Just seen a breakdown of his goals, he has only scored against minnows. Never really done it against the top sides.


Is he England's 'top goal scorer' or 'England's greatest ever goal scorer' as the press are branding him ?

Statistically, yes

Bobby Charlton was the best goalscorer. OK rooney hasn't done it in the big games but he's still scored 50 goals for the country so hats off.

I think friendlies should be stripped out. Also goals in tournaments mean a lot more than a hat trick against Andorra. To get to the 'best goalscorer' you need to give each situation a weighting.

Rooney has a single goal in world cup finals.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/spo ... 0909101808



He's still a good player, you don't score as many goals at the level he has without being one. Look at his Manchester United record. It's not his fault that words like 'legend' and 'World Class' get bandied about. I think he needs to do it a tournament to be remembered as England's greatest goal scorer though.

It's an interesting thought though that England's leading goal scorer, highest Test run scorer and leading Test wicket taker all come from the current era. Different sports I know but he traditional winter and summer sports here, is it down to quantity rather than quality?

it's ridiculous that people pick faults in records.

yes, he hasn't lived up to his club standards internationally but he can only score against who the opposition are. I'm not 100% sure but I bet a lot of records include goals scored in friendlies.

You couldn't just start saying well he's only got 15 goals in international tournaments or qualifiers against so called good teams

Charlton scored plenty of goals against donkeys aswell, but obviously won a world cup so will be held in higher regard.

Rooneys not done it at world cups, totally agree, but he shouldnt have went to 06 with his injury, and he was collectively dog crap in 2010 and 14 aswell as 22 others.

He's not a natural goalscorer, he chases back, he makes goals, so i think it's a good achievement for a non goalscorer to get to 50.

He's had the pressure of the country on his shoulders since he was 16, he may not have been what people wanted him to be, hardly his fault if our expectations were too high.

Charltons goals were mainly in friendlies I believe after seeing some charts last night.

Tournament qualifiers
Rooney - 30
Charlton - 12

Friendlies
Rooney - 14
Charlton - 32

European Championship finals
Rooney - 5
Charlton - 1

World Cup finals
Rooney - 1
Charlton - 4

Nothing worse than people who always try to pick faults.

I wasn't picking faults. I merely said that to judge one against the other(s) you need to look at meaningful games. If Rooney comes out better than Charlton, Lineker, Greaves, Hurst etc then fair play to him. I have no problem whatsoever with Wayne Rooney I was just offering a statistical opinion.

The goals stat for the euros comparing rooney to Charlton is the daftest stat ever on the bunker.

Like chip says, read the hoistory of the tournament to see why.

Can we at least agree that they both went to extremes to hide their bald spots?

Best comb over. Ever.

For me

Lineker

Golden Boot winner - 1986

scored when it mattered (tournament finals)

Had less caps than Rooney... (80 as opposed to 107)

Say no more

Can we use that stupid statement made against Messi regularly on here for Rooney?

Rooney cant be considered world class unless he gets world cup winners medal.

There I said it.

Very good article on the BBC sport web page by Phil McNulty were he includes Gary Lineker in the mix with Rooney and Charlton, a lot of interesting stats etc. Sorry I would have added the link if I knew how, bit of a novice on here. Lineker 48 goals in 80 games I think, very good goals per game rate.

Again it's not really comparable, Lineker was purely a penalty box player, his game was goals. Fine record yes and a great goal scorer but Rooney has played striker, off the striker on either side of a striker and in midfield for England. If you can't compare Charlton and Rooney then you can't compare Rooney and Lineker.

All the players who feature high up that list have had fine International careers I'm not sure why anyone needs to question any of those records, the English way I suppose.

Yeah but Bobby went for a comb over, bad, but nowhere near as lethal in a confined space as Ralph Coates comb over which could have had your eye out. Mr Potato head on the other hand chose the plant a conifer plantation on your head option , water, stand well back and wait for results ..... and it won't have been cheap either .... and it still looks like a coconut mat with gel on.