Rooney looking to bounce back against Chelsea
Published:Suffice to say, it’s not been a great couple of months for Wayne Rooney – a dreadful showing at the World Cup, front page headlines for going out on the razzle, not to mention weekend reports of a pending run in with a furious Fabio Capello.
But, what better way to bounce back than by popping himself on the scoresheet in the opening match of the season?
As proven when he scored in his first competitive Man United games of the 2004 (after a long injury lay off) and 2006 seasons, Rooney can switch into gear pretty quickly on the back of a big tournament.
A fearsome player at the best of times, Rooney does seem to thrive under pressure, and the pressure to re-establish himself as one of the top players around during the coming season is enormous.
He got off to an absolute flyer in 2009/10, scoring in six of his first ten competitive matches, and his odds of starting this one in a similar vain by getting on the scoresheet in the Community Shield are 11/8.
Rather unsurprisingly, Didier Drogba is the favourite to start his season’s account, at Evens, even though he has only made it on to the Community Shield scoresheet once in three matches – albeit with an impressive match winning double in 2005.
Interestingly, there have been 24 goals scored in the last ten Community Shields, and only ten of those have come from strikers.
Hence, the likes of Malouda or Giggs could make for decent flutters, each with odds of 7/2 to get on the scoresheet.
Carvalho scored last year, his odds are 12/1 to repeat that feat.
Can Rooney put a bad World Cup behind him? See the full Chelsea vs Man United market.
