A Very Fair Assessment Of Owen

[Ronaldo]

the argument is fair and well constructed but the picture VERY harsh imo

[Cronky]

You can't blame Owen for looking after Number 1. That's what footballers do.

 

The real blame lies on the person who shelled out ridiculous amounts of money on a player who didn't want to come, and who isn't actually all that good. That whole situation spelled trouble and Shepherd was a fool not to recognise that.

[Optimistic Nut]

Funny how people have a go at us for chosing Owen over Anelka, because even with his injury record, I bet Owen has played and scored more for this club than what Anelka would have.

[colinmk]

Some of the flak Owen takes is certainly unreasonable - he's still a decent to good calibre forward who is struggling in the wrong team. But at the same time, some of it is deserved. For me personally, there's two sticking points:

 

1) First and foremost, as a player for us and us alone, performance wise he's been s*** up front imo. The only spell he's had where he's looked a good player on a consistent basis is the spell in midfield under Keegan, which was three or four months in total. Up front, most of the time he's either been useless or he's managed to convert the odd sitter that's come his way, with absolutely nothing in between except for missing other sitters that he's spent all game hoping to get. No assists, no creativity, no flank play, no creating chances for himself, no harrying defenders, no presence, nothing. Hardly the sort of striker worthy of comments like "he's still one of the best in the league" or "he'll keep us up". I'd be willing to bet that had Keegan not moved him into midfield, we'd probably have been relegated with Owen up front, because the team simply isn't good enough to provide the service that Owen would want to score regularly (in fact, few teams at any level are, which is probably why Capello wants nothing to do with Owen). Maybe Owen will suddenly start tucking away those sitters, certainly he's capable of doing so, but based on his performances for us up front over the past year or two, but I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of him finding a new lease of life. So if he's not scoring, and he's quite often not, I'd rather he took his £100k+ weekly wage elsewhere, and forget that we ever signed him. Even if he does keep us up by scoring 4 or 5 goals in the remaining fixtures and earning a good deal of praise from us before he leaves, I still hope he goes, because the team is never going to improve with such an injury prone, difficult-to-service, difficult-to-partner forward hogging both a slot on the team's "star player" allocation as well as a sizeable chunk of the club's wage budget. When mediocre players like Ameobi and Lovenkrands form (on the face of it) better or more effective partnerships with Martins, I can't help but think that with a bit of investment, scouting and luck, we'll get a decent striker with good attributes that the team can work with and rely on over the course of a season, a striker who will contribute to the team regularly and not leave us in this position of sweating over the fitness of Mr Glass come the end of the season because we need his goals to keep us up.

 

2) He's as much a mercenary as some of those who get stick and vitriol from us, based on what he's done with us as opposed to what he's said in the media. First of course, stating he had no interest in signing for us - fair enough, his circumstances changed, and after downing a few pints, the ugly cow with a boil boil on her nose (that's us) turned into a fair maiden with big jugs who would help him as he skipped down the road to worldwide fame and glory before he left for pastures anew. But then, after two years of being constantly injured with us, the first thing he did wasn't to get fit and repay his employers for the year or two of lost wages and the massive fee spent on him, but to contrive with his agents the best way to get a half-priced move away from the club (as confirmed by our former enlightened chairman when telling a few scousers in an adjacent vehicle what the situation was). He kept schtum for nearly two/three months of fervent speculation whilst this was happening - quite obviously he said nothing because his agents were trying to flog him to whoever could have him, and he didn't want to lie in case a move materialised a few days after him denying such a thing was possible, with the result being that the nation's former golden boy and consumate professional who sponsors adore would be turned into a lying toerag in the eyes of many supporters overnight.

 

N'Zogbia has been lambasted by many of our fans because he openly said he wanted away - I believe Owen to be a bigger c*** in a slightly different way, in that he didn't even have the decency to say what he truly wanted just in case he had to run back to us. Both players were unsavoury in their behaivour and I can understand the thinking that it's more professional to keep things private and avoid dragging the club through the mud via the press, but as an analogy, here we had this useless, ungrateful girlfriend who had done nothing in the relationship ever since it began whilst we had done re-mortgaged the house to buy her a mountain of gifts, going behind our backs trying her best to seduce other blokes in an attempt to get something better, all the while not saying anything to us in case she failed in her attempts to woo someone and had to settle with us temporarily until she was in a position to leave without it hitting her pocket. In my book, that's far worse than an admittedly moody/arrogant but ultimately underappreciated girlfriend who had constantly been overlooked and mistreated for years despite good service, someone we had taken for granted because we had "found" her and made her what she is, frequently undermined in the presence of other less well equipped girls who we were obsessed with due to reputation, and when our latest cuntish behaivour also included calling her by an amusing yet insulting homonym, she shouted out in front of everyone in the restaurant that she no longer wanted anything to do with us and wanted to end the relationship ASAP. One's honest although embarassing us in public, but most importantly being justified about their actions, the other is slimy, ungrateful, and sticking the knife in the back whilst smiling to our face and empyting our pockets.

