Is Rooney's hot streak over?
Wayne Rooney’s hamstring injury means a number of different things to a number of different people. What does it mean to you?
To Manchester United fans, it means losing your world class striker in yesterday’s 1-1 draw at Stoke.
To England fans, it’s nerve-wracking. Will Rooney return for the next set of international fixtures? Probably not…
To fantasy managers (Rooney has over 50% ownership!) it meant losing a star 12M+ striker and turning to the bench for reinforcements this gameweek.
But perhaps most importantly (for some of our readers) Rooney’s injury meant the loss of the “Captain” in the Fantasy Premier League this game week. When I began playing this game 7 years ago, there was no such thing as a “Vice Captain,” or “2nd option” based on form and fitness. You had who you had, and if he didn’t play, well then tough.
I secretly wished that was the scenario yesterday (I captained RVP after all, was never really interested in captaining a striker away at Stoke, not even Rooney – as Stoke had already beaten Liverpool and drawn with Chelsea 0-0 this season) but it wasn’t the case. Rooney was a Captain for many – and now the “Vice Captain” play comes into effect.
For those of you with David Silva or Nani as Vice Captain, you will be ecstatic. Aguero or RVP will also make you happy. Ashley Young won’t but Theo Walcott will. It’s really all a roll of the dice.
According to Sir Alex Ferguson, Rooney will be out for 1-2 weeks. The next two matches are against Basel and Norwich. Norwich looks an incredibly tasty fantasy footie fixture (on paper) and one in which it would have made sense (unlike at Stoke, in my opinion) to captain @waynerooney. But it looks like he’ll miss that match.
With Javier Hernandez also injured, it’s up to Berbatov and Danny Welbeck to shine. They both could be legitimate short-term fantasy footie options for United up front (Welbeck perhaps the best option due to his cheap price of 7M) but how long will there run in the lineup last? Perhaps the likes of Drogba, Aguero, Suarez and RVP will be popular fantasy investments over the next week as casual managers log-in and see the big Red “injured” tag next to Rooney’s name…
Will you keep Rooney even if he misses the Norwich game and go into the international break with the unstoppable force on your bench? Do you expect him to return from the 1-3 week layoff and continue to dominate or will he be less explosive and more at risk for re-injury? Will he be rested / rotated in order to be preserved for Champions League football by Sir Alex? I don’t have the answers yet, but with some more data in the coming days, we’ll be able to make some calculated risks, so make sure to stick around and check back often.
At this point, Rooney is a “HOLD” rating. “Buy” or “Sell” advice to come in the next few days…
Good luck to all fantasy managers.
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I had aguero as vice captain captain so it was okay.Had dzecko and rooney as strikers also. Dzecko scored one point. Missing rooney man.
I also had rooney as captain as he is looking the sharpest striker at the minute. Aguero was my vice so i was happy with that.. You say hold rooney, but his value of 12.5 M will start to tumble with people looking at RVP, Drogba and Suarez.
I decided to bite the bullet and sell him for leon Best (5.2) in order to put Nani (10M) in my side. Now i have Young and Nani from Man Utd and with the game against Norwich coming up.. he may play really attacking and use one of these behind berbatov? either way, i would expect the majority f chances to full to these two (with free kick duties and penalties likely to fall to them) if not they should get assists.
I had rooney from the start so he was only worth 12.2M but if his value comes down i will make money on him. Ive also been doing this for 7 years and although it is about points, when it comes to the season run in value and managing to alter your team with the extra funds is vital (its about judging if losing 4 points and gaining .2M at times is worth it?
Ill not be happy if this is one of fergusons ploy to put people off.. and he’ll play Rooney, sometimes i do wonder if he plays it himself as he would have a clear advantage in this circumstance
good luck for the coming week!
Had Silva myself, so it was alright.
@Andy: Rooney could be back at the weekend against Norwich. Ferguson said it was possible in the post-match interview against Basel. But you are right regarding the game, it is a balancing act between short-term vs. long-term and points vs. money. I’m keeping Rooney and I hope he plays. If he doesn’t many could sell him in the international break.
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