averages – Last Six Matches

Wayne Rooney – Goal Threat Per Match Averages – Last Six Matches

Given that Van Persie has notched just once, it’s perhaps surprising to see he has actually seen more of the ball inside the penalty area than Rooney, with 5.8 touches to 5.2 per game. Rooney, however, has offered the greater threat – he has averaged 4 shots per game over the six matches in comparison to Van Persie’s 3.2 and, despite seeing less of the ball in the box, has been more consistent in producing efforts from close range, with 2.2 shots inside the area to Van Persie’s 1.8. In terms of minutes per attempt, Rooney slightly edges it with a shot every 21 minutes to Van Persie’s average of 25.5.

Analysing the pair’s accuracy, though, Van Persie clearly remains a major threat. He has registered more shots on target per game (1.5 to 1.2) than Rooney – crucially, what this boils down to is that 47.4% of his shots have been on target in comparison to just 29.2% of Rooney’s efforts, a definite sign that his threat remains significant. Due to the endeavours of opposition keepers, the Dutchman has failed to flourish. Van Persie has scored just one of his 19 attempts, then, (a conversion rate of 5%), while Rooney has found the net with 20.8% of his efforts (24 shots, 5 goals).

Again, looking at other forwards sorted by “Last Six Matches” , it’s somewhat reassuring for Van Persie’s owners to see that only two forwards – Daniel Sturridge and Javier Hernandez – have produced more efforts on target, with 12 and 11 respectively. Rooney has managed 7 shots on target, scoring 5 times, then, while the Dutchman’s poor conversion has resulted in one goal from 9 shots on target – a tally mirrored by Luis Suarez and Romelu Lukaku, who scored 5 and 4 times respectively, while Christian Benteke found the net 5 times from 8 efforts on target.
.

Robin Van Persie – Involvement & Creativity Per Match Averages – GW’s 19-23

Robin Van Persie – Goal Threat Per Match Averages – GW’s 19-23

Having compared Van Persie’s performances to Rooney over the last six, we now analyse them against his previous five appearances – a period where Rooney played just 29 minutes, after climbing off the bench to signal his return from injury in the Gameweek 23 clash with Tottenham.

Immediately, you can see the impact Rooney has made on Van Persie’s overall involvement; his previous average of 3.2 minutes per pass received has dropped to 3.9, while the Dutchman’s touches in the final third slipped from 28.8 to 23.5 over the two periods. In terms of passes received in the final third, the decrease has been minimal (11.6 to 9.7), while the same also applies to the number of successful passes Van Persie has made in the danger area – moving from 8.8 per appearance between Gameweek 19-23 down to 7 per appearance over Gameweek 24-30. Perhaps surprisingly, Van Persie’s creativity has increased in recent weeks, moving from 0.8 key passes to 1.3, or a chance created every 102.8 minutes to one every 60.6 minutes.

When we look at goal threat, though, there’s been a definite difference. Although Van Persie has more or less registered the same touches in the box (6.0 has slipped slightly to 5.8), his previous average of 4.4 attempts per game without Rooney has now slumped to 3.2 – intriguingly, this was the number of efforts he was averaging inside the box in Rooney’s absence and not far off double his current average of 1.8 efforts from close range. Van Persie was also producing more shots on target (2 to 1.5) over the first period and while his overall accuracy has dropped a touch (47.4% to 45.5%) it remains far superior to Rooney’s recent level of 29.2%.

Previously, the Dutchman was registering a shot every 18.7 minutes – better than his or Rooney’s current rate of 25.5 and 21 respectively, though the main issue, as mentioned above, is really just his current conversion rate. Without Rooney alongside him, Van Persie tucked away 27.3% of his chances over Gameweeks 19-23 and, while it’s clear his strike partner has impacted upon his performances since returning, Van Persie only really has himself – and, in part, opposition keepers – to blame for this plummeting to a lowly 5.3%. With a season average conversion rate of 18.4%, though, an upturn on Fantasy performances looks on the cards despite a definite decrease in his overall threat since Rooney’s return to the United XI.