 

http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/837/837504/simpsons_FuneralForAFiend_v2f_1196109717.jpg

Owen's approach to NUFC and all related contractual negotiations.

 

Yep well said all of that.

[mrmojorisin75]

Funny how people have a go at us for chosing Owen over Anelka, because even with his injury record, I bet Owen has played and scored more for this club than what Anelka would have.

 

anelka wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes at this madhouse 'cause he's not made of glass - coupla goals a a sniff of interest elsewhere he'd have been gone as he always done

 

no-one's done that for owen 'cause his body gave out the moment he arrived

[Jayson]

Some of the flak Owen takes is certainly unreasonable - he's still a decent to good calibre forward who is struggling in the wrong team. But at the same time, some of it is deserved. For me personally, there's two sticking points:

 

1) First and foremost, as a player for us and us alone, performance wise he's been s*** up front imo. The only spell he's had where he's looked a good player on a consistent basis is the spell in midfield under Keegan, which was three or four months in total. Up front, most of the time he's either been useless or he's managed to convert the odd sitter that's come his way, with absolutely nothing in between except for missing other sitters that he's spent all game hoping to get. No assists, no creativity, no flank play, no creating chances for himself, no harrying defenders, no presence, nothing. Hardly the sort of striker worthy of comments like "he's still one of the best in the league" or "he'll keep us up". I'd be willing to bet that had Keegan not moved him into midfield, we'd probably have been relegated with Owen up front, because the team simply isn't good enough to provide the service that Owen would want to score regularly (in fact, few teams at any level are, which is probably why Capello wants nothing to do with Owen). Maybe Owen will suddenly start tucking away those sitters, certainly he's capable of doing so, but based on his performances for us up front over the past year or two, but I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of him finding a new lease of life. So if he's not scoring, and he's quite often not, I'd rather he took his £100k+ weekly wage elsewhere, and forget that we ever signed him. Even if he does keep us up by scoring 4 or 5 goals in the remaining fixtures and earning a good deal of praise from us before he leaves, I still hope he goes, because the team is never going to improve with such an injury prone, difficult-to-service, difficult-to-partner forward hogging both a slot on the team's "star player" allocation as well as a sizeable chunk of the club's wage budget. When mediocre players like Ameobi and Lovenkrands form (on the face of it) better or more effective partnerships with Martins, I can't help but think that with a bit of investment, scouting and luck, we'll get a decent striker with good attributes that the team can work with and rely on over the course of a season, a striker who will contribute to the team regularly and not leave us in this position of sweating over the fitness of Mr Glass come the end of the season because we need his goals to keep us up.

 

2) He's as much a mercenary as some of those who get stick and vitriol from us, based on what he's done with us as opposed to what he's said in the media. First of course, stating he had no interest in signing for us - fair enough, his circumstances changed, and after downing a few pints, the ugly cow with a boil boil on her nose (that's us) turned into a fair maiden with big jugs who would help him as he skipped down the road to worldwide fame and glory before he left for pastures anew. But then, after two years of being constantly injured with us, the first thing he did wasn't to get fit and repay his employers for the year or two of lost wages and the massive fee spent on him, but to contrive with his agents the best way to get a half-priced move away from the club (as confirmed by our former enlightened chairman when telling a few scousers in an adjacent vehicle what the situation was). He kept schtum for nearly two/three months of fervent speculation whilst this was happening - quite obviously he said nothing because his agents were trying to flog him to whoever could have him, and he didn't want to lie in case a move materialised a few days after him denying such a thing was possible, with the result being that the nation's former golden boy and consumate professional who sponsors adore would be turned into a lying toerag in the eyes of many supporters overnight.

