Tuesday 2 February 2010

Why has Owen failed at United?



It may be a bit premature to assume this. But despite my satisfaction at Michael Owen joining our forward line for less than a bag of fish & chips, it seems that his career has now almost come to a standstill, and the door awaits the former Liverpool predator.

We have seen glimpses of his brilliance this year. The goal against City. A Champions League hat trick of great aplomb. But the fact that Fergie wont even start him in the so called 'lesser' games (besides the Hull match!), even with Dimitar Berbatov only operating with one fit knee, its safe to assume he is not the manager's flavour of the month. Now I'm sure Sir Alex would explain this as purely he has a team to pick every week, he picks what he feel will beat the opposition, blah blah blah. But as we all follow the situation very carefully it doesn't take a professor to come to the conclusion that Owen is wasted on the Old Trafford bench.

Many will know i am a fan of Owen and have called for him to be used more. At his age he still has the tools to get goals. But as the season progresses and we see less and less of him, it does make you think that he was probably wrong to sign for us now. As it stands he is still a great asset to the squad from the bench. But he doesn't look happy, as the camera pans over the touchline during games, as he sits there glum. Its a bit of a shame really.

His pay as you play goal bonus laden deal seemed great business for everyone when he came pre-season..however its no good to him if he is not playing, not scoring and we have a player that we cant incentivize with just a few minutes here and there. It does make me wonder what is going on at Carrington. Is there something wrong on the training pitch? Fitness doesn't appear to be an issue. Fergie has said about the difficulty in playing Owen when Rooney is now on fire. I get that. But it still doesn't really help his situation. I bet he thought joining United, playing for one of the giants of world football, that he would get chances galore, score regularly, and be on that plane to South Africa..I know i did! In my eyes, id still prefer Owen ahead of Darren Bent..but as he scores goals for a faltering Sunderland side, and Owen twiddles his thumbs, well, there's no real contest.

So far this season is a marked failure for Michael Owen. He may still have a part to play. But as United show their form in a 4-5-1 and the January emergence of Mame Diouf (who is scoring goals for fun in the reserves) it doesn't look good for the former European Footballer of the Year. I think come the summer, he will be sat on a beach somewhere, watching England take on the likes of Algeria et al, and will probably have his agent on his mobile every five minutes..trying to score a deal with Aston Villa or Everton.

It could have been the perfect arrangement..a marriage of convenience. But like all things that look great on the surface, deep down it was never really going to work...was it? A bit like Notts County getting Sol Campbell and Sven. Wait for all the 'told you so' comments from the Scousers and Geordies that you may or may not know, coming this summer..cos they will be quite vocal if the former boy wonder has to pack his bags once again. I hope there's a plot twist somewhere along the way.

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3 comments:

  1. I like you hope that Owen gets used more as he is indeed wasted sitting on the bench. He really needs to take his chance whenever he can but I think being selected for England just isn't going to happen this year :-(

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  2. Cant agree with you more. Owen is a fantastic player whom I have admired right from his launch, its very sad to see him not being picked at all. No doubt, Owen's missed a few clear-cut opportunities, but every time it looked like due to lack of confidence and match practice and certainly not due to lack of quality.I hope he starts against the Pompies and rejuvenates himself like a Nani has done. Love to see him in RSA, as an impact substitute at least.He deserves.

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  3. Personally I do not like how Fergie is treating Owen. If he has personal issues with him then come clean and tell us why. I have heard some fans say Fergie only signed Owen to stir up trouble with the Liverpool fans and now Liverpool have faded out of the Premiership race Fergie is no longer interested in Owen at all. If that is so then Fergie is being pathetic and also is that being fair to Owen to give a player the impression that he wants him then to just freeze him as soon as Liverpool are out of the Premiership title picture? I hope this wrong but now we are reading stories in the press that Fergie wants to ditch Owen and Fergie himself has not come out and denied this makes me wonder if Fergie ever wanted Owen at all. I do see that Owen has missed chances but you have to ask how much Fergie's handling of Owen is to blame for this. For instance after Owen scored that hat trick against Wolfsburg he was promptly dropped for the following game. What does this do to a player's confidence? Owen according to other players who know him needs to feel appreciated. Sadly I do not feel Fergie is that type of manager.

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