Fulham 2 - 1 Newcastle United - 09/11/08 - post match reaction from page 24

[Cronky]

There's an article in the Times today about teams being too cautious in the Premiership, and I think that applied to us for the first half hour. We seemed afraid of making challenges in case we didn't get the ball, so ended up letting them pass the ball around us. It was only when we went a goal down that we started playing with any aggression. We then looked the better side, but our defensive frailty let us down. We need to have a more positive attitude from the start.

 

Even then we should have got a draw. Owen is very good at getting on the end of chances, but not always so hot at putting them away. That ball needed to be hit with his left foot, but as he's very limited in that area he tried to hit it with his right. World class striker my arse.

[Ronaldo]

There's an article in the Times today about teams being too cautious in the Premiership, and I think that applied to us for the first half hour. We seemed afraid of making challenges in case we didn't get the ball, so ended up letting them pass the ball around us. It was only when we went a goal down that we started playing with any aggression. We then looked the better side, but our defensive frailty let us down. We need to have a more positive attitude from the start.

 

Even then we should have got a draw. Owen is very good at getting on the end of chances, but not always so hot at putting them away. That ball needed to be hit with his left foot, but as he's very limited in that area he tried to hit it with his right. World class striker my arse.

 

aye, some idiots even call him a world class footballer

[Yorkie]

That miss was typical Owen tbh. As good a finisher as he is, to say that he is a "one chance, one goal" striker simply isn't correct. We've seen it time and again with Owen, in just about every game he's scored in. He's missed one and then a few minutes later he's scoring. Give Michael Owen chances and he will score goals, not every single one, but more than others.

 

Well, in fairness, others wouldn't be in the position to score.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Its seems like the same cycle with Owen every time.

 

Comes back from injury: a few games, misses a few sitters and people question that hes a one chance one goal striker

                                      a few more games misses sitters and scores and people say hes finding his way back from injury but looking better

                                      a few more games hes involved and scores, people say hes our best player

                                      a game or two he's quiet but pops up and scores with one chance, people say hes a one chance one goal striker and that hes world class

                                      next match hes injured for a few weeks, repeat to fade

 

obviously not that clear cut but I think this is what brings the difference of opinion over how good Owen is. Personally I think as an out and out predatory and instinctive striker hes fuckin brilliant, bes just not at full fitness long enough for anyone to believe its true, then he comes back and we doubt whether hes really as good as what we thought he was.

 

[Cronky]

Its seems like the same cycle with Owen every time.

 

Comes back from injury: a few games, misses a few sitters and people question that hes a one chance one goal striker

                                       a few more games misses sitters and scores and people say hes finding his way back from injury but looking better

                                       a few more games hes involved and scores, people say hes our best player

                                       a game or two he's quiet but pops up and scores with one chance, people say hes a one chance one goal striker and that hes world class

                                       next match hes injured for a few weeks, repeat to fade

 

obviously not that clear cut but I think this is what brings the difference of opinion over how good Owen is. Personally I think as an out and out predatory and instinctive striker hes fuckin brilliant, bes just not at full fitness long enough for anyone to believe its true, then he comes back and we doubt whether hes really as good as what we thought he was.

 

 

That miss was nothing to do with his fitness. He just doesn't have a left foot.

[johnnypd]

owen's finishing is no better than martins', in some ways it is worse - ie no power whatsoever. when he has to think about a finish he is mediocre and when he has no time to think about it he's world class. he's not got the power of shearer, the finesse of fowler or the placement of crespo. and that's always been the case. owen's an instinctive finisher and 90% of the work is done by getting into the right position in the first place by using anticipation and movement. look at that goal he scored against west brom a few season's ago by attacking the near post, sticking out a leg and watching it fly past the keeper as a good example.

 

when he is rusty and the ball is quick on him it's not unusual to see him making these kind of comedy misses - he had plenty last season too. but once his fitness gets sharper he begins to bury more than he misses. when he first went to real madrid he looked bloody awful for the first few games, but once he was fit enough he started scoring for fun and finished the season with the best goals to minutes ratio in la liga. so firetotheworks is basically spot on.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

People are going way OTT regarding Owen's "chance"

 

It looked a good chance via replays but at the precise moment he was always going to fluff it because Shola was pretty much in his way, the 'keeper was very close to it situation too and he had to watch it dropping all the way, that's before he could change his entire body shape in a split second to connect with it cleanly. That and he'd been on for a few minutes only.

 

I love how people use this "miss" as evidence he has no left foot or that he's not fit enough or whatever.

 

He's missed similar type chances with his head btw which is one of his strong points.

 

The whole piece of play was a classic example of being caught in two minds and not really being up to speed with what was happening, in part due to him just getting onto the pitch not long before the piece of play happened and Shola no doubt getting in the way or putting him off somewhat.

 

 

 

 

[Wullie]

owen's finishing is no better than martins', in some ways it is worse - ie no power whatsoever. when he has to think about a finish he is mediocre and when he has no time to think about it he's world class. that's always been the case. owen's an instinctive finisher and 90% of the work is done by getting into the right position in the first place by using anticipation and movement. look at that goal he scored against west brom a few season's ago by attacking the near post, sticking out a leg and watching it fly past the keeper as a good example.

 

when he is rusty and the ball is quick on him it's not unusual to see him making these kind of comedy misses - he had plenty last season too. but once his fitness gets sharper he begins to bury more than he misses. when he first went to real madrid he looked bloody awful for the first few games, but once he was fit enough he started scoring for fun and finished the season with the best goals to minutes ratio in la liga. so firetotheworks is basically spot on.

 

Pretty accurate other than I don't agree that it's always been the same, he was very clinical with both feet in his younger days but he hasn't been for a while now. One of my favourite Owen goals is his curl past Barthez at Anfield. Fucking brilliant finish.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Owen is a far superior striker of the ball than Martins in terms of goalscoring. The only thing he lags behind Martins is in the power stakes but to Martins being able to hit the ball hard is often wasted on him because he has average technique.

[Guest SB]

Jeez, The guy was returning from injury, been on the pitch for few minutes, missed a chance and now he's a crap. Everytime he misses a chance or a half chance, people make a huge deal out of it. Everyone miss f***ing chances and IN MOST CASES of his miss, others wouldn't even be in that position to make it look like a chance. And what is with the clueless JFK? Bring Owen on, Jonas off and no Geremi at all? I saw brainless Ameobi got in his way at least twice this season, what is with that 

 

People's opinion about him seem to change after each game, don't they? We won 2 games without him and we don't him , right? Oh, such a short memories.