 

N'Zogbia has been lambasted by many of our fans because he openly said he wanted away - I believe Owen to be a bigger c*** in a slightly different way, in that he didn't even have the decency to say what he truly wanted just in case he had to run back to us. Both players were unsavoury in their behaivour and I can understand the thinking that it's more professional to keep things private and avoid dragging the club through the mud via the press, but as an analogy, here we had this useless, ungrateful girlfriend who had done nothing in the relationship ever since it began whilst we had done re-mortgaged the house to buy her a mountain of gifts, going behind our backs trying her best to seduce other blokes in an attempt to get something better, all the while not saying anything to us in case she failed in her attempts to woo someone and had to settle with us temporarily until she was in a position to leave without it hitting her pocket. In my book, that's far worse than an admittedly moody/arrogant but ultimately underappreciated girlfriend who had constantly been overlooked and mistreated for years despite good service, someone we had taken for granted because we had "found" her and made her what she is, frequently undermined in the presence of other less well equipped girls who we were obsessed with due to reputation, and when our latest cuntish behaivour also included calling her by an amusing yet insulting homonym, she shouted out in front of everyone in the restaurant that she no longer wanted anything to do with us and wanted to end the relationship ASAP. One's honest although embarassing us in public, but most importantly being justified about their actions, the other is slimy, ungrateful, and sticking the knife in the back whilst smiling to our face and empyting our pockets.

 

http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/837/837504/simpsons_FuneralForAFiend_v2f_1196109717.jpg

Owen's approach to NUFC and all related contractual negotiations.

 

1: Disagree with quite a bit personally, no suprises there.

 

You cannot say all he does is get sitters, nothing more. As ive said before, look at both west ham games....look at the portsmouth game, look at the stoke game. No one else in our side has finished better than he did in those games all season, bar Martins strike v aston villa which id say is right up there. You could easily say the same of martins scoring sitters.

The reality of it is, Owen gets no space. He doesnt have a trick bag of skills or pace like Jonas, Martins etc but he probably gets marked more than they do. Add on top of that the fact thats he's basically a small lad who never had a massive frame....and ofcourse he isnt running down flanks, assisting endless goals. He's put defenders under as much pressure as Martins, Lovenkrands etc this season...so dont understand the claim that he doesnt pressure em.

 

One part i agree with is the fact that had Keegan not moved Owen behind the front two, we'd have probably been relegated. Simply because this position gave him space.....a player like viduka who could actually hold up the ball and pass it like a half decent midfielder in a far more attacking position made him much more efficient for us. Dont agree with your claim that very few sides would be able to accomadate owen, any side with only 1 midfielder capable of through balls could EASILY.

But how can you claim to want rid of a player who you have agreed saved us from relegation through scoring lots of goals when he was played in a position which they havent tried once since ? How is this owens fault for being ineffecient & not simply down to our management being complete sh*te.

 

Think the real problem here is people wanting Owen to be effective in our crap tactics & being annoyed that he cant do more for us regardless of how we're ignoring every single strength he's ever had and playing directly towards his weaknesses. As if they're bored of blaming Kinnear, Hughton etc...so Owen just needs to suddenly transform into some strong...tall player who can control a long ball easily....hold off a defender...do a few nutmegs and cross it in. He was never that player, yet he was world class. So you cannot really blame him for being ineffective in our side currently.....even at his best he probably largely would have been..seeing as the MAIN issue is the fact that our side cannot pass the ball along the ground for boll*cks and we all know it.

 

 

2: The basic reality of it is Owen knows he's playing in a side which isnt playing to his strengths. He knows he isnt even touching the ball in these matches. His career has taken a gigantic knock simply through being injured & now when hes not injured he plays in a team who cannot pass from midfield & so barely gets any chances. Then when he finally does he hasnt touched the ball for 5-6 games so doesnt have the usual confidence in his ability...etc etc gets slated etc etc career goes further down hill etc etc.

 

The guy will be 30 at the end of this year. He probably wants to finish his career on a high & we all know if he keeps playing in this CURRENT side (assuming no miracles take place and we actually get a decent manager) the end of his career will be seen to have done nothing but gradually fade away. Always seen as the guy who never recovered the top of his game.

 

Facts are, if you're Michael Owen & you know other sides are interested who you're far more likely to suceed in.....you only have a few years left. You're completely out of the England set up...playing in a side fighting relegation.....You're going to look for other opportunitys. Regardless of how much you've been paid. Whilst owen has been a let down for us, Newcastle will have been a let down for him. Doubt he expected to be playing in such a crap side years down the road, just as we didnt expect his endless injurys. Regardless he showed more loyalty than even Given over the January transfer window. Atleast looking to keep us up before he goes (assuming he does), where as Given preferred to have a moan and leave his club in it instead of helping out.

