Tonight's International matches.

[Cronky]

Owen was awful when he came on, his passing was extremely poor.

 

This.

 

Surprising, after his game on Saturday.  Then again...throughout his career Owen has played better for managers who "believed in him" so to speak -- the ones who had confidence in him and in his ability.  He's admitted as much himself and maybe that plays into Keegan's sudden lovefest for Owen.  The last year or so of Sven's "reign" as England manager, Owen played like sh***, after a falling out with Sven.  Played well under McClaren, who seemed to quite rate him.  Played badly under Keegan for England, played well for Hoddle (if you read Owen's book, he explains the "not a natural goalscorer" comment).  Not real impressive under Big Sam, playing like a different player under Keegan for Newcastle.  Solid under Houllier until the last season when there were confidence issues between the two.  A pattern seems to have emerged, that generally Owen plays better for the managers who pile on the positive pressure -- as Keegan has been (Owen can/will perform, he can/will make the difference, etc.) rather than the negative pressure (dropping him, making him "question" his place). 

 

Really hope Owen's confidence isn't shot, after that.  Does a single player look excited or motivated under Capello?  I thought both matches the players have looked mediocre at best, totally terrified to f*** up -- note for Mr. Capello, perhaps terrorising them isn't the best way to get a player to perform?  Uncertainty isn't good for clubs, and it doesn't look to be good for an international set-up either. 

 

Then again, maybe it'll work like last England match, and Owen comes back with his scoring boots on just to make a point. 

 

Well, that's a dangerous road to go down - ie whenever Owen plays badly, it's the manager's fault.

 

On a different subject, after the match, I did wonder - does David Beckham ever actually run with the ball these days? When he gets the ball, he just stands still and then either whacks out a long diagonal pass, or, if it's on, a cross. He looks more like a golfer than a footballer. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but you get my point) Bentley offers a lot more variety and, as the younger player, should get preference from now on.

[NG32]

Dont care about an England friendly at the moment,  I am way more concerned about NUFC and its future.

[Shearergol]

I think they should call time on Beckham's England career now. I think even Milner would have offered more threat last night.

[dustynrg]

I think they should call time on Beckham's England career now. I think even Milner would have offered more threat last night.

 

And would have had about as much impact.

 

Who cares anyway, it's just a friendly with overpaid, overhyped, self obsessed footballers like Ashley Cole, Gerrard, Bentley, Terry and so on. Even writing their names makes me cringe.

 

And another  occasion when our top goalscorer might get injured.

 

[AlanSkÃrare]

Impressed with Sweden last night. Some of our play was excellent and a lot of players fought their way in to the squad for the Euro2008, Seb Larsson among others. Lost to a horrrible mistake by old Arsenalkeeper Rami Shaaban.

 

 

[Guest rebel_yell12]

Owen was awful when he came on, his passing was extremely poor.

 

This.

 

Surprising, after his game on Saturday.  Then again...throughout his career Owen has played better for managers who "believed in him" so to speak -- the ones who had confidence in him and in his ability.  He's admitted as much himself and maybe that plays into Keegan's sudden lovefest for Owen.  The last year or so of Sven's "reign" as England manager, Owen played like sh***, after a falling out with Sven.  Played well under McClaren, who seemed to quite rate him.  Played badly under Keegan for England, played well for Hoddle (if you read Owen's book, he explains the "not a natural goalscorer" comment).  Not real impressive under Big Sam, playing like a different player under Keegan for Newcastle.  Solid under Houllier until the last season when there were confidence issues between the two.  A pattern seems to have emerged, that generally Owen plays better for the managers who pile on the positive pressure -- as Keegan has been (Owen can/will perform, he can/will make the difference, etc.) rather than the negative pressure (dropping him, making him "question" his place). 

 

Really hope Owen's confidence isn't shot, after that.  Does a single player look excited or motivated under Capello?  I thought both matches the players have looked mediocre at best, totally terrified to f*** up -- note for Mr. Capello, perhaps terrorising them isn't the best way to get a player to perform?  Uncertainty isn't good for clubs, and it doesn't look to be good for an international set-up either. 

 

Then again, maybe it'll work like last England match, and Owen comes back with his scoring boots on just to make a point. 

 

Well, that's a dangerous road to go down - ie whenever Owen plays badly, it's the manager's fault.

 

On a different subject, after the match, I did wonder - does David Beckham ever actually run with the ball these days? When he gets the ball, he just stands still and then either whacks out a long diagonal pass, or, if it's on, a cross. He looks more like a golfer than a footballer. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but you get my point) Bentley offers a lot more variety and, as the younger player, should get preference from now on.

 

My apologies for the lack of clarity, my intention wasn't really to blame the manager.  Owen has played badly at some point for EVERY manager, barring perhaps Glenn Hoddle, at club and international level.  My point, I suppose, was that Owen seems to have a great reaction to a positive challenge -- as Keegan has recently given him by putting him in a new role at Newcastle (some canny man-management by Keegan?) -- and a poor reaction to a negative challenge (the sort of 'do it or else ____' style).  Perhaps that's a character flaw in Owen, it'd hardly be a first.  It makes me ponder the wisdom of those who say he should be dropped after a less-than-stellar performance (ie Blackburn) compared to Keegan's obvious decision to give Owen a feeling of responsibility for the results (captaincy, etc.)  The key to man-management is to know the players, and it seems Keegan knows Owen now. 

 

I was actually musing on Owen's apparent transformation of late for Newcastle as much as on the England performance, which probably had a lot more to do with the fact that he was playing with the second-stringers (no Gerrard, his best link-up in the midfield, no Rooney, no J. Cole, etc.) but I wasn't impressed by a single player last night.  They all looked like they were playing scared to me, and as Keegan has said since arriving at Newcastle, a team can't play scared and play good football.