Football
  • Home
  • Features
  • Six Of The Premier League’S Most Overrated Goals, Including TWO From Wayne Rooney

Six of the Premier League’s most overrated goals, including TWO from Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney celebration after scoring for Man Utd vs Man City Feb 2011

Danny Ings’ strike for Aston Villa against Newcastle has already been hailed Goal of the Season. It’s not the first time people have been carried away by a decent finish...

Have we already seen the goal of the season?

Well I sincerely hope not because as decent as Danny Ings' acrobatic volley for Villa was, it promises to be a pretty underwhelming nine months if that's the best we can hope for.

Ings is only ten yards out and while he is off the ground, any kind of connection was always going to beat Freddie Woodman in the Newcastle goal.
Still, it's the Premier League and the best league in the world needs the best goals.
Ings' goal reigns, until next weekend of course, when someone else will have scored the goal of the season, or maybe even the goal of the decade.
Here, Planet Sport looks at six similarly over-hyped goals from the Premier League era.

Wayne Rooney (Man Utd vs Man City, 2011)

What is it about bicycle kicks that makes people love them so much? Is it because us mere mortals can struggle to lift one leg off the ground, let alone two?
Or is it because they invariably go horribly wrong.

This one went right. Well, right in the fact the Manchester United player found the back of the net.

But, there's no denying he shinned it.
So, while it scores highly for difficulty, it loses points for execution.

Think Robin van Persie's spectacular diving header for the Netherlands if it had gone in off his shoulder.

Jack Wilshere (Arsenal vs Norwich City, 2013)

Ignoring the fact that it is a pretty lucky one-two that presents Wilshere with his shooting chance, this one has a lot to answer for.

Hailed as the perfect team goal, it has set the blueprint for eight years of frustration as Arsenal try, and fail, to recreate it pass for pass.

A lovely goal, yes, but what Gunners fans wouldn't give for the final ball being cut out and Arsene Wenger instead deciding that actually a more direct approach was the way to go.

Mo Salah (Liverpool vs Everton, 2018)

This one actually won the Puskas award for 2018 which takes it up a notch on the overrated stakes.
The Egyptian shows good body strength to outmuscle his markers and a decent piece of ball control before curling it into the top corner. But it's the sort of goal which, if not ten a penny in the Premier League, is certainly around five.
Maybe, FIFA thought it was more difficult because it was snowing.

Thierry Henry (Arsenal vs Spurs, 2002)

This one has been described as a wonder goal. Most likely as in, I wonder why no one is challenging him.

A pretty half-hearted attempt from Matthew Etherington to chop him down aside, Henry has a fairly serene run from his own half to the edge of the Tottenham box.

Yes, Stephen Carr is there but only in the same way a bollard is there at the end of a cycle path. You'd have to be a pretty inept cyclist to actually hit it.

Iconically, Henry then races back down the pitch to the other end of the stadium to celebrate with the Arsenal supporters. And still no one gets near him.

Jesse Lingard (West Ham vs Wolves, 2020)

Cast your minds back to April when Jesse Lingard was the name on everybody's lips. The player behind West Ham's surprise Champions League push and the man to bring European glory to England.

Such was the hyperbole surrounding the out-of-favour Manchester United midfielder that this simple run and finish (note the lack of challenges) against Wolves earned him the Goal of the Month award.

Fast forward four months and it turns out England didn't want him and West Ham are actually even better without him.
Still, he's got his memories.

Wayne Rooney (Man Utd vs West Ham, 2014)

Another appearance from Wayne Rooney and another massively overhyped goal.
First of all, it's a foul. He clearly shoves James Tomkins before getting on to the ball.
Second of all, it's not from half-way line at all, it's several yards into the West Ham half.
And finally, what is Adrian doing?
Like a drunk stumbling home from a Christmas party, he has no idea where he's going. The goal's that way Adrian.

READ MORE: Wayne Rooney’s iconic moments for Manchester United, Everton and England

More Articles