[TRon]

Some of the flak Owen takes is certainly unreasonable - he's still a decent to good calibre forward who is struggling in the wrong team. But at the same time, some of it is deserved. For me personally, there's two sticking points:

 

1) First and foremost, as a player for us and us alone, performance wise he's been s*** up front imo. The only spell he's had where he's looked a good player on a consistent basis is the spell in midfield under Keegan, which was three or four months in total. Up front, most of the time he's either been useless or he's managed to convert the odd sitter that's come his way, with absolutely nothing in between except for missing other sitters that he's spent all game hoping to get. No assists, no creativity, no flank play, no creating chances for himself, no harrying defenders, no presence, nothing. Hardly the sort of striker worthy of comments like "he's still one of the best in the league" or "he'll keep us up". I'd be willing to bet that had Keegan not moved him into midfield, we'd probably have been relegated with Owen up front, because the team simply isn't good enough to provide the service that Owen would want to score regularly (in fact, few teams at any level are, which is probably why Capello wants nothing to do with Owen). Maybe Owen will suddenly start tucking away those sitters, certainly he's capable of doing so, but based on his performances for us up front over the past year or two, but I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of him finding a new lease of life. So if he's not scoring, and he's quite often not, I'd rather he took his £100k+ weekly wage elsewhere, and forget that we ever signed him. Even if he does keep us up by scoring 4 or 5 goals in the remaining fixtures and earning a good deal of praise from us before he leaves, I still hope he goes, because the team is never going to improve with such an injury prone, difficult-to-service, difficult-to-partner forward hogging both a slot on the team's "star player" allocation as well as a sizeable chunk of the club's wage budget. When mediocre players like Ameobi and Lovenkrands form (on the face of it) better or more effective partnerships with Martins, I can't help but think that with a bit of investment, scouting and luck, we'll get a decent striker with good attributes that the team can work with and rely on over the course of a season, a striker who will contribute to the team regularly and not leave us in this position of sweating over the fitness of Mr Glass come the end of the season because we need his goals to keep us up.

 

2) He's as much a mercenary as some of those who get stick and vitriol from us, based on what he's done with us as opposed to what he's said in the media. First of course, stating he had no interest in signing for us - fair enough, his circumstances changed, and after downing a few pints, the ugly cow with a boil boil on her nose (that's us) turned into a fair maiden with big jugs who would help him as he skipped down the road to worldwide fame and glory before he left for pastures anew. But then, after two years of being constantly injured with us, the first thing he did wasn't to get fit and repay his employers for the year or two of lost wages and the massive fee spent on him, but to contrive with his agents the best way to get a half-priced move away from the club (as confirmed by our former enlightened chairman when telling a few scousers in an adjacent vehicle what the situation was). He kept schtum for nearly two/three months of fervent speculation whilst this was happening - quite obviously he said nothing because his agents were trying to flog him to whoever could have him, and he didn't want to lie in case a move materialised a few days after him denying such a thing was possible, with the result being that the nation's former golden boy and consumate professional who sponsors adore would be turned into a lying toerag in the eyes of many supporters overnight.

 

N'Zogbia has been lambasted by many of our fans because he openly said he wanted away - I believe Owen to be a bigger c*** in a slightly different way, in that he didn't even have the decency to say what he truly wanted just in case he had to run back to us. Both players were unsavoury in their behaivour and I can understand the thinking that it's more professional to keep things private and avoid dragging the club through the mud via the press, but as an analogy, here we had this useless, ungrateful girlfriend who had done nothing in the relationship ever since it began whilst we had done re-mortgaged the house to buy her a mountain of gifts, going behind our backs trying her best to seduce other blokes in an attempt to get something better, all the while not saying anything to us in case she failed in her attempts to woo someone and had to settle with us temporarily until she was in a position to leave without it hitting her pocket. In my book, that's far worse than an admittedly moody/arrogant but ultimately underappreciated girlfriend who had constantly been overlooked and mistreated for years despite good service, someone we had taken for granted because we had "found" her and made her what she is, frequently undermined in the presence of other less well equipped girls who we were obsessed with due to reputation, and when our latest cuntish behaivour also included calling her by an amusing yet insulting homonym, she shouted out in front of everyone in the restaurant that she no longer wanted anything to do with us and wanted to end the relationship ASAP. One's honest although embarassing us in public, but most importantly being justified about their actions, the other is slimy, ungrateful, and sticking the knife in the back whilst smiling to our face and empyting our pockets.

 

http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/837/837504/simpsons_FuneralForAFiend_v2f_1196109717.jpg

Owen's approach to NUFC and all related contractual negotiations.

 

1: Disagree with quite a bit personally, no suprises there.

