The woes of Michael Owen detailed
When will we get to the point where no-one will bother questioning Michael Owen’s omission from the England squad?
For many, that point has long passed, although certain media pundits insist that Owen deserves his place in Capello’s 23. The reason Owen deserves to be considered, apparently, is that he is England’s best ‘natural born finisher’, but the fact remains that he’s not even the best English finisher at Manchester United.
See this chalkboard of today’s game against Hull. Wayne Rooney only had one more shot from inside the area than Owen, but ended up with four more goals.
Sadly, Owen can’t even claim to have had a hand in Rooney’s terrific performance – three of Rooney’s goals came in the eighteen minutes where Berbatov was on the pitch in place of Owen.
Indeed, Owen’s game has changed so much since he lost his pace, that a better argument for his inclusion might well be his link-up play, as he demonstrated against Hull:
The woes of Michael Owen detailed
Owen’s demons win again! I watched this game, where Rooney scored four and Owen scored 24 (passes). And I have come to the conclusion there is something psychologically wrong with the Owen man-boy.
There was one move in that game which was entirely orchestrated by Owen. My memory may not be spot-on here but the gist is…He made an incisive pass, made a skirting run across the edge of the penalty box, took another pass, a deft touch, then ran through into a great scoring position behind the defense, collected the ball again and – in a position where the aforementioned Mr Rooney would have put the ball into the net with enough force to singe it – our Owen played the softest shot that has ever been lovingly plopped into a goalkeepers arms. Ok, just another miss for Mr. Owen you might say, but this should have been the goal of the season! This should have been the silver bullet. Where was HE when the moment came? Something happens to great stikers when they get into a scoring position; Rooney, Van Nistelrooy, Charlton (ok we’ll stick with Utd srikers), for them things suddenly become clear, the see the net billowing, they hear the crowd roar, they see themselves at breakfast the next morning – newspapers spread around – reading the sports headlines with their names emblazoned all over them, then…they bury it…they turn this dream into a reality. I’m afraid Mr Owen does not share their vision, he envisages a large black raven landing on the Old Trafford stadium roof, he sees his head rolling along a large pane of glass which slid off the back of a lorry, he watches a weather vane hurtling toward him from the church roof. Well, ok, maybe he just sees his tyres slashed in the club car park. The point is there is nothing wrong with Michael Owens football, as this insightful passing run, and 24 inch perfect passes allude to. He just needs a good hypnosis seesion. He needs to kill his demons.
Hi Gary, thanks for the comment.
I remember when Owen first came through at Liverpool and was called up to the England squad for the first time by Glenn Hoddle. Hoddle said in a press conference that ‘Michael Owen isn’t a natural goalscorer’ (which at the time did seem a slightly odd thing to say, admittedly) and was berated by the press for the rest of his time as England manager.
It’s funny that 12-13 years later, Owen’s general game is fine and the one thing that is lacking is…his goalscoring ability! Meanwhile, because the press/media spent a good few years trying to disprove Hoddle’s earlier analysis, that almost fooled themselves into believing that, actually, Owen is a great goalscorer. And as you say, that’s the one thing he definitely isn’t at the moment.
Received this from optajoe on twitter: “This season Owen’s had 17 shots in the PL, seven on target and two goals. Conversion rate of 11.8%.” (http://twitter.com/optajoe/status/8330242199).
Further proof that the adage of “give Michael Owen a half-chance and he’ll take it” sadly is no longer true. News that Phil McNulty and Henry Winter won’t like to hear.
A large reason why Owen was so effective was because of his astonishing pace. His finishing was stil outstanding, and this combination made him such a dangerous player. When his pace went, as it was bound to do eventually, it was thought that his finishing would carry on, ensuring that he remained an excellent forward.
He had to change and mould his game to adapt to not having the pace that he once had. It was hoped that he would become a Gary Linekar type player. Take a lot at his goals for England (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAPtAsbEmII). So many of them are being in the right place at the right time, often in the six-yard box. Not a lot of pace required, just anticipation. Owen’s failure to get into these positions, combined with his lack of pace, physicality, and now efficiency in front of goal, means that the likes of Defoe have to be ahead of him in the queue for a World Cup place. Unless something changes drastically, Owen should not be anywhere near that particular plane.
Wow, that’s a real eye-opener. Really high quality analysis.