Rooney vs Shearer

[alexthegreat]

@Big Geordie

 

I'd say Shearer did have moments of off form which have been forgotten.

 

His record for us suggests otherwise, apart from when returning from a bad injury or towards the latter end of his career.

 

There was a period where Kluivert and Bellamy were clearly the best strikeforce we had. Then despite them being a revelation up front together, sentimentally prevailed and Kluivert was dumped for Shearer. From that moment on, Kluivert didn't give a f*ck cause he knew if Shearer was fit he'd never play.

 

Kluivert never gave a f*** from the moment he turned up man. He arrived not match fit and headed out on the p*ss for the first 10 nights out of 14 that he was here. Then wouldnt play in the reserves when Souness wanted to have a look at him.

 

Constantly picked up little niggles that you suspect wouldnt have kept anyone else out.

 

And about a stone and a half overweight by the time he finished. A shedload of goals v some Palestinian hill farmers gave his tally some respectability it never deserved.

 

There was no doubting his class but he took the p*ss in his last year at Barca, he was only ever going to do the same here. Should never have been signed and one of my most hated ever players.

 

 

 

As for Shearer v Rooney, I'd rather have the Shearer that was at Blackburn and in his 1st season with us over Rooney. But the Shearer after that injury at Everton wasnt as good as Rooney is now imo.

 

For those saying Shearer did have lapses in form, I agree, though doesnt every player? One of the first things Robson did when he arrived was tell Shearer that 'just laboriously working the channels wasn't good enough'. Tbh he'd lost his way completely under Gullit at the start of that season, along with everyone else and though I expect no one will admit it now, there were one or two who sympathised with Gullit's selection for the derby, backing manager over player.

[Stottie]

Sicklees Photoshop of Kluivert on the KFC bucket was quality. Any chance of another look?

 

As for Rooney/Shearer, they're different players who've been coached to do different things in keeping with the tactical requirements of their day. Someone with Shearers attributes would be coached differently today, or at least he should be. He would become a different player to the one Shearer was. If Shearer was good enough in his day to score sh'tloads of goals over a prolonged period, that is all that matters. No one moans about George Best or Bobbie Charlton scoring goals in parts of the goal where you'd expect a modern keeper to stop it. If a shot was good enough for a goal back then, it was a good shot.

 

[Hughesy]

People seriously overlook Shearer's technical ability.  Had an exceptional first touch and control of the ball.

[NG32]

Shearer also had a couple of serious injuries, one at blackburn with his knee and the other with us in that pre season tournament at Everton.

 

Shearer had to change his style of player a little bit and due to getting on a bit changed it a bit more.  He still managed to get the goals in a couple of SHIT teams under kenny and ruud, maybe a little under SBR but he still got them.

 

Things really picked up for Shearer once we picked up Robert and Bellemy.  Nobby, Robert and Bellemy supplying the ammo, Shearer finished them.

 

 

Id like to see rooney is a gash team after a couple of horric injuries and see what he can do.

 

 

 

[TheGuv]

Shearer only played in the PL for was it 14 seasons?

He missed 2 full seasons due to injury and he missed 5 seasons when the top flight was still the 1st division. So to score 260 goals is some f***ing achievement like.

 

This is Rooney's 10th season and he has scored 125 goals.

 

Make of that what you will

[NG32]

And in a team that constantly finishes in the top 2 year after year, shearer had spent most of his newcastle career outside the top 4 or a majority of it anyway.

[Beren]

Shearer is being a tad overrated on here imo. For example, whilst Shearer had a very solid/consistent first touch, Kluivert in the little time he had here showed a much better one. It was silky smooth and could even create chances for teammates or turn players with it, he had that much control. Shame he was such a lazy fat sod when we had him.

 

Big Al's crossing ability was excellent, but more so for a striker (it's not like he had Beckham-esque crossing ability, capable of hitting it from near the half way line for example). What's more relevant though is that he showed it very rarely imo. There's a handful over the SAS years, a handful in Euro '96, a handful in his first season with us, then nothing after that injury. The dribbling was also a tad comincal imo, most of the time he'd use his experience/intelligence to win a throw in but the few times he did get away it was like watching a penguin making a mad dash for the sea before the stunned lion wakes up and catches him (yeah, my natural world knowledge sucks).

 

He was no Batistuta either. By that I mean that although he had the ability to score thunderous goals/volleys, they were usually out of the blue and only a handful a season. A compilation video won't show that. The point I'm trying to make here is that Shearer wasn't a genuine threat from outside the box game-in game-out. I realise this sounds daft looking back now, especially with some of the goals he did score, but at the time he wasn't trying them constantly or threatening to (usually because he was too closely marked), so in any one game for Blackburn or us I never really thought "go on, give it to Shearer" or "oh s***, Shearer has it" when he was in the positions. So the second point I'm trying to make here is that Shearer was more reliant on service than some of the other strikers mentioned here (including Rooney).

 

A good arguement (to me anyway) I'd put forward is this: after he slowed down for us due to that horrific knee injury and turned into a good target man flicking balls on for Bellamy and scoring here and there (with a handful of amazing volleys), I'd argue that he showed next to nothing on the ball other than an ability to hold it up well. If he genuinely had top class ability on the ball outside of his predatory instincts, he'd have shown alot more in that role during those years for us.

 

So for me, he was an exceptionally lethal poacher, one of the most lethal of his generation, with solid, consistent, no-nonsense target-man play topped up with the ability to score the occassional thumper or put in the odd sweet cross. He lacked flair, dribbling, creativity, the ability to turn players, could definitely be marked out of a game, and ovreall was very reliant on good service. In the context of the thread, as most posters have stated, Rooney is the much better all-round footballer whilst Shearer was a better out-and-out striker.

 

Flame away.

 

If Shearer scores "here and there" Lawd help the rest of the strikers in the world - including Rooney, who isn't a natural goalscorer by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Prem Goals - 04/05 - 11

Prem Goals - 05/06 - 16

Prem Goals - 06/07 - 14

Prem Goals - 07/08 - 12

Prem Goals - 08/09 - 12

Prem Goals - 09/10 - 26

Prem Goals - 10/11 - 11

 

Largely unspectacular stats before you consider the kind of service he gets playing for a side that's been in the top 3/4 in Europe for the majority of that time. Rooney has started this season well, and he's playing in a fantastic side, but whether he can keep up this goalscoring over the course of a season or seasons remains to be seen.

 

You also completely forget (/intentionally ignore?) Shearer's role in the team to suit the purposes of your argument. Of course he wasn't crossing or dribbling at players from deep often - he needed to be end of chances, otherwise there was no chance! "If only Shearer could be on the end of his own crosses".

 

To denigrate Shearer's long shots as being part of a highlights reel is silly too - if there are enough to comprise a highlights reel, it means he was capable of being a danger from range. Players who shoot from range consistently aren't very smart either btw - because even the best strikers of the ball will have poor percentages on that front. If you're not passing or trying to engineer a better goalscoring opportunity 75% of the time, you're not a very intelligent striker/footballer.

 

Post-injury: he was still one of the deadliest players in the league, who defenders hated playing against, who (still) no one could really stop scoring or mark out of the game/nullify. His goalscoring record attests to that - and that could not purely owe to his "poacher" attributes because he played in some dire Newcastle sides over the years with very poor service (comparatively speaking).

[Guest sydneycove]

Neither have the goal to game ratio of Leon Best 

 

Seriously I have had this argument in Australia so many times. Shearer with his goal scoring record is imo the best EPL striker and one of the best players to have played in the EPL. Everyone else wanks on about Gerrard or Henry 

[Dinho lad]

Hate it when this nonsense about Rooney being the white Pele comes up, like today by SAF. If he's the white Pele, what does that make CRonaldo and Messi?

 

 

[Stottie]

I remember someone saying Shearer overtook Beckham in the category for most goals from outside the box. I dunno what this site means by "long range" but it would seem to confirm it.

 

http://www.premiersoccerstats.com/Top100.cfm

 

There are lots of stats for people who like them there. One is that relatively few of Rooneys goals have been winners. Since ManYoo win most of their matches, they must have been non-winners in games that were won. Giggs has scored twenty less than Rooney, but has 38 vs. 24 winners. The same goes for Van Nistelrooy and even CRonaldo.

[Froggy]

Does that say Shearer only scored 147 of the 260 from open play? Surely not?

[Stottie]

I dunno to be honest, but 58 were pens for starters. Take them away and it would mean one in four from a throw in, free kick or corner. Not unfeasible I suppose. The vast majority of Nolans came from them last year.

 

The newer site for premiersoccerstats has assists and points (goals plus assists) but it uses flash or javascript or something and its hard to link to individual tables.

[Guest Roy the Irish Magpie]

Shearer, I might be being bias though.

[JCONA]

Maybe if rooney would like to play for us we'd be able to compare them better

[Guest Randy Savage]

Re. Shearer

 

RIP the weetabix

[M4]

Haven't watched MOTD in ages. It's all gone now?

 

He should just own it and shave it all, tbh.

[Guest Randy Savage]

Haven't watched MOTD in ages. It's all gone now?

 

He should just own it and shave it all, tbh.

 

Looks like he's shaved it to me.

[HawK]

Wow, the hate towards Kluivert is astounding. Did any of you actually watch him play when he first turned up? He offered so much more than Shearer, and one of Bobby's mistakes was not dropping Shearer for him.

[olliemort]

You see the difference today.Rooney is not clinical or consistent enough

[SteveR]

Shearer. End of.

[Flip]

You see the difference today.Rooney is not clinical or consistent enough

 

 

Rooney has been great today once again. However, Shearer was a class above as a goalscorer.

[Tooj]

Wow, the hate towards Kluivert is astounding. Did any of you actually watch him play when he first turned up? He offered so much more than Shearer, and one of Bobby's mistakes was not dropping Shearer for him.

 

One of Bobby's mistakes? He was only his manager for a couple of games.

[Hughesy]

Wow, the hate towards Kluivert is astounding. Did any of you actually watch him play when he first turned up? He offered so much more than Shearer, and one of Bobby's mistakes was not dropping Shearer for him.

 

Yes - he was shit.

[Guest schmuck]

Wow, the hate towards Kluivert is astounding. Did any of you actually watch him play when he first turned up? He offered so much more than Shearer, and one of Bobby's mistakes was not dropping Shearer for him.

 

One of Bobby's mistakes? He was only his manager for a couple of games.

 

And he did drop him for Villa which was his last game iirc. Another Kluivert defender here, anyway.

[Guest Roy the Irish Magpie]

Shearer would have never of hit a peno like Rooney hit today.