 

You cannot say all he does is get sitters, nothing more. As ive said before, look at both west ham games....look at the portsmouth game, look at the stoke game. No one else in our side has finished better than he did in those games all season, bar Martins strike v aston villa which id say is right up there. You could easily say the same of martins scoring sitters.

The reality of it is, Owen gets no space. He doesnt have a trick bag of skills or pace like Jonas, Martins etc but he probably gets marked more than they do. Add on top of that the fact thats he's basically a small lad who never had a massive frame....and ofcourse he isnt running down flanks, assisting endless goals. He's put defenders under as much pressure as Martins, Lovenkrands etc this season...so dont understand the claim that he doesnt pressure em.

 

One part i agree with is the fact that had Keegan not moved Owen behind the front two, we'd have probably been relegated. Simply because this position gave him space.....a player like viduka who could actually hold up the ball and pass it like a half decent midfielder in a far more attacking position made him much more efficient for us. Dont agree with your claim that very few sides would be able to accomadate owen, any side with only 1 midfielder capable of through balls could EASILY.

But how can you claim to want rid of a player who you have agreed saved us from relegation through scoring lots of goals when he was played in a position which they havent tried once since ? How is this owens fault for being ineffecient & not simply down to our management being complete sh*te.

 

Think the real problem here is people wanting Owen to be effective in our crap tactics & being annoyed that he cant do more for us regardless of how we're ignoring every single strength he's ever had and playing directly towards his weaknesses. As if they're bored of blaming Kinnear, Hughton etc...so Owen just needs to suddenly transform into some strong...tall player who can control a long ball easily....hold off a defender...do a few nutmegs and cross it in. He was never that player, yet he was world class. So you cannot really blame him for being ineffective in our side currently.....even at his best he probably largely would have been..seeing as the MAIN issue is the fact that our side cannot pass the ball along the ground for boll*cks and we all know it.

 

 

2: The basic reality of it is Owen knows he's playing in a side which isnt playing to his strengths. He knows he isnt even touching the ball in these matches. His career has taken a gigantic knock simply through being injured & now when hes not injured he plays in a team who cannot pass from midfield & so barely gets any chances. Then when he finally does he hasnt touched the ball for 5-6 games so doesnt have the usual confidence in his ability...etc etc gets slated etc etc career goes further down hill etc etc.

 

The guy will be 30 at the end of this year. He probably wants to finish his career on a high & we all know if he keeps playing in this CURRENT side (assuming no miracles take place and we actually get a decent manager) the end of his career will be seen to have done nothing but gradually fade away. Always seen as the guy who never recovered the top of his game.

 

Facts are, if you're Michael Owen & you know other sides are interested who you're far more likely to suceed in.....you only have a few years left. You're completely out of the England set up...playing in a side fighting relegation.....You're going to look for other opportunitys. Regardless of how much you've been paid. Whilst owen has been a let down for us, Newcastle will have been a let down for him. Doubt he expected to be playing in such a crap side years down the road, just as we didnt expect his endless injurys. Regardless he showed more loyalty than even Given over the January transfer window. Atleast looking to keep us up before he goes (assuming he does), where as Given preferred to have a moan and leave his club in it instead of helping out.

 

Good luck to Mikey in finding a better club then. Looks like City aren't interested so there's one door shut. This might explain why Owen's spokesman Nicky Butt has suddenly started making noises about him staying here, he's not likely to get that sort of cash elsewhere.

 

 

[wacko]

It makes me smile to see how he's gone downhill since the moment he followed McMoneyman to Real.

 

Great player to have on the bench, but at a fraction of the wages he's on now.

[Guest sittingontheball]

Is it just me or has he gone seriously downhill in the last few months? Earlier in the season he could find space in the box and score with headers or with the odd quick turn like W Ham away. In 2009, he's been completely rubbish. He doesn't look like scoring any more.

[Jayson]

Think it goes along with the fact that we've been pure crap since december when we lost to Wigan & Heskey got that ridiculous penalty.

 

Since around that time we've had Guthrie, Barton & Martins..also Beye..out. So he hasnt been getting service...now Martins is finally back Owen gets injured. Bit of a joke really.

 

Then you have the fact that as a right footed player hes better on the left upfront so he can cut inside and have a shot (Most of his better goals this season), so instead we've been playing him on the right. With Martins on the left, even though Martins can shoot with both feet...& most agree is better with his left.

Once again, its all a bit of a joke as usual.

[Guest sittingontheball]

Yeah you're right. Starting with that Wigan game it's played 12 won 1 (w brom), drawn 4, lost 7. We've gone from 12th to 18